Media Advisory for immediate release (Toronto, ON, and Calgary, AB, November 16, 2022) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) will officially unveil an educational and commemorative plaque marking Canada’s First World War internment operations on Bloor Street West in Toronto, this Saturday, Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. ET. In 24 camps across Canada, more than 8,000 men, women, and children, primarily Ukrainians invited by the Dominion government to settle in Canada, were unjustly interned as enemy aliens from 1914-1920 under the War Measures Act, their possessions taken, and not all returned. Around 80,000 others were forced to register semi-regularly with authorities. They suffered not because of anything they had done, but because of where they had come from. Many remained “in fear of the barbed wire fence” long after their release. The affected communities included Ukrainians, Austrians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Serbians, Slovaks, Slovenes and others, of which most were civilians. The event will take place Saturday, November 19 at 3 p.m. (Eastern Time) at 2397 Bloor St. W. (Ukrainian Credit Union), in Toronto. All media, as well anyone interested in the topic, is invited to attend the free event. Confirmed speakers include: Borys Sydoruk, Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation Ihor Bardyn, Ukrainian National Federation Taras Pidzamecky Ukrainian Credit Union Maxim Bozhilov, Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund Angela MacDonald, Bloor West Village Business Improvement Area Arif Virani, MP, Parkdale High Park (pending) UCCLF worked collaboratively with the Ukrainian Credit Union Ltd. and the Ukrainian National Federation, with the support of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund and UCCLF supporters, to create the panel, which features photographs and information about the dark episode in Canadian history. It will be affixed permanently to the credit union, facing Bloor – the location of one of Canada’s largest annual Ukrainian events, the Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival. For further information, please e-mail info@ucclf.ca or call UCCLF’s Borys Sydoruk at 403.903.5013.

UCCLA: For immediate release (October 26, 2022) On 14 October 2022, Duncan Kinney of Edmonton was charged by the Edmonton Police Service with mischief. Kinney is the editor of The Progress Report/Progress Alberta which, according to its website, is a “non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.” In August 2021, an act of vandalism occurred at an Edmonton community centre. Members of the community described this act of vandalism as a hate crime. Kinney actively promoted the story that this vandalism was perpetrated by persons unknown when, in fact, he has now been charged as being the perpetrator. Commenting, the UCCLA’s director of research, Professor Lubomyr Luciuk, said: “In August 2021 Mr. Kinney widely broadcast a story about how a person or persons unknown trespassed onto private property and committed an act of criminal vandalism. According to the Edmonton Police Department, Mr. Kinney was the actual perpetrator of this crime. We recall how he then hoodwinked mainstream journalists with a completely ‘fake news’ account of what happened and why, provoking social discord and, intentionally or not, furthering Vladimir Putin’s excuse for waging a genocidal war against Ukraine and Ukrainians. It now seems as if this self-styled ‘investigative journalist’ deliberately staged this incident for the purpose of promoting his political opinions. “If found guilty of this crime, we believe he should be required to pay reparations for the damages done, be prohibited from coming near this site and other Ukrainian Canadian community centres, places of worship and cemeteries that have also been targeted by vandals, and be obliged to publicly apologize for his wrongdoing. His illegal action was widely perceived as a hate crime and brought a measure of fear into the lives of Canadian Ukrainians, and not just in Edmonton. “We believe all Canadians have the right to enjoy their property without being subjected to intimidation or threats. Furthermore, and tragically, Mr. Kinney’s alleged behaviour might have a further and very negative impact – leaving the general public skeptical about future reporting on hate crimes directed against other minorities. Reasonable people might be left wondering whether any such accounts are indeed credible or were manufactured to serve a partisan agenda, as appears to have been Mr. Kinney ‘s intention. We applaud the Edmonton Police Department for diligently investigating this incident and laying charges, and we look forward to justice being done.” For more information, please contact media@uccla.ca

