Canadian First World War
Internment Recognition Fund
Fonds canadien de reconnaissance de l'internement durant
la première guerre mondiale
-
Applying for a Grant
-
Annual ReportsDownload the Reports
from 2009 to 2021. -
Map of Internment CampsDownload the map and list
of internment camps here. -
Request a LectureApply here to
request a lecture.
Welcome to CFWWIRF
The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund exists to support projects that commemorate and recognize the experiences of all of the ethno-cultural communities affected by Canada's first national internment operations of 1914-1920.
Fonds canadien de reconnaissance de l'internement durant la Première Guerre mondiale a pour but d'appuyer des projets visant à commémorer et à reconnaître les expériences vécues par les communautés ethnoculturelles touchées par la première opération nationale d'internement menée au Canada de 1914 à 1920.
The Camps, Season 2, Episode #15, Ottawa, Ontario
Address delivered by Ivan T. Grbešić, Chair of the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund at the Preview of the
Canadian History Hall at the Canadian Museum of History
on June 12, 2017
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Bonjour mesdames et monsieurs.
Dobar dan, dame i gospodo.
Greetings as well to their Excellences, diplomatic representatives, elected officials of all levels of government, and members of the clergy, who are here with us today, most of whom were introduced.
I would like to thank the Canadian Museum of History and its President and CEO, Mark O’Neill for providing me with the opportunity to address you here today in my capacity as Chair of the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.
Click here to read the entire address (PDF).
Address delivered by Ivan T. Grbesic, Chair of the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund at the Vernon Pleasant Valley Cemetery Internee Remembrance Ceremony on
Saturday, May 23, 2015.
Good
morning
ladies
and
gentlemen,
Bonjour
mesdames
et
monsieurs,
Dobar
dan,
dame
i
gospodo.
What a beautiful day for such a solemn occasion. While we are honoured to have had in attendance with us today Minister Jason Kenney, it is also great to see and to be able to greet such a large number of elected officials, and members of the clergy, who are here today.
Click here to read the entire address (PDF).
Stamps Commemorating 100th Anniversary of Canada's First Internment Operations Now Available
16 December 2014 - Ottawa - The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) is pleased to announce that a stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of Canada's First National Internment Operations is available for purchase.
Click here to read the entire media release.
Address by the Hon. Jason Kenney at the National
Internment Exhibit Official Opening
Slave Labour, in Unthinkable Conditions
Address delivered by the Hon. Jason Kenney, Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism at the Opening Ceremony of the National Internment Exhibit at Cave and Basin National Historic Site, Banff, AB on September 13, 2013.
Dobray Den, na vsa dobra; Dobar dan.
Good afternoon, Bonjour.
Your Grace, Your Excellency, Reverend Fathers.
Member of Parliament, James Bezan, Senator Tannas,
Your Worship, Fellow Canadians, Dear Friends.
Today we realize the sacred duty what the great chronicler of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel said was the most sacred duty that echoes down to us from the bible, the moral duty to remember. "To remember the good of which we have been blessed and the evil that we have suffered."
Click here to read the entire address (PDF).
National Internment Exhibit Opening - Address by
Ivan T. Grbešić, Chair of the CFWWIRF
Photos courtesy of Frank Jankač
Address delivered by Ivan T. Grbešić, Chair of the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund at the Opening Ceremony of the Internment Exhibit at Cave and Basin in Banff, Alberta on September 13, 2013:
Good
afternoon,
ladies
and
gentlemen.
Bonjour
mesdames
et
monsieurs.
Dobar
dan,
dame
i
gospodo.
Greetings
as
well
to
Minister
Kenney,
their
Excellencies,
diplomatic
representatives,
elected
officials
of
all
levels
of
government,
and
members
of
the
clergy,
who
are
here
with
us
today,
most
of
whom
were
introduced.
Ladies
and
gentlemen,
I
want
to
begin
by
first
thanking
Parks
Canada
for
providing
me,
as
Chair
of
the
Endowment
Council
of
the
Canadian
First
World
War
Internment
Recognition
Fund,
with
the
opportunity
to
address
you
here
today.
Click here to read the entire address (PDF).
National Internment Exhibit, Banff, Alberta
June 20, 2013
Kontakt Ukrainian Television Network
In the News
- For immediate release – January 17, 2022
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE APPOINTMENT OF NEW MEMBER TO THE ENDOWMENT COUNCIL OF THE CANADIAN FIRST WORLD WAR INTERNMENT RECOGNITION FUND (CFWWIRF)
The Board of Directors of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko, Shevchenko Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Joseph Patrouch to the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.
2021
Observe National Internment Commemoration Day
By New Pathway - October 20, 2021
Vernon Internment Camp house some 1,100 men, women and children
11 died at internment camp
Gwyn Evans - September 19, 2021
WATCH: Digging into history east of Cherryville
Abbotsford anthropologist and team search for indications of what life was like
By Roger Knox, September 1, 2021
For immediate release
2023
CBC Radio, IDEAS
The hidden history of Ukrainians imprisoned in Canadian labour camps in WWI
Labelled 'enemy aliens,' the trauma is still felt by prisoners’ descendants 100 years later
CBC Radio · Posted: May 16, 2023
Cochrane artist's works illustrate dark period in Canadian history
By Howard May
April 6, 2023
Vernon's wartime internment camp stories recalled in print
'BARBED WIRE DISEASE'
Castanet News By Tracey Prediger - February 22, 2023
New book sheds light on Vernon, B.C.’s First World War internment camp
By Jasmine King Global News
February 22, 2023
Vernon First World War internment camp book going to schools
The Vernon Internment Camp 1914 – 1920 book was officially unveiled on Tues, Feb. 21.
