Today 100 plaques - including 14 in B.C. - are being unveiled across Canada to mark the 100th anniversary of the federal War Measures Act.

This event resulted in thousands of European-Canadians being unjustly interned in camps between 1914 and 1920.

To commemorate the historic anniversary, and to recognize the many families that were affected by these internment operations, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation launched Project CTO. (Cto means “one hundred” in Ukrainian.) The project received financial support from the UCCLF and the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.

Today at 11 a.m. (local time), 100 plaques will be unveiled across Canada, moving from east to west, from coast to coast and creating a “wave” of recognition. 

Fourteen plaques will be unveiled in B.C. communities including Enderby, Fernie, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo (2), New Westminster, Revelstoke, Surrey, Vancouver, Vernon (3) and Victoria. They will be located in Ukrainian, Croatian, Serbian, German and Hungarian churches and cultural centres, as well as in local and regional museums and other public venues.

More than 8,000 people - Ukrainians and other Europeans constituted the majority of the civilian internees - were sent to live in crude internment camps with poor living conditions where they were used for forced labour. They were also subjected to other federally state-sanctioned censures including losing the right to vote and having what little wealth they had confiscated.

Women and children were held in two camps − one in Vernon, the other in Spirit Lake (now called Lac Beauchamp), Quebec.

Quotes:

Teresa Wat, Minister of International Trade and Minister Responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism -

“The B.C. government supports a rich multicultural society that helps nurture acceptance, understanding and mutual respect. This project honours the memory of proud Canadians and British Columbians who, under the War Measures Act, were interned and suffered as a result of this unjust policy during the First World War.”

Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, CTO project leader -

“One hundred years ago, a wave of repression swept across Canada, undermining the basic human rights of thousands of people, not because of any wrong they had done but only because of who they were, where they had come from. Today we bear witness as a wave of memory moves across our country, from coast to coast, reminding us about what happened during Canada's first national internment operations and of the need to remain vigilant in defence of civil liberties and human rights, particularly in periods of domestic and international crisis.”

Quick Facts:

• See a full list of where the 100 plaques will be unveiled: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=znXlxCv9fsDc.kOCuZhvXG3qA
• View a map of the Canadian First World War internment camp locations: http://www.internmentcanada.ca/resources-map.cfm
• Since 2002, over $9.1 million has been spent on funding programs and initiatives promoting multiculturalism, addressing racism and building inclusive communities in British Columbia.
• The most ethnically diverse province in Canada, British Columbia welcomes nearly 40,000 new immigrants every year.

Project CTO: http://www.uccla.ca/CTO_100plaques.htm

Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund: http://www.internmentcanada.ca

EmbraceBC - the Province of B.C.'s multiculturalism site: www.embracebc.ca

B.C. Multicultural Advisory Council: http://tinyurl.com/n4nvauv

Media Contacts:

Media Relations
Ministry of International Trade and Responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy
and Multiculturalism
778 977-0298