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.

As we look around us and see a place of unspeakable beauty and yet we know that this site is also one of unspeakable sadness.

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

2020

NEW MEMBERS APPOINTED TO THE CFWWIRF ENDOWMENT COUNCIL
AUGUST 5, 2020

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

The Shevchenko Foundation is currently calling for submission for the position of Chair of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund


The Board of Directors of the Shevchenko Foundation is currently seeking a representative from the affected communities.

Lubomyr Luciuk looks back at the 100 year anniversary of Canada’s first internment operations
Global News - July 3, 2020

100 Objects of Interest
Royal BC Museum, June 20, 2020

A forgotten piece of Canadian history
By Peter J. Manastyrsky, Winnipeg Sun, June 20, 2020

The Hon. Andrew Scheer, Leader of Canada’s Conservatives and of the Official Opposition, issues statement to mark 100 years since the end of Canada’s first national internment operations during the First World War
June 20, 2020

Internment camp at Fort Henry once little-known local history
By Lubomyr Luciuk, The Kingston Whig-Standard
June 19, 2020

Queen's University graduate student Kassandra Luciuk explains the history that informs her graphic novel on the internment of Ukrainians in Canada called 'Enemy Alien: A True Story of Life Behind Barbed Wire'.
Ontario Morning from CBC Radio with Wei Chen
June 19, 2020

Разследване за интернирани в Канада българи ще има тук и в България
Проучването за задържаните в лагери наши сънародници в периода 1914-1920 г. е в основата на научен проект
By Bulgarian Horizons, Canadian Bulgarian Newspaper, June 15, 2020

Internment centenary provides lessons for today
By New Pathway, June 8, 2020

100 years since Vernon internment camp was shut down: Vernon's internment history
By John Lawless, Castanet News, June 8, 2020


End of Mara internment camp to be commemorated
Salmon Arm Observer, June 7, 2020

Enemy Alien
Among books on Canada's History's 2020 Summer Reading Guide
By Kassandra Luciuk, May 22, 2020

Vernon part of end of internment camp ceremonies
June 2020 marks 100 years since the end of Canada’s first internment camps, including one in Vernon
Morning Star Staff, February 24, 2020

For immediate release
Commemorating 100 Years of the end of Canada’s First National Internment Operations, 1914 to 1920.
(Winnipeg) – June 20, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of Canada’s first national internment operations of 1914 to 1920.

Enemy Alien
A True Story of Life behind Barbed Wire
By Kassandra Luciuk and Nicole Marie Burton 

It happened, son of interned Ukrainian says
St.Albert Today
By Scott Hayes, January 10, 2020

2019

Film looks at Canadian Internment Camps
Ukrainian immigrants among those impacted between between 1914 - 1920
Yorkton This Week
By Calvin Daniels, November 16, 2019


• 21 Strands represents Ukrainian-Canadian history
  St. Paul Journal
  By Rushanthi Kesunathan, October 2, 2019

A congratulatory video from Minister Glavine on behalf of the Premier for the Grand Opening of Enemy Aliens Exhibit at Amherst, NS.

Remembering a ‘static and silent’ part of Canadian history
Amherst News
By Darrell Cole, July 28, 2019

Amherst museum gets exhibit about First World War internment camps
The Chronicle Herald
July 22, 2019

For immediate release – July 8, 2019

ENDOWMENT COUNCIL MEMBERS OF THE CANADIAN FIRST WORLD WAR INTERNMENT RECOGNITION FUND MEET IN TORONTO, ONTARIO TO APPROVE GRANTS

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE APPOINTMENT OF NEW CHAIR TO THE ENDOWMENT COUNCIL OF THE CANADIAN FIRST WORLD WAR INTERNMENT RECOGNITION FUND

About CFWWIRF
The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund was established 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 to 1920.

For more information on the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund contact the Program Manager, Andrea Malysh, at [email protected] or toll free at 1-866-288-7931.

Looking back at escape attempts from Amherst's WW1 internment camp
Amherst News
June 11, 2019

For immediate release

Save the Date: Opening Ceremony of Parks Canada’s Exhibit of Canada’s First World War Internment Operations, 1914 to 1920

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA – June 4, 2019 – The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund (CFWWIRF) Parks Canada, and The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association encourage you to save the date to attend the opening ceremony for Parks Canada’s Exhibit of Canada’s First World War Internment Operations 1914-1920.

This event will take place on Saturday June 22 at 1:00 p.m. MDT near the Natural Bridge in Yoho National Park, BC.

For immediate release – May 10, 2019

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE APPOINTMENT OF NEW INTERNEE DESCENDANT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ENDOWMENT COUNCIL OF THE CANADIAN FIRST WORLD WAR INTERNMENT RECOGNITION FUND

The Shevchenko Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Michelle Loughery to the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.

'The Stories Were Not Told: Canada's First World War Internment Camps' author Sandra Semchuk
February 7, 2019

From 1914 to 1920, thousands of men who immigrated to Canada from Europe were called 'enemy aliens' and sent to internment camps during the First World War. Some families were imprisoned as well. Sandra Semchuk explores that dark period in our history in her new book, 'The Stories Were Not Told: Canada's First World War Internment Camps' -- inspired by a stop at Castle Mountain near Banff. Sandra joined host Doug Dirks in studio.

For immediate release - February 1, 2019

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE APPOINTMENT OF NEW MEMBERS TO THE ENDOWMENT COUNCIL OF THE CANADIAN FIRST WORLD WAR INTERNMENT RECOGNITION FUND

Leon Trotsky and Canadian POW camps in the First World War
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, 04 February 2019

Mark Minenko
King’s College London at PhD (Law) candidate

Mark Minenko is a PhD (Law) candidate at King’s College London. His thesis topic is civilian rights during war and conflict, more specifically how emergency powers legislation during the First World War affected civil liberties in the United Kingdom and Canada. He was a Canadian barrister and solicitor for more than 30 years, served in the Canadian military reserves for over 36 years, including service in Bosnia as the assistant to the NATO Political Advisor during the NATO to EU transition period, and worked in government in legislative drafting and policy development. He was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Manitoba and he became a footnote in Parliamentary history in 1988 as the first member from the Opposition to be elected as a Speaker or Deputy Speaker in the Commonwealth.

UAlberta Press Announces Book Tour:
Sandra Semchuk, Photographer and Author, Talks of Internment Camps in the First World War

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / January 21, 2019

Edmonton, AB — University of Alberta Press has published an important new book by Sandra Semchuk, a photographic, text, and video artist, and the winner of a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2018). Semchuk will be touring Canada in the coming months to create a discussion around The Stories Were Not Told: Canada’s First World War Internment Camps.

Please click here for the press release for dates of cross-Canada tour.

2018

Ukrainian-Canadian internment operations detailed in new documentary
The Canadian Press
November 8, 2018

Sask.-raised filmmaker Boyko explores a 'shocking' Canadian history
Regina Leader-Post
By Ashley Martin, November 8, 2018

‘Yes, this happened': How Lubomyr Luciuk found out about the internment camp in his hometown
By Lubomyr Luciuk, November 8, 2018

Did you know Ukrainian Canadians were interned during the First World War?
The little known story is now the subject of a film
The Canadian Press
By Victoria Ahearn, November 7, 2018

‘That Never Happened: Canada’s First National Internment’ director talks about documentary
Global News Morning Saskatoon
November 6, 2018

Fernie marks 100th anniversary of internment camp closure
"It was hell on earth" - PhD candidate, historian reveal conditions inside camp on 100th anniversary
By Kimberley Vlasic, October 27, 2018