For immediate release (Calgary, October 26, 2022) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) welcomes news that the Government of Alberta has approved UCCLF’s proposal to place a statue on the grounds of Alberta’s provincial Legislature commemorating the unjust internment of Ukrainians and others during and after the First World War. From 1914 until 1920, egged on by xenophobia and wartime hysteria, the Dominion Government interned some 8,500 men, women and children in a network of 24 camps from coast to coast. A further 80,000 were forced to register regularly with police. Five of the camps were in Alberta: at or near Jasper, Castle Mountain (Banff National Park), Cave & Basin (Banff National Park), Lethbridge, and Munson. The internees were made to log forests, build roads, and construct a portion of Banff’s golf course. On Oct. 22, during an annual commemoration of Canada’s First National Internment Operations in Calgary, provincial Justice Minister Tyler Shandro announced that his government had okayed the project, proposed by the UCCLF, a registered Canadian charity with a solid history of completing education projects on time and within budget. It will be just the second memorial to WWI internment operations to be located on provincial legislature grounds in Canada (after Manitoba). “The UCCLF looks forward to working with Nathan Neudorf, Alberta’s Minister of Infrastructure, and prominent Alberta artist, Herman Poulin, to have the monument unveiled in the summer of 2023,” said Borys Sydoruk, President of the UCCLF. “This monument will help inform visitors to Alberta’s Legislature, and residents of Edmonton, to the fate that befell thousands of Ukrainians and other Europeans who, having been invited to settle Canada, found themselves arrested and interned for immigrating with the ‘wrong’ passport. “We applaud the Alberta government for its decision to commemorate this dark chapter in Canadian history.” While the project is approved, funding the monument is just getting underway. To support this unique and worthwhile endeavour, please consider a donation to the UCCLF (links below). The UCCLF supports educational and commemorative projects and student learning about Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian issues, and strives to encourage the study of important themes such as Canada's first national internment operations, the Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet Ukraine (the Holodomor), and honouring those Ukrainian Canadians who volunteered for service with the Canadian armed forces in times of war and peace, including Corporal Filip Konowal, VC, and Ukraine's place in Europe. Working with other groups, the UCCLF has placed historical markers, statues and plaques across Canada and internationally. The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation is a non-profit, registered Canadian charity, Registered Charitable Organization Number: 88169 2818 RR0001. ​To donate by cheque, please mail to: ​UCCLF 48 Wood Crest Close SW Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2W 3P9 ​To donate by credit card, please visit Canada Helps: www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/14995 ​For more information, please go to: www.ucclf.ca Alberta Minister of Justice, Tyler Shandro, with UCCLF Members, October 22, 2022

For immediate release (Emerson, MB, September 18, 2022) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) and the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin’s Tourism Committee on Saturday unveiled Canada’s newest educational and commemorative memorial, marking “The March to Emerson,” a somber chapter in Canada’s First World War internment operations history, which occurred in the Manitoba border town of Emerson. More than 100 people from southern Manitoba, the City of Winnipeg, and beyond attended the unveiling at Emerson Corner Park. The municipality and the UCCLF, with the support of the local Ukrainian community as well as the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund, unveiled the trilingual monument and interpretive panels near the location where, in 1915, about 200 men, mostly Ukrainians, unemployed due to wartime xenophobia, tried to cross into the United States to find work. Instead, they were forbidden to leave, arrested, labeled “enemy aliens” under the War Measures Act, and interned in one of 24 camps in Canada. Most of the marchers from Winnipeg were sent to Brandon’s camp, at least initially. Internees were made to work, which was against international laws at the time, but the rules didn’t apply equally to all Canadians. They joined some 8,000 other men, women and children, invited to this country by the Dominion Government only to be arrested when war was declared against Austria-Hungary – the imperial occupier of part of Ukraine. The internment operations lasted from 1914 until 1920 – two years after the war ended. Around 80,000 others were forced to register semi-regularly with authorities. They suffered, not because of anything they had done, but because of where they had come from. Many remained “in fear of the barbed wire fence” long after their release. “I was born and raised in Calgary. I grew up seeing the mountains. I visited Manitoba and parts between many times in my life,” said Borys Sydoruk of the UCCLF, at the unveiling. “Until 1989, I had no idea, nor did most Canadians, of what happened to thousands of Ukrainians and other Europeans invited to settle Canada before I was born. “Thanks to our partners and supporters, educational monuments to the internment operations like this one at Emerson will ensure future generations learn about The March to Emerson, when hundreds of men simply seeking dignity and a job were instead robbed of both, as well as of their freedom.” The affected communities included Ukrainians, Austrians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Serbians, Slovaks, Slovenes and others. Most were civilians. Wayne Arseny, on behalf of the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin, emceed the event. “For decades, the UCCLF has been committed to memorializing not just the internment camp sites themselves, but other sites of significance to the WWI internment operations,” said Arseny. “For our municipality, it was natural to partner with the UCCLF to bring this unfortunate episode to light. It will remind our residents, as well as visitors and passers-by to our community, that the fight for freedom and civil liberties, and the fight against racism, is ongoing.” Consecrating the panels were Very Rev. Dr. Roman Bozyk, Dean of Theology at St. Andrew’s College (Winnipeg), and Rev. Fr. Mykhaylo Khomitskyy of St. Basil the Great Ukrainian Catholic Church (Winnipeg). Singing the responses were Katrusia Basarab and Larissa Klymkiw. UCCLF worked collaboratively with the CFWWIRF, the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin, and the local community, to create and install the panels. UCCLF thanks them for their support.

