Ukrainian-Cdns. hail resolution of internment issue

WINNIPEG - Ukrainian Canadians closed a painful chapter in their community's history Friday as the federal government announced a $10 million grant to recognize the internment of Eastern European immigrants in Canadian work camps during the First World War.

The money is going into an endowment fund that will allow the community to better educate Canadians about the forced labour camps.

"After more than two decades of community pressure and a string of broken political promises, the troubling issue of Ukrainian internment during World War One has finally been resolved," said Oleh Gerus, vice president of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko, the Winnipeg-based foundation that will administer the funds.

"I guess we can say it's about time."

The internment lasted from 1914-1920 and mostly affected immigrants and new Canadians with Eastern European heritage. Thousands of people were stripped of their possessions and forced into work camps while thousands more were labelled enemy aliens and were required to report regularly to police.

"Canada's past includes actions which are inconsistent with the values Canadians hold dear today," said Treasury Board President Vic Toews in a Winnipeg speech Friday to several dozen representatives from the Ukrainian Canadian community.

It was the closest statement to an apology. Through the years of lobbying, the Ukrainian Canadian community did not ask for an apology, instead favouring the government's recognition of the internment along with educational programs - something Toews acknowledged.

"Our government believes it is important to ensure that Canadians have opportunities to learn about our history, including and perhaps especially, the difficult periods that are part of our past," he said at Friday's announcement in an area of north Winnipeg that's long been a hub of Ukrainian culture.

Lesia Szwaluk, executive director of the Shevchenko foundation, said while the transfer of the funds formally recognizes the community's struggles,

"The work only starts today," she said, referring to the projects that are planned, like commemorative plaques and interpretive centres in some of the national parks that once housed the work camps.

Though a Ukrainian group will manage the funds, other ethnic communities who were affected will be able to apply for money.

The grant follows up on a promise made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2006 to commemorate the internment. The former Liberal government also made a pledge to acknowledge the First World War internment, although the money did not flow.

A similar grant announcement took place Thursday in Toronto. Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, gave $5 million to create programs to educate Canadians about the Chinese head tax and other prejudicial immigration policies.