Turning the pages back...

May 2, 1999

Two years ago The Ukrainian Weekly reported that the Canadian federal government announced it would providing financial support for the development of an interpretive and educational center at the site of one of Canada's World War I period concentration camps, at Spirit Lake, Quebec through its Millennium Fund.

Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray announced, among other projects, that a grant of $12,500 is being provided for the development of the Spirit Lake site in northern Quebec, where thousands of Ukrainians and other Europeans were imprisoned as "enemy aliens" during Canada's first national internment operations of 1914-1920.

The total project cost was estimated at $113,120 according to the local supporters of the museum interpretive center who had been working in cooperation with the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association for over a year on plans for the site.

UCCLA's director of special projects, Borys Sydoruk, noted that his organization sees the announcement "as being further evidence that one of our goals, making certain that this event [internment] is not forgotten, is slowly being met."

UCCLA Chairman J.B. Gregorovich, underlined: "Working together we can achieve the goal of making all Canadians aware of this dark episode in Canada's past."

Source: "Canadian government supports educational center at internment site," The Ukrainian Weekly, May 2, 1999, Vol. LXVII, No. 18.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 29, 2001, No. 17, Vol. LXIX

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