Forgotten history

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/11/2023 (674 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As we approach Remembrance Day every year, we are reminded to take the time to think of those Canadians who have given so much for Canada. Yet at times we forget about the dark part of history that for a long period of time was vague and forgotten.

History is sometimes not told in full, such as Canada’s First National Internment from 1914-1920. This November marks the 103^rd anniversary where Canadians were sent to internment camps across Canada.

The Great War of 1914-1918 created difficulty for new Canadians to become natural citizens.

Many Canadians came to Canada from regions of Europe that was under the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the start of the First World War. The Canadian government, under Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden, between the years 1914 and 1920 introduced internment camps throughout Canada.

Why were these internment camps introduced? Canada feared that many eastern European immigrants would have some form of affiliation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Therefore, the Canadian government implemented the War Measures Act on Aug. 22, 1914 which led to Canada’s first internment operation, a campaign that became a dark period in Canadian history.

Even though there was never any evidence of disloyalty, people were imprisoned needlessly and forced to do heavy labour in 24 internment camps throughout Canada’s frontier hinterland. There were two identified internment camps in Manitoba, one in Brandon and the other in Winnipeg.

Thousands of innocent Ukrainians, Croatians, Slovenians, Serbs, Hungarians, Czechs, Italians, Poles, Bulgarians, Romanians, Slovaks and other Europeans were unjustly interned in Canadian concentration camps during the First World War period. Not because of anything they had done but only because of where they had come from.

These new Canadians between 1914-1920 were promised freedom and free land, yet suddenly found themselves as “enemy aliens” placed in camps, forced to do heavy labour, their valuables and property confiscated.

It is important to note that women and children were held in two internment camps, Vernon, British Columbia and in Spirit Lake, Quebec; the men were spread throughout Canada in the other 22 locations and forced to do heavy labour.

This was an odd period in Canadian history where, on one hand, many new Canadians volunteered for service with the Canadian forces during the First World War, then on the opposite side of the spectrum, thousands of innocent Europeans constituted majority of the civilian internees.

To raise the consciousness and awareness about the first national internment operation, the Canadian government has listened and recognized this tragic era.

As Manitobans, we do not forget the past, we strive to build a better future and a more inclusive society and province. In doing so, a statue located and erected a number of years ago in November at the Manitoba legislature grounds has a text of 16 languages representing the various ethnocultural communities who were affected by this chapter in Canadian history.

There is a plaque adjacent to the statue, in three languages (English, French and Ukrainian) it has the following inscription “thousands of Ukrainian Canadians and other eastern Europeans were unjustly imprisoned as enemy aliens during Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914-1920.”

This plaque is in memory of those held in the Winnipeg Receiving Station between Sept. 1, 1914 and July 29, 1916.

The internment issue of the First World War and Canada’s attitude toward its immigrants led to the same injustice happening again in the Second World War to Japanese Canadians, from 1939-1945.

Acknowledging forgotten segments of Canadians history even 103 years later becomes an educational exercise, and has an impact on Canada and all Canadians.

Communities throughout Canada should continue being vigilant by commemorating historical milestones so that Canadians would not forget that dark period in Canada’s history.

Peter John Manastyrsky writes articles on political issues and is a member of the Ukrainian community of Winnipeg.