Vernon Morning Star, February 21, 2023
Historical book delves into lives of internees at Vernon First World War camp
BOOK LOOKS AT DARK PAST
Castanet News by Darren Handschuh - February 17, 2023
2022
ПАМ’ЯТАТИ ПРО ІНТЕРНОВАНИХ, БОРОТИСЯ З ВІЙСЬКОВИМИ ЗЛОЧИНАМИ СЬОГОДЕННЯ
New Pathway Ukrainian News
November 23, 2022
Emerson monument honours Ukrainian and Eastern European men arrested during First World War
Pembina Valley News,
Written by Cory Knutt
Monday, September 19, 2022
Remembering a dark chapter in Canada’s history
By: Peter John Manastyrsky
Winnipeg Free Press, Oct. 28, 2022
'Putting them in internment camps is wrong': new memorial marks 'March to Emerson'
CTV News Winnipeg, Dan Vadeboncoeur
September 17, 2022
Southern Manitoba monument pays tribute to Canadian internment camp survivors
Chelsea Kemp, CBC News
September 17, 2022
Rotary Centre for the Arts Launches Pause In Plight, a National Internment Art Exhibition by Kerri Parnell
September 1, 2022
Profiting from past pain of others just plain wrong
By Lubomyr Luciuk
July 29, 2022
USask professor emeritus helps preserve the history of local internment camp
By Paul Sinkewicz
July 6, 2022
Ukrainian art in Canada reflects the war and our responses to it
The Globe and Mail
By Marsha Lederman
June 17, 2022
Unearthing Canada's First World War Internment History
Melanie Morin-Pelletier
June 27, 2022
Play tells story of Ukrainian immigrant’s escape from Banff internment camp
By Carolyn Kury de Castillo Global News
June 20, 2022
National exhibit pauses on internment plight in Vernon
Vernon Morning Star
By Jennifer Smith, May 31, 2022
Family of WWI Ukrainian internment camp survivor searches for lost great-uncle
Christina Jung · CBC · Posted: May 25, 2022
For immediate release – May 20, 2022
Vernon internment camp part of major digital history project
On This Spot launches app, website, showcasing the history of WWI internment camps in B.C. Interior
May 3, 2022
Museum's 'Lost Liberties' exhibit documents tragedy of interned Ukrainians in Canada
The Ukrainian internment is just the first part of the exhibit, which also examines the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War and the 1970 October Crisis, the last time the War Measures Act was invoked.
By Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen, March 9, 2022
Nanaimo Museum’s new First World War ‘enemy alien’ exhibit opens this weekend
Experience of interned German and Ukrainian people to be explored
NANAIMO NEWS STAFF - February 9, 2022
Winnipeg, July 15, 2021 – The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund (CFWWIRF) joins Indigenous communities and all Canadians in mourning the loss of thousands of innocent children at Canada’s residential schools.
In support of the continued investigations into these deaths, CFWWIRF is pleased to have provided its Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) unit to assist in locating potential unmarked burials at two Indian Residential School (IRS) sites in British Columbia. The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation requested that Dr. Sarah Beaulieu of the University of Fraser Valley use GPR to assist in locating potential unmarked graves near the Kamloops Residential School. Dr. Beaulieu has also surveyed an additional IRS site but due to confidentiality is unable to disclose that location.
For the full Media Release, click here.
About CFWWIRF
The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund was established in 2008 within the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko to support commemorative, educational, scholarly and cultural projects that commemorate and recognize the experiences of all the ethnocultural communities affected by Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914 to 1920. Since its inception, over $4 million in grants have been awarded in an effort to shed light on this tragic yet little-known chapter in Canadian history.
For more information on the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund
contact the Program Manager,, at [email protected]
or toll free at 1-866-524-5314.
www.internmentcanada.ca
For immediate release – April 12, 2021
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE APPOINTMENT OF NEW INTERNEE DESCENDANT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ENDOWMENT COUNCIL OF THE CANADIAN FIRST WORLD WAR INTERNMENT RECOGNITION FUND (CFWWIRF)
The Board of Directors of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko, Shevchenko Foundation, is pleased to announce the appointment of Kim Pawliw as the Internee Descendant Representative of the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition
Fund.
Spotlight put on dark internment camp history at Vernon school
Drama class presents Seeds of Hope, tales from Vernon’s own Ukrainian and European camps
Kelowna Capital News & Vernon Morning Star
Jennifer Smith, February 8, 2021
2020
To All Internee Descendants of Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914 to 1920.
The Board of Directors of the Shevchenko Foundation is currently seeking an internee descendant representative for March 2021 to March 2022. This appointment is for a one year fixed term. The submitted names will be considered as potential candidates for the Internee Descendant Endowment Council position. (Non-voting)
We invite you to complete this form along with your resume by January 31, 2021.
For immediate release – November 12, 2020
APPOINTMENT OF NEW CHAIR OF THE ENDOWMENT COUNCIL OF
THE CANADIAN FIRST WORLD WAR INTERNMENT RECOGNITION FUND (CFWWIRF)
The Board of Directors of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko, Shevchenko Foundation, is pleased to announce the appointment of Borys Sirskyj (Ottawa) as Chair of the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.