ACTION ITEMS (05/15/94)

ACTION ITEMS

Florida's "Holocaust Bill"

Attention Florida residents: The "Holocaust Bill" has reached Gov. Lawton Chiles for approval. This bill will require Florida public schools to teach about the Jewish Holocaust that occurred during World War II at the hands of Nazi Germany. The problem with this bill is that it does not require Florida public schools to teach about any other genocide, particularly avoiding the Ukrainian Famine of 1933.

I urge all throughout the country to write in protest of this exclusionary Holocaust Bill.

Write to:

Gov. Lawton Chiles, Capitol, Tallahassee, FL 32399; and Sen. Connie Mack, United States Senate, Suite 602, 600 N. Westshore Blvd., Tampa, FL 33609; Sen. Bob Graham, United States Senate, Suite 3270, Tampa, FL 33602.

- submitted by Luda Semeniuk

CBC's broadcast policy

In late April, Montreal filmmaker Yurij Luhovy received notice from CBC-TV that his documentary on Canada's first national internment operations and the Ukrainian Canadians, "Freedom Had a Price," will not be shown on Canada's national television network. While admitting that "the film has merit," the author of the letter to Mr. Luhovy, Jerry McIntosh, a senior producer with CBC Newsworld, indicated that the film would not be broadcast because it was funded "by groups and agencies with a specific point of view on this issue."

The mandate of the CBC, according to Jim Byrd, vice-president of the English service, must include being "sensitive to the multicultural realities of Canada" (The Montreal Gazette, March 26). Yet we are now faced with CBC bureaucrats telling us that a Canadian-made documentary film, about a relatively unknown Canadian historical episode by an award-winning Canadian filmmaker, will not be shown. In fact, the film was funded primarily by Mr. Luhovy, and the only material assistance provided by the Ukrainian Canadian community was a repayable loan and access to the archival materials collected by researchers working for the UCCLA.

Mr. Luhovy has crafted a balanced compelling and informative documentary that reflects his interpretation of the events, and includes commentaries by scholars who do not necessarily support the Ukrainian Canadian community's redress campaign. As Canadian taxpayers and viewers, we have the right to insist upon the showing of this film on CBC-TV, in prime time, and we must be vigilant against any apparent censorship or bias against Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian issues in the CBC hierarchy.

We urge you to contact your local MP and CBC-affiliate to protest Mr. McIntosh's decision. We also ask that letters be sent to the following, insisting that "Freedom had a Price" be shown on the CBC:

Anthony Manera, President, CBC, 1500 Bronson Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 3J5; Jerry McIntosh, CBC Newsworld, P.O. Box 500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1E6; Mark Starovicz, CBC TV Documentaries, P.O. Box 500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1E6; Dr. Keith Spicer, Chairman, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2.

- submitted by Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association

War crimes proceedings

On February 15, 1985, the Mulroney government set up a royal commission on war crimes, with Justice Jules Deschenes as the sole commissioner. On March 15, 1985, the Civil Liberties Commission (the predecessor of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association) was formed to deal with the threat to the reputation of the Ukrainian Canadian community and to the physical safety of its members. From the beginning, the Ukrainian Canadian community, through the Civil Liberties Commission, argued that alleged war criminals should be tried in Canada, in Canadian criminal courts, under Canadian criminal law. It opposed denaturalization and deportation, the procedure in the United States of America (and later followed by Australia and England).

Why? The American system of dealing with war criminals has consisted of denaturalizing and deporting persons accused of being war criminals between 1933 and 1945 in Europe. The person is not tried as a war criminal. The accusation of being a war criminal triggers a search for misstatements on entry into the United States, for example, the wrong place and date of birth. This type of misstatement was common among refugees from the Soviet Union, attempting in this way to protect relatives left behind and to escape being repatriated to the Soviet Union and being sent to Russian concentration camps.

The case of John Demjanjuk is an example of what goes wrong.

John Demjanjuk was born in eastern Ukraine. He was drafted into the Red Army, captured by the Germans, and given the choice of starving to death, or serving the Germans in a menial capacity and living. He chose to live.

If he had acknowledged his true birthplace to the American authorities, he would have been turned over to the Russians, as millions were, to become a statistic in the concentration camps. His reward from the United States for a useful and productive life as a citizen has been a false accusation of being a major war criminal, and 16 years of jail in the United States and Israel.

Trials in the U.S. are before administrative tribunals, not the regular courts. The treatment is shabby, the safeguards of a criminal trial are not present, legal aid cannot be obtained, the American Bill of Rights does not apply. Mr. Demjanjuk was railroaded out of the United States because he had concealed where he had been born to avoid deportation to Soviet Russian concentration camps, and to avoid harm to relatives in Ukraine. He was denaturalized and deported because he was accused of being, but not proven to be, a war criminal called "Ivan the Terrible." Deported to Israel, he was tried, found guilty and then released by the Supreme Court, which concluded there was no evidence linking him to "Ivan the Terrible."

He is now back in the United States, fighting to recover his citizenship. If he had been tried in an American criminal court, the lack of evidence would have led to an acquittal.

In Canada, the efforts of the Ukrainian, Baltic, Croatian, German, Italian and other communities led to legislation that gives the Canadian courts jurisdiction over war crimes committed anywhere in the world. The accused is then tried in a normal criminal trial for the crime he is accused of committing: murder, torture, kidnapping, etc. Canada is the only country that has legislation against war crimes/crimes against humanity committed in the past, the present and the future. Canadians can properly be proud that Canada leads the world in dealing with war crimes.

However, there has been continuing pressure to introduce the American system, because the standard of proof is so much lower than required by Canada's war crimes legislation. If the policy is changed, any immigrant to Canada who concealed his place of birth to save his relatives from harm can and will be denaturalized and deported. The minister of justice, Allan Rock, has confirmed articles in the media that the government is planning to abandon the Canadian system and adopt the American one in dealing with war criminals.

Write to the government and your member of Parliament that you oppose denaturalization and deportation and support trying alleged war criminals in Canada's criminal law courts.

Letters should be sent to: The Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien, M.P., Prime Minister, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6; and (name of member of parliament) M.P., House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6.

If you live in the justice minister's constituency, write to: Hon. Allan Rock, M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General for Canada, Constituency Office, 2940A Bloor St. W., Etobicoke, Ontario M8X 1B6.

- submitted by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association

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