UCCLF Media Release, For immediate release (Emerson, MB and Calgary, AB, September 7, 2022) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) and the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin Tourism Committee invite you to attend the official opening of a new educational and commemorative exhibit marking Canada’s First World War internment operations of 1914 to 1920. Located about 100 km south of Winnipeg, the site at Emerson commemorates the hundreds of men who walked from Winnipeg to find work in the United States, only to be arrested as “enemy aliens” by federal authorities at Emerson before they could cross the international border. They were then sent to the Brandon Internment Camp. In 24 camps across Canada, more than 8,000 men, women, and children, primarily Ukrainians invited by the Dominion government to settle the West, were unjustly interned as enemy aliens from 1914-1920 under the War Measures Act, their possessions taken, and not all returned. 80,000 others were forced to register semi-regularly with authorities. They suffered, not because of anything they had done, but because of where they had come from. Many remained “in fear of the barbed wire fence” long after their release. The event will take place Saturday, September 17 at 2 p.m. (CT) at Emerson Corner Park (intersection of Main and Church streets), Emerson, Manitoba. UCCLF worked collaboratively with the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin Tourism Committee and others to create the permanent exhibit, which features a photographic monument, as well as an interpretive panel. “There cannot be reconciliation without education,” said UCCLF’s Borys Sydoruk. “We are grateful for the hard work by the volunteers in this community and from across Canada in helping plan, design, create and consecrate this important memorial. The exhibit will educate as well as emotionally remind visitors to the park what happened in Canada a century ago, to minorities like Ukrainians and others, when the government implemented laws based on fear and hysteria and directed it at specific ethnic groups.” The affected communities included Ukrainians, Austrian, Bulgarians, Croatians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Serbians, Slovaks, Slovenes and others, of which most were civilians. Please visit the Manitoba Museum for more background information on the Emerson arrests and internment: https://manitobamuseum.ca/archives/29836 https://manitobamuseum.ca/archives/29757 “Enemy Aliens” Emerson, May 1915, Manitoba Museum

April 25, 2022, 10 AM Eastern Time Speakers Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk Speaker Lubomyr Luciuk is a professor of political geography at the Royal Military College of Canada, a Fellow of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto, and a member of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association Rob Phillips Speaker Archivist, Welsh Political Archive at the National Library of Wales Loryl MacDonald Speaker Associate Chief Librarian for Special Collections, and Director of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Ksenya Kiebuzinski Moderator Head of the Petro Jacyk Central and East European Resource Centre, co-Director of the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine Hosted by the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy Main Sponsor Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine Co-Sponsors Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, University of Toronto Libraries

For immediate release (Ottawa, February 21, 2022) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association is steadfast in condemning hate crimes in Canada, so it is doubling the amount offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of person or persons who defaced an art installation in Toronto with anti-Ukrainian, anti-Canadian, pro-Russian hate speech. Sometime between the 7th and 8th of February, vandals spray-painted hateful messages on a Ukrainian-themed mural covering the façade of Future Bakery in Etobicoke, west of Toronto, owned by a prominent Canadian of Ukrainian background. The profane messages, including ‘Russia is power,’ ‘#LOSERS,’ and ‘F*ck Ukraine and Canada,’ defaced a decades-old mural – irreversible damage to art and property. Bakery owner Borys Wrzesnewskyj, a former Member of Parliament in Canada, has already offered $5,000 for information leading to a conviction. Today, the UCCLA is doubling the amount to $10,000, with the aim of bringing the criminals before a Canadian judge to answer for their crimes. UCCLA has printed thousands of postcards announcing the additional reward, which have already been mailed to all parliamentarians as well as to media, relevant police authorities, leaders in civil society and others. “The war-mongering, imperialist, Kremlin-inspired messages spray-painted by persons unknown on a Toronto small business have no place in Canada, a country of tolerance and diversity,” said Roman Zakaluzny, UCCLA chairman. “We are more than happy to add to the reward to help find the perpetrators who benefit from living in a country of laws, while at the same time defying those very laws and destroying art and private property.” The defacement of the bakery mural was denounced by Canadians, united against the idea of old-world hatreds coming to this country, including Toronto Mayor John Tory, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. For decades, UCCLA has been at the forefront in Canada warning of the dangers of Soviet and Kremlin acts of hatred and propaganda here and abroad, including locating and exposing “former” KGB agents in Canada and calling for their removal, as per Canadian law.

