UCCLA chairman thanks Manitoba MP (11/09/97)

UCCLA chairman thanks Manitoba MP

TORONTO - Speaking on behalf of over 1 million Canadians of Ukrainian heritage, John B. Gregorovich, chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, wrote to Preston Manning, leader of the Reform Party of Canada, the official opposition in the House of Commons, to express the community's appreciation of a statement made in Parliament by Inky Mark, MP for Dauphin-Swan River, Manitoba.

Mr. Mark rose on October 10 to endorse the community's request for an acknowledgment of the injustice done to Ukrainians and other Europeans during Canada's first national internment operations of 1914-1920 and for the restitution of the wealth confiscated from the internees, some of which was never returned and so remains in the federal treasury to this date.

Commenting on Mr. Mark's initiative, Mr. Gregorovich stated:

"We applaud Mr. Mark's statement. He has helped to remind all Canadians that we have never asked Ottawa to apologize for what happened, only to recognize that it was an injustice that should finally be acknowledged. We are not seeking a penny in compensation. Our proposals would make positive, educational use of the internees's illegitimately harvested wealth by ensuring that trilingual historical markers are placed at some of the concentration camp sites and by developing a permanent museum exhibit recalling this little-known episode in our nation's history.

Prime Minister Chrétien once promised that he, and the Liberal Party of Canada, would support our claim. Mr. Mark has reminded him of that pledge. The other parties in the House have been supportive of our claims. So we can only ask: Why won't Mr. Chrétien do the right thing while the last known survivors of the internment operations, both Quebec-born women, are still alive?"

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