Rare registry lists "enemy aliens" interned at Spirit Lake in Quebec

by Borys Sydoruk

OTTAWA - Member of Parliament Inky Mark displayed a hand-written registry from the Spirit Lake Internment Camp at Spirit Lake, Quebec, which contains the names of 257 Ukrainians interned as "enemy aliens" by the government of Canada from 1914 to 1920. The registry includes the names of two survivors, Mary Hasket (nee Manko) and Stefania Mielniczuk, who were born in Montréal. Nearly all evidence of the internment camps, including all registries except this one, was destroyed by the Canadian government.

Some 5,000 Ukrainians were interned by the Canadian government because they had emigrated from the Austro-Hungarian Empire with whom Canada was at war. But those Ukrainians had left the Austro-Hungarian Empire seeking the freedom that Canada offered, some of whom had already acquired the status of, or were born, British subjects - as Canadian "citizenship" was then, by law.

Just prior to the question period in Parliament on October 10, Mr. Mark delivered the following statement:

"The richness of Ukrainian culture displayed annually at Canada's National Ukrainian Festival in my riding of Dauphin-Swan River stands in sharp contrast to the injustice done to thousands of innocent Ukrainian Canadians during Canada's national internment operations of 1914 to 1920.

"When war broke out these hard-working men, women and children were categorized as 'enemy aliens,' imprisoned, their property confiscated, and their basic rights and freedoms removed. Five thousand Ukrainians were interned in 24 concentration camps across Canada.

From the late 1980s, Ukrainian Canadians sought acknowledgement from the government of Canada of a wrong, and restitution of wealth confiscated from internees that still remains in federal coffers.

Despite efforts in 1991 by Peter Milliken the member of Parliament from Kingston and the Islands, the situation remains unchanged. I ask all honourable Members to join me in bringing justice and closure to this regrettable event in our nation's history.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 9, 1997, No. 45, Vol. LXV

| Home Page |