For immediate release (Calgary, August 12, 2021) With respect to acts of criminal vandalism perpetrated against several Ukrainian monuments and memorials across Canada, and a press release from the American-based ‘Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies,’ Roman Zakaluzny, representing the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, observed: “There is compelling evidence to show that KGB operatives deliberately stoked tensions between Jews and Ukrainians during the Soviet period, circulating disinformation about what happened during the Second World War to provoke discord. Those efforts were carried forward by agents of the Russian Federation, including the Russian Embassy’s Kirill Kalinin. In 2018 he was declared a persona non grata and obliged to leave our country after he was exposed for spreading just this kind of hate. Those who deface or damage private property are criminals, and since these louts have exclusively targeted Ukrainian Canadian centres and memorials, we feel they have committed hate crimes. We call upon the police to actively investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice. Our community should not be subject to this kind of intimidation and fear. Apparently some of our American neighbours, and their Canadian friends, are ignorant of the findings of the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals, headed by Mr Justice Jules Deschênes. The Commission concluded that the ‘Galicia Division’ should not be indicted as a group, noted its members had been screened individually before admission to Canada, and found that charges of war crimes against the ‘Galicia Division’ were not substantiated, neither in 1950 when they were first raised by the Canadian Jewish Congress, nor before the Commission. So we have to wonder why, in 2021, some continue to regurgitate Soviet-era propaganda. We also find it unconscionable that people who claim to be interested in justice apparently approve of criminals who sneak onto private property under the cover of darkness to deface memorials or damage cemetery monuments. Frankly, we’re astounded any U.S. or Canadian organization would seem to sanction such criminal behaviour. We call upon the FSWC to denounce these criminal acts.” St. Michael's Cemetery, Edmonton, Alberta

For immediate release (Ottawa, July 2, 2021) The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (www.uccla.ca) condemns the recent vandalism of two Ukrainian Catholic churches in Canada and wants these incidents to be investigated as hate crimes. Overnight, between June 30 and July 1, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church in Calgary was vandalized with spray paint, and the property defaced, including a memorial plaque commemorating Canada’s first national internment operations. And, on June 18, it was reported that a 100-year-old Ukrainian Catholic Church in Fisher Branch, in Manitoba’s Interlake region, was vandalized; windows were smashed and numerous items within the church were damaged. “What happened to indigenous peoples as a result of the residential school system is appalling and we support their efforts to secure a recognition for what they suffered,” said Roman Zakaluzny, chairman of UCCLA. “But to desecrate churches and frighten their peaceful congregants is appalling and must be investigated as a hate crime against an identifiable group, specifically Ukrainian Canadians. Those responsible for this vandalism are obviously ignorant - the Ukrainian Catholic Church is independent of the Roman Catholic Church and no parish of our Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada was ever involved in the creation, management, or functioning of any of the residential schools in this country." “The UCCLF placed more than 100 plaques across Canada, like the one defaced in Calgary, to commemorate Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914-1920, whose victims were mainly Ukrainians and other Europeans. The systemic racism our community suffered resulted in thousands of innocents being jailed, then forced to do heavy labour for the benefit of their jailers, all across Canada. The irony is that this plaque, memorializing this dark chapter in Canada’s history, was also defaced, by those whose appreciation of the history of this country seems rather purblind." “The Ukrainian Canadian community wants the federal government to help restore the burial sites of all the victims of Canada’s first national internment operations. An internee cemetery established at Spirit Lake, in Quebec’s Abitibi region, by Ottawa’s men, holds the remains of at least 16 internees, including children, although the whereabouts of at least one child, Nellie Manko, remain uncertain. Despite repeated requests from the Ukrainian Canadian community for government assistance in restoring, properly marking, and hallowing this unique historical site, no action has been taken. Why should this internee cemetery be forgotten? This internee cemetery is rapidly deteriorating and will soon vanish into boreal forest. That is unacceptable. "Now that a $27-million federal fund has been established to locate, restore, and properly commemorate burial places where those innocent of any wrongdoing were buried, the UCCLA is again asking the federal Heritage Minister, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, to address our concerns with respect to the Spirit Lake internee cemetery, to ensure that this site is properly protected and the remains of those buried there are not lost to indifference, ignorance, or prejudice. Ukrainian Canadian victims of unjust federal policies and decisions are no less worthy of being remembered than those who suffered similar indignites, regardless of ‘race, creed or colour.'"

