Working with the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage (PCUH), Shaw Cable has produced a documentary vignette on the Eaton Internment Camp during the First World War. The short film created by Simon Hiatt is part of Shaw Cable’s Spotlight Series, which showcases events, people and places with a view to increasing local awareness as a way for communities to stay connected.
The Eaton internment campsite is located seven kilometres west of Saskatoon at the site of the Saskatchewan Railway Museum.
The internment facility was created at the Eaton railway siding in February 1919 to accommodate immigrants of ‘enemy’ birth designated as civilian prisoners of war. Under military guard, the prisoners were forced to work on the railway repairing track. Difficulties with securing the camp in the open range would lead to its closure March 1919 and the transfer of the prisoners to another camp.
Of the twenty-four internment camps created across Canada, the Eaton camp was the only one of its kind in Saskatchewan, marking it as an important provincial historic site.
In 2005, PCUH in partnership with the Ukrainian-Canadian community organized and erected a commemorative monument to honour the memory of those interned at this site.
PCUH is an academic unit of St. Thomas More College. Created in 1998, PCUH’s mission is to promote the advanced study of various aspects of Ukrainian heritage, culture and life; to co-ordinate and encourage the preservation of primary source materials relevant to such study; and to disseminate results conducted under its auspices. Specific programs and projects aimed at preservation or designed to promote a wider understanding and appreciation of the Ukrainian experience in Canada and abroad are funded by PCUH.
