Dopomoha Ukraini Foundation supports publication on internment

TORONTO - The Dopomoha Ukraini (Aid to Ukraine) Foundation has helped underwrite the publication of a booklet titled "Without Just Cause," which deals with Canada's first national internment operations of 1914-1920. Written by UCCLA's director of research, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, this booklet provides basic historical information about a relatively unknown episode in Canadian history, while appending important new documentation, including the August 24, 2005, Agreement in Principle between the government of Canada and the community, and the final version of Bill C331 - the Ukrainian Canadian Restitution Act, which secured royal assent on November 25, 2005.

"The financial assistance provided by Dopomoha Ukraini, the charitable foundation set up by the family of Borys Wrzesnewskyj, MP (Etobicoke Center), in part to honor the memory of his uncle and aunt, Mychailo and Jaroslawa Szafraniuk, will help make it possible for us to provide critical information to our community and others about the Ukrainian Canadian community's ongoing requests for recognition, restitution and reconciliation," said Dr. Luciuk.

He noted that Mr. Wrzesnewskyj has "played a pivotal role in helping move this issue forward in the House of Commons and, with this donation, he has aided significantly in our efforts to make all Canadians better aware of the harm done to Ukrainians and other Europeans during Canada's first national internment operations."

Complementary copies of the publication will soon be distributed free of charge to MPs, selected public and university libraries across Canada, and international repository libraries around the world. "That would not have been possible without Mr. Wrzesnewskyj's generous assistance, for which we are all most grateful," Dr. Luciuk said.

He went on to stress that "Safeguarding the civil liberties and human rights of ethnic, religious and racial minorities in times of domestic and international crisis is particularly important, so being better informed about historic injustices of the sort described in this book is a crucial step in ensuring that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 4, 2006, No. 23, Vol. LXXIV

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