Canadian MP's bill seeks to promote redress for internment operation (04/29/01)

Canadian MP's bill seeks to promote redress for internment operation

OTTAWA - Inky Mark, member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan River, Manitoba, held a press conference on April 24 in conjunction with the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association to promote the issue of redress for the internment of thousands of Ukrainian Canadians and other European immigrants during World War I, which he called "one of Canada's darkest moments."

Mr. Mark referred to a promise made during the 1993 election by then Opposition Leader Jean Chrétien to the Ukrainian community and the families of those interned that he would bring the redress issue to a close when his party became government. "That was almost eight years ago, and the families of these unjustly interned people deserve to see that promise fulfilled," said Mr. Mark.

Mr. Mark has been promoting the issue of Ukrainian redress since his arrival on Parliament Hill in 1997.

"I come from a riding that is home to a great number of people of Ukrainian descent. It is important to them that justice be served. That's why I had a Private Member's Bill drafted to seek an apology and restitution for this travesty of justice. I wanted to do all I could to promote the right thing being done," Mr. Mark explained.

"All I want to do is see that Canadians are aware of this issue, that the prime minister fulfills his promise so that the families of those who were interned can finally put this to rest," he added.

Mr. Mark has some 6,070 people of Ukrainian descent in his riding. That figure represents over 13 percent of the population in Dauphin-Swan River.

Prof. Lubomyr Luciuk and children's author Marsha Skrypuch of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association participated in the press conference with Mr. Mark.

Prof. Luciuk, the UCCLA's research director, told the attending reporters that Bill C-331 would not cost taxpayers "one red cent." Instead, the UCCLA "is simply asking for the money that was confiscated from the internees to be tallied up and used to place memorial plaques at all 24 concentration camp sites across the country," he said.

A permanent museum in Banff National Park, which was the site of two concentration camps, is also proposed. In addition, educational materials on the internment of Ukrainians would be created and distributed to schools.

Mrs. Skrypuch, whose grandfather was imprisoned at the Jasper internment camp and lost his homestead, spoke of what Bill C-331 means to her family. "For the crime of being Ukrainian, my grandfather was stripped of his worldly goods, interned and forced to do hard labor at the age of 18," she said. "It was racism, pure and simple."

For Mrs. Skrypuch and her family, the bill is an acknowledgment that what happened to her grandfather and the 5,000 others was unjust. "The passage of Bill C-331 would show that Canada will never again imprison people because of their race," she underlined.

Text of Bill C-331

Preamble: An act to recognize the injustice that was done to persons of Ukrainian descent and other Europeans who were interned at the time of the first world war and to provide for public commemoration and for restitution which is to be devoted to education and the promotion of tolerance.

Whereas persons of Ukrainian descent and other Europeans were imprisoned, disenfranchised and dispossessed of their assets without just cause at the time of the first world war and were kept there from 1914 to 1920; and

Whereas it is beyond time that public recognition be made of this injustice and appropriate commemoration and public education undertaken;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

1. This act may be cited as the Ukrainian Canadian Restitution Act.

2. (1) The Minister of Canadian Heritage shall:

(a) cause memorial plaques to be installed at any of the 24 concentration camps at which persons of Ukrainian descent and other Europeans were interned during and after the first world war, which do not yet have such plaques, describing the events of that time and the regrets of present-day Canadians, written in Ukrainian, English and French;

(b) ensure that all memorial plaques at concentration camps, whenever installed, are properly maintained; and

(c) establish a permanent museum in Banff National Park, at the site of the concentration camp that was established there, with signage in Ukrainian, English and French, providing information on:

(i) the operation of all the concentration camps established in Canada at the time of the first world war; and

(ii) the role that Ukrainian Canadians have played in the building of Canada since that time.

(2) The Minister of Canadian Heritage shall arrange for suitable ceremonies at the time of installation of each memorial plaque and at the opening of the museum.

3. (1) The Minister of Canadian heritage, in cooperation with the Minister of Finance, shall negotiate with the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association a suitable payment in restitution for the confiscation of property and other assets from Ukrainian Canadians.

(2) The restitution payment shall be applied to

(a) the development and production of educational materials that cover Canada's past internment policies and activities, and their distribution to schools, colleges and universities, with the objective of widening understanding of the harm of ethnic, religious or racial intolerance and discrimination, and the importance of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in protecting all Canadians from such injustice in the future; and

(b) such other educational projects as are agreed to in consultation with the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

4. The Minister of Public Works and Government Services shall instruct Canada Post Corporation to issue a stamp or set of stamps to commemorate the internment of persons of Ukrainian descent and other Europeans during the first world war.

5. The Minister of Justice shall undertake a review of the Emergencies Act and report to Parliament within a year of the date this act comes into force with recommendations on any legislative changes necessary to ensure that unjust internment such as that described in the preamble never again occurs in Canada.

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