November 2, 2017 – January 15, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, November 10th, 7-9pm
Special guests:
Dr. Peter MacLeod, Director of Research for the Canadian War Museum
Dr. Bohdan Kordan, Director, Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage (PCUH)
A traveling exhibition from The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Enemy Aliens: Internment in Canada, 1914-1920 is sponsored by The Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage (PCUH) and focuses on the period between 1914-1920 when Anti-German propaganda, stories of German atrocities abroad, and fear of saboteurs drove many Canadians to demand protection from their government. Some 8,579 “enemy aliens” were interned behind barbed wire to remove the supposed threat, while tens of thousands more were forced to register with authorities and abide by stringent rules of conduct for the duration of the war. While the government of the day classified 3,138 of these internees as “prisoners of war”, the remainder were civilians. The majority of internees were of Ukrainian origin.
As Founding Director of the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage and Professor within the Department of Political Studies at STM, Professor Kordan’s research interests include nationalism and ethnic conflict, the politics of state/minority relations, and the intersection between political geography and historical cartography with specific reference to Eastern Europe. He has been working on the issue of internment since 1988. His latest book, No Free Man: Canada, the Great War, and the Enemy Alien Experience was released in 2016 and provides an extensive history on this subject.
For additional information, please click on the following link:
http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/life-at-home-during-the-war/enemy-aliens/
Prisoners working in the cold, Castle Mountain, Banff National Park, AB
Prisoners at Stanley Barracks Detention Centre, Toronto, ON
Images courtesy of the Library Archives, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa
