INTERNMENT CAMPS PART OF BANFF HISTORY
BY JACKIE GOLD FOR THE BANFF CRAG & CANYON
With Canada's history of peacekeeping excellence and widespread reputation for being a country of "friendly people," it's sometimes surprising to remember that in times of war Canada was as protective of its sovereignty as any other nation.
Though many Canadians are familiar to some degree with the Japanese Canadian internment camps in British Columbia in the Second World War, a similar situation in the First World War with Ukrainian Canadians is not as widely known about or discussed.
The promise of a new life and free land brought over 170,000 Ukrainians to Canada starting around 1891. They settled the vast prairie land, often with great success, despite the many hardships they constantly faced. Their best efforts to integrate with the communities however, and build a new life for themselves, was destroyed with the outbreak of the First World War.
The government, led by Prime Minister Robert Borden, implemented the War Measures Act (1914). The act forced over 80,000 Ukrainian Canadians to register as ‘enemy aliens' which required them to report to local authorities on a regular basis.
The act also resulted in the internment of 8,579 ‘enemy aliens' of which over 5,000 were Ukrainians who had immigrated to Canada from territories under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The driving force of the internment is still debatable, as some argue it was mainly a case of war fever and xenophobia, while other believe that the free labour provided from the internment camps and the overall economic benefit of such a system was the main goal.
The War Measures Act was first implemented during the First World War where Ukrainian Canadians were primarily and unjustly made its first victims, and used again in 1941 for the internment of Japanese Canadians, and again in 1970 in Quebec .
As more and more Ukrainian Canadians were arrested, they were kept in jails to await transfer to one of the 26 internment camps in Canada . In addition to losing their freedom, their property was also confiscated, and for those that did make it to the end of the internment it was often never returned.
Life in the internment camps was often harsh, and the lives of the prisoners were often considered expendable to many of their guards. In Canmore and Banff the interred prisoners were used to help build roads, create the golf course in Banff , and work the mines in Canmore.
Two camps were set up between 1915 and 1917 in what is now Banff National Park . The Cave and Basin camp area near the Banff townsite was used in the winter, and the other at Castle Mountain , was used during the summer months.
The town camp was "home" to about 600 prisoners and 180 guards. The internees were put to work in the park for 25 cents a day, and their labours were mainly used to build a roadway between the Banff townsite and Lake Louise . When at the Cave and Basin site, prisoners were forced to work on the golf course expansion, further road construction and bridge building. At the Castle Mountain camp living conditions were described as grim, with at least one reported suicide, 60 attempts to escape, and a number of work related deaths and injuries.
On Sept. 10, 1915, an internee, John Serna, suffered a serious accident working in a Canmore coal mine. Just over four months later on Jan. 15,1916, he died from those injuries in the Canmore Hospital . The chief inspector of mines, John Sterling of the Department of Public Works, wrote to the mine administration about the incident. Of the incident he wrote, "I note you are of the opinion that no person was to blame for this accident but it appears to me that the examiner was of the opinion that the place was dangerous as he gave instructions for it to be made safe, and he should have taken the customary precautions in this matter.'
In the same Canmore mine, Coal Mine No. 2, a 17-year-old Ukrainian Canadian Joe ArychuI, was seriously injured on Feb. 27, 1917, though it is unknown if he died from his injuries or not.
By September 1917 even members of the Canadian government were beginning to recognize the negative treatment the prisoners were receiving. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who had been prime minister for 15 years before Sir Robert Borden took office in 1911, said that the treatment of the interred was becoming a matter of future national prosperity. "When the war is over, when peace is restored, and when we come to normal life, when we shall send our immigration agents to Europe again as we did before, do you believe that our Canadian immigration agents, when they go among the Galicians, (and)
Bukovinians (Ukrainians), that these different races will be disposed to come to this country, when they know that Canada has not met its pledges and promises to these people, who have settled in our midst ... if it be said in Canada that the pledges which we have given to immigration when inviting them to come to this country to settle with us, can be broken with impunity, that we will not trust these men, and that we will not be true to the promises which we made to them, then I despair for the future of this country," Laurier said.
The two camps in Banff National Park closed in 1917 and the remaining 47 prisoners were transferred to another camp in Ontario . Following some heavy lobbying by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the federal government finally agreed in 1994 to allow an official memorial and statue to be built at the Castle Mountain camp.
The actual camp site is now hidden from view by a forest, and if visitors do happen upon the site, there is not much left other than some barbed wire from the camp fences, whitewashed stones, pieces of timber and various kitchen implements.
For more information on the Ukrainian internment visit www.uccla.ca . <<back |
