On May 9, 2008 the Honourable Jason Kenney, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity), today announced that the Government will provide a grant of $10 million to the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko to establish an endowment fund to support initiatives related to the First World War internment experience that predominantly affected the Ukrainian and other East European ethnic communities in Canada.

“I believe this approach will allow all communities affected by internment during the First World War to undertake meaningful commemorative and educational activities to ensure that the internment experience is shared and understood by Canadians, and that a sense of closure can be achieved,” said Secretary of State Kenney. “The Government believes that it is important for all Canadians to understand our history, including the more difficult periods.”

This funding is being provided under the Community Historical Recognition Program, which was first announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in June 2006. The Program will fund community-based projects that will allow communities affected by Canadian wartime measures and immigration restrictions to have their experiences acknowledged in a way that is meaningful to them. Eligible projects could include monuments, commemorative plaques, educational material, and exhibits.

About the internment operations

More than 80,000 Ukrainians were branded "enemy aliens" during Canada's first national internment operations of 1914 to 1920. In addition, almost 5,000 Ukrainians, including men, women and children, were interned as forced labourers in 24 Canadian concentration camps during and after the First World War. More than 8,000 people were interned in total. People were interned not because of anything they had done, but only because of where they had come from, who they were. There was no evidence then, nor has any been found since, of divided loyalties on the part of the victims of these internment measures. The present day value of the economic losses suffered by the internees is approximately $50 million.