Multimedia >Video >ImmigrationFreedom Had a Price Canada's First Internment Operations(1914-1920) Produced by La Maison de Montage Luhovy Inc. in association with the National Film Board of Canada with the participation of the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre, Heritage Canada, and the Urkainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko (1994) Introduction Before the First World War, 170,000 Ukrainians came to Canada seeking freedom and a better life. Thousands soon found themselves interned as 'enemy aliens' in twenty-four camps across Canada (the first internment camps ever set up by the Canadian government). Freedom Had a Price At the turn of the century, many Ukrainians lived in the western Ukrainian territories of Galicia and Bukovyna, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where they found themselves victims of economic exploitation and political domination. At the time, Canada was actively recruiting Eastern European to work in industry and settle the Prairie frontier. Lured by the promise of abundant work and 'free land', tens of thousands of Ukrainian labourers and farmers, technically citizens of the Empire, left their occupied homeland, and came to Canada in search of freedom and a better life. When Canada entered World War One against Germany and Austro-Hungary in 1914, 170,000 Ukrainians lived in Canada. Overnight, immigrants from countries with which Canada was at war who had not yet obtained Canadian citizenship were labelled 'enemy aliens'. Of 95,000 Austro-Hungarian immigrants deemed 'enemy aliens', the overwhelming majority were Ukrainian. War-time hysteria and anti-foreigner sentiment created a hostile atmosphere. "Enemy aliens" who lived within twenty miles of an urban centre were compelled to register, carry identity papers and report regularly to the police. Some 88,000 immigrants, most of whom were Ukrainian, were subject to these strict regulations, which left some feeling like 'criminals', and others living in constant fear of internment. For many 'enemy aliens', internment was more than just a fear; it was a reality. Between 1914 and 1920, nearly 9,000 'enemy aliens' were imprisoned in twenty-four internment camps across the country. Over 5,000 were Ukrainians. Most were recent immigrants. A climate of anti-alien prejudice, combined with a troubled Canadian economy, saw these immigrants labelled a threat to security and civil order, and put into camps alongside actual prisoners-of-war of German and Austro-Hungarian origin. The Ukrainian immigrants, however, were classified as 'second-class prisoners'. Most were sent to remote internment camps where treatment was harsh and conditions grim. Internees were forced to do physical labour for sub-standard pay to the advantage of the government. They cleared forests, drained land, and built roads. If anyone tried to escape from the camps, guards had orders to 'shoot to kill'. Private companies including Algoma Steel, the CPR, and Abitibi Pulp and Paper also profited from internee labour. In all, 107 internees died while interned. Six were shot and killed while trying to escape. In 1917, the Canadian parliament passed the War Times Election Act, which stripped the right to vote from 143,000 Canadian citizens of Ukrainian descent. And the discriminatory measures continued after the end of the war in 1918. In the wake of the Russian Revolution, several hundred more Ukrainians were interned as suspected Bolshevik sympathizers. A number of them were deported in 1919-20. For many of those interned during six years of operations, their properties and valuables, seized upon internment, were never returned. The immigrants interned as 'enemy aliens' during World War One were Canada's first innocent victims of the War Measures Act that was later used against Japanese-Canadians in World War Two and in Quebec in 1970. Their story represents a dark, all-but-forgotten chapter in Canada’s human and civil rights history. Credits:
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