UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CIVIL LIBERTIES FOUNDATION

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This graphic history tells the story of Canada’s first national internment operations through the eyes of John Boychuk, an internee held in Kapuskasing from 1914 to 1917. The story is based on Boychuk’s actual memoir, which is the only comprehensive internee testimony in existence.

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The novel follows Boychuk from his arrest in Toronto to Kapuskasing, where he spends just over three years. It details the everyday struggle of the internees in the camp, including forced labour and exploitation, abuse from guards, malnutrition, and homesickness. It also documents moments of internee agency and resistance, such as work slowdowns and stoppages, hunger strikes, escape attempts, and riots.

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Little is known about the lives of the incarcerated once the paper trail stops, but Enemy Alien subsequently traces Boychuk’s parole, his search for work, his attempts to organize a union, and his ultimate settlement in Winnipeg. Boychuk’s reflections emphasize the much broader context in which internment takes place. This was not an isolated incident, but rather part and parcel of Canadian nation building and the directives of Canada’s settler colonial project.

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• Paperback / softback, 96 pages

• ISBN 9781771134729

• Coming March 2020

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St. Paul, Alberta, Internment Statue and Interpretive Panel Unveiling -October 13, 2019 Alberta Kontakt TV

Members of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) and its activist counterpart, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), on Sat. Sept. 28, 2019, unveiled Canada’s newest monument dedicated to remembering the country’s first national internment operations, in St. Paul, located 200 kilometres east of Edmonton. Titled 21 Strands, the monument is unique, composing not just a trilingual educational (English-French-Ukrainian) plaque, but also an image of internees standing behind 21 horizontal lengths of Canadian barbed wire.

Yoho National Park, BC, Internment Camp Statue and Interpretive Panel Unveiling - June 22, 2019 Alberta Kontakt TV

On June 22, 2019 in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Parks Canada in cooperation with the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canada First World War Internment Recognition Fund, unveiled a statue and interpretive panels commemorating the thousands of Ukrainians and other Europeans who were unjustly interned during Canada's first national internment operations of 1914-1920.

That Never Happened: Canada's First National Internment Operations - Official Trailer, Amistice Films

Screening schedule 2018

THAT NEVER HAPPENED: Canada's First National Internment Operations

Sept 20 - Geneva, Switzerland - United Naions - Palais de Nations

Oct 16 - Ottawa, On - Parliament Hill - Private event for MP's and Senators

Oct 21 - Fernie, BC - Vogue Theatre

Oct 23 - Calgary, AB - Globe Theatre

Oct 27 - Burlington, On - Cinestarz

Oct 28 - Mississauga, On - Cinestarz         *National Internment Commemoration Day

Nov 8 - Ottawa, On - Bytowne

​Nov 9, 10, 11 - Saskatoon, Sk - Roxy

Nov 9, 11, 12 - Edmonton, Ab - Metro Cinema - Nov 9, 9:30 pm - Nov 11, 3pm - Nov 12, 7pm

Nov 10, 11 - Regina, Sk - Rainbow 

Nov 11 - Winnipeg, Mb - Canadian Museum For Human Rights

http://armisticefilms.com/

Canadian guards & Ukrainian prisoners committed suicide 1914-1920 (Інтерновані українці Канади)

Preview of an interview with Prof. Bohdan Kordan on "No Free Man: Canada, the Great War, and the Enemy Alien Experience", Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, 13 January 2017.