St. Catharines WWI internment presentation
Tag: Internment
Internment & Kidnapped at Bloor West
I did two presentations yesterday at the Bloor West Ukrainian Festival yesterday. The first was with Ryan Boyko for his podcast series on WWI internment in Canada.
I got to listen to James Motluk’s interview as it was scheduled right before mine.
James is a documentary filmmaker, and his documentary, Jajo’s Secret, uncovering his own grandfather’s internment is stunning.
I also got to meet up with my internment buddy, Borys Sydoruk, who has been in the forefront of internment recognition. During my interview, I spoke about my grandfather’s internment, and how that inspired three of my books.
My second presentation was about my Kidnapped from Ukraine trilogy and how these novels can create empathy and understanding about Russia’s war on Ukraine in a way that other media cannot. Thank you, Borys, for taking these photos of this talk!
Trauma through generations
My late father, Marsh Forchuk, who died in November, would have turned 94 tomorrow. This is a photo of him when he was about 12. He’s the one with the glasses, holding onto that bike.
Dad had to quit school at age 12 because his father was no longer able to run their Alberta farm because of injuries he’d sustained while interned as an “enemy alien” in Canada in WWI had caught up to him.
So because of my grandfather’s internment, my father’s future was forever changed.
CBC Ideas interviewed me and other descendants of internees about this. Here’s the link.
Dad, I’m thinking of you
Books that reference the Indigenous-Ukrainian connection
My Ukrainian grandparents homesteaded in Alberta in the early 1900s and they never would have survived had it not been for the friendship and kindness of the Indigenous peoples who were already there.
In WWI, Ukrainian immigrants and other new immigrants were scapegoated by our government and labeled as enemies of their adopted country. Thousands were interned in camps across the country and forced into back-breaking work.
My two novels set during the WWI internment operations both reference the interaction between Indigenous people and Ukrainian immigrants. Why? Because the internment camps were often built on the hunting grounds of an Indigenous community, so while Ukrainians and other immigrants were unjustly interned by the federal government, Indigenous communities lost their traditions and their source of food. A double slap of intolerance.
Here’s more about those two books:
Dance of the Banished is partly set in the Kapuskasing internment camp, a complex that destroyed a Cree hunting area. There is interaction between the internees and the Cree community.
Prisoners in the Promised Land is set in Spirit Lake Quebec with the internment camp on the destroyed hunting area of the Pikogan community. Anya encounters members of the community.
My WWII novel Stolen Girl also has a Ukrainian-Indigenous connection. That novel, about orphaned Nadia who settles into Brantford Ontario with her adoptive refugee parents after the war. The neighbourhood they move into is mostly refugees and Indigenous people because my research bore that out. Nadia’s best friend at school is an Indigenous girl.
Do you know of other books that explore this Ukrainian-Indigenous connection? Please let me know if you do and I will list them on this page.
Kokum’s Babushka is a picture book treatment.
Also, Larry Warwaruk’s novels:
Visiting Jasper Museum and walking where my grandfather was interned in WWI
My grandfather’s internment in WWI Canada
My grandfather, Yurij Fojczuk, immigrated to Canada in April 1913 at the age of 17 from Verenchanka, in what’s now Ukraine, but at that time it was under Austro-Hungarian rule. Continue reading “My grandfather’s internment in WWI Canada”
Parish Internees
St. Michael’s Parish during WWI
Marsha Skrypuch
Within weeks of Canada entering World War I against Germany and Austria-Hungary on August 6, 1914, our federal government brought into force the War Measures Act, tightening the grip on immigrants from enemy countries. Federal officials were given sweeping powers to decide whom to arrest, deport or incarcerate, and whose property they would expropriate and sell. Continue reading “Parish Internees”
Melanie Fishbane’s Dance of the Banished interview
Thank you, Melanie, for this great interview!
An Interview with Marsha Skrypuch
Marsha Skrypuch and I have a history.
It makes sense because we both write and care about history–particularly stories where there has been injustice. I believe that we are humanitarians, who hope that our stories of the past will resonate with the present, bringing awareness about people who have for–one reason or another–been silenced. Continue reading “Melanie Fishbane’s Dance of the Banished interview”
Jasper internment site
On Saturday Nov 15th I had one reading at the Jasper Public library, so most of the day was free. I slept in til about 9am and then had breakfast and walked around town. I have to be careful with the walking because of the torn meniscus. The day before I left on this tour, I had an MRI on my knee. When I get back, I’ll get the results.
So I walked around town for the fresh air and the beauty. I popped in to the local bookstore and signed copies of my books there and have a great chat with the staff. Then I went back to the hotel. I took a taxi to the library because even though it was just a couple kilometers from my hotel, I didn’t want to risk walking there as I carried my very heavy book bag.
John from Sundog tours came to the library presentation, as did one of the people from the bookstore. The librarian warned me that there might not be a big crowd because the sun was shining, but there was actually a nice group of people. All of the chairs and cushions were filled. My estimate is about 14 people — kids and adults.
After the library reading, John took me to the internment camp. The local museum had heard about my visit and they had sent me some photos and a map about the internment camp. Agnes, the children’s librarian made copies for me. When John and I walked around the site, he compared the photos to what we could now see. It was very interesting and it was so informative to have John there pointing all these things out. A font of info. The librarian had also given me a note about a local couple from the genealogy society who had recently taken people on a tour of the internment camp, so I phoned and talked to them as well. It’s so greet that people here are so helpful. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to come here and see for myself where my grandfather was interned. It is stunningly gorgeous here. It wouldn’t have been for him.
Tomorrow, I leave by bus at 7am back to Edmonton. No time even for coffee because no place close to here will be open yet, but I’ll manage.