UCCLA Media Release: Ottawa (4 June 2021 - For Immediate Release) A significant fund was set aside by the federal government this week, providing for indigenous groups to engage in research leading to the location and hallowing of the remains of children who died while at Canada’s residential schools. This is long overdue for our Indigenous brothers and sisters. UCCLA applauds the federal government for starting to atone for the forced relocation and suspension of liberties our First Nations and Inuit peoples suffered via the residential school system. It is a precedent. Between 1914 and 1920 thousands of Ukrainians and other Europeans were branded ‘enemy aliens,’ forced to labour for the profit of their jailers, disenfranchised, and subjected to other state-sanctioned censures. They were victims not only of wartime xenophobia but of pre-war racist prejudices that would persist long after the end of Canada’s first national internment operations. There were 24 camps across Canada where internees were held, including women and children – the latter at Vernon, B.C., and Spirit Lake, Que. (known today as La Ferme, near Amos). A cemetery established at Spirit Lake by the federal government holds the remains of 19 internees, including children; the whereabouts of at least one child, Nellie Manko, remain uncertain. Despite repeated requests from the Ukrainian Canadian community for government assistance in securing, restoring, and properly marking this unique historical site, no action has been taken, preferring this cemetery remain forgotten. The site is rapidly deteriorating, and will soon vanish into the Abitibi. This is unacceptable. Now that a $27-million federal fund is established for our fellow indigenous Canadians to locate, restore, and properly commemorate those places where innocents were buried, the UCCLA is asking federal Heritage Minister, the Hon. Steven Guilbeault, to redress a similar situation at the Spirit Lake internee cemetery, as well as with other internees buried in unmarked graves at other locations. The precedent of the June 3 announcement makes federal intervention appropriate, necessary, and urgent. Commenting, UCCLA’s chairman, Roman Zakaluzny, said: “We applaud our indigenous brothers and sisters for finally being able to move forward with locating and hallowing their deceased children, victims of the federal government’s residential school system. We hope that Ukrainians Canadians, victims of a federal government forced relocation and internment program, can also do the same. “On Sunday, June 20 – Father’s Day – Canada will mark the 101st anniversary of the conclusion of the internment operations of Ukrainian and other Europeans that began during the First World War and continued for two years after. Let us not forget the men, but also women and children like Nellie Manko, who to this day remain in unmarked graves at various former internment camps across Canada.” Spirit Lake Internment Camp, Women and Children

Kingston, Ontario, September 14, 1995 On Tuesday, September 14, 1995, at 10:10 am, a memorial plaque dedicated to the Ukrainian Canadian Soldiers who served their country with distinction overseas during the Second World War will be unveiled at the St. James's Church, Sussex Gardens, Paddington, London, England. Over 35,000 Ukrainian Canadian men and women served with the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War. They formed a Ukrainian Canadian Servicemen's Association (UCSA) and, in August 1943, established a Club in the vicarage of St. James's Church. This building became a unique "home away from home" for thousands of Canadian soldiers of Ukrainian heritage. It also served as the headquarters of the Central Ukrainian Relief Bureau (CURB), which aided thousands of Ukrainian Displaced Persons and Victims of War. Many eventually resettled in Canada, the United States of American and the United Kingdom. Donations from the Ukrainian communities of Canada and Great Britain, and the generous support of the owners of the building, have made the installation of this plaque possible. No financial assistance received was provided by the Government of Canada. Mrs. Anne Panchuk, a veteran of UCSA and CURB, and the widow of a founding member and president of both organizations, Gordon Richard Bohdan Panchuk, will unveil this plaque, following a brief ecumenical service in St. James's Church.