Military Museums unveil exhibit commemorating thousands of immigrants interned during WWI

A new exhibit at Calgary’s Military Museums commemorates Canada’s internment operations during the First World War, which imprisoned more than 8,000 immigrants.

At the start of the war, the adoption of the War Measures Act allowed Canada’s federal government to imprison residents who were citizens of countries at war with Canada in 24 internment camps across the country.

A majority of the 8,579 “enemy aliens” who were interned were Ukrainian-Canadians, but other groups affected included Alevi Kurds, Armenians, Austrians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Ottoman Turks, Poles, Romanians, Serbians, Slovaks and Slovenes. 

In addition to those imprisoned, another 80,000 were forced to carry identification papers and register regularly with authorities.

The new exhibit, aimed to be both educational and commemorative, was unveiled Saturday, and was created in partnership with the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation. 

“During the the First World War … there were many Ukrainians that came and immigrated from Ukraine into Canada with the promise of a better life, and when they arrived here, many found that,” said Kent Griffiths, a retired major, and curator of the Calgary Highlanders Regimental Museum and Archives. 

“But as the war began, there was this thought that the people from Ukraine who lived closest to our enemies were probably our enemies themselves, and they were called enemy aliens.”

While many Canadians know that Japanese-Canadians were interned during the Second World War, he said, most are unaware the same was done to Ukrainians and others during the First World War.

The internees were used as labour force, building roads and other infrastructure, including parts of Banff National Park. 

The new exhibit will be a permanent fixture of the Calgary Highlanders gallery.

“No one will ever forget what happened, with the purpose of never letting something like that happen again,” Griffiths said. 

A Saturday event that both unveiled the exhibit and commemorated the internment operations of the First World War was attended by Calgary-Centre MP Greg McLean, Calgary-Hays MP and speaker of the Alberta Legislature Ric McIver and Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas.

Representatives of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation and Ukrainian Canadian Congress spoke, as well as Mich Cheladyn, a descendant of one of the internees. 

“I believe that country’s true strength is not measured by whether it has made mistakes, but by whether it has courage to acknowledge them, learn from them, and make sure that they are never repeated,” said Anna Tselukhina of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress’ Calgary branch. 

“For a long time, the history of internment camps in Canada during World War I remained largely forgotten. Today, we honour the memory of Ukrainians who were interned.”

Farkas said that, while the injustices of Canada’s past can’t be undone, Canadians have a responsibility to learn from them.

“We tell ourselves as Canadians that this is a place where you can work hard, you can succeed, you can build your community,” he said.

“What do we do when that story we tell ourselves about our country and the promise that we tell ourselves about our country isn’t true, or at least wasn’t true when it needed to be true?”

McLean said the exhibit is an opportunity “to confront the past honestly — not to judge history without understanding its context, but to recognize the human consequences of decisions made during a time of fear, conflict, and national uncertainty.

“We must remember that behind every statistic we see today was a person, someone with a family, who hopes for a better life, only be torn from them out of fear,” he said.