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Vegreville Town Council Discusses Monument Proposal
Vegreville Town Council Discusses Monument Proposal
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
A civil liberties advocacy group is seeking support from the Town of Vegreville to erect a monument depicting the Dominion’s First World War national internment operations.
According to a letter dated Jan. 11, 2024, and signed by Borys Sydoruk, Chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation, (UCCLF) they have worked with other organizations throughout Canada to place historical markers, statues and monuments highlighting issues such as Canada’s first national internment operations, Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet Ukraine and honouring Ukrainian Canadians who have volunteered for service with the Canadian armed forces in times of war and peace.
“With your support, we are proposing to place an educational panel and life-sized status commemorating the dark but little-known chapter in Canada’s history that was the Dominion’s First World War national internment operations of 1914-1920 and affected the entire Ukrainian Canadian community, including here.
To optimize the public’s access to the monument and this its educational value, we propose that it be placed in your Elks/Kinsmen Pysanka Park. As we have done with each of our recent projects, we are prepared to handle monument production and construction and the funding of those.”
Sydoruk also stated in his letter that members of the UCCLF would be willing to meet with members of town council to provide more information and answer any questions or concerns that they may have.
Members of town council mulled over the UCCLF’s offer during its Legislative Committee Meeting on Jan. 16.
Councillor Len Bullock said he appreciated the letter. “It’s something important and I would like to hear more information on what they could do. So, it’s certainly worth a discussion.”
Councillor Jerrold Lemko concurred with Bullock. “I think it’s important to capture the history of Ukrainians in our area as we celebrate the pysanka as one our monuments…I’d like to hear more.”
Mayor Tim MacPhee said, “I definitely don’t disagree. I think I’d like to have a presentation.” He added that he would like to make sure they are okay with the wording on the monument and what it represents.
Councillor Taneen Rudyk said, “Like all things, history is the retelling of the story and there are always various versions of the story. So, I think it would be worth having a presentation. It would also be worth being able to find out or if we anticipate if there’d be any push back on the wording of the plaque.”
Councillor Tina Warawa said she didn’t disagree with any of it. Warawa said she had visited the monument in St. Paul a number of times, and a monument in Vegreville would make it the second official monument in the federal riding of Lakeland.
Back in the fall of 2019, UCCLF unveiled an internment monument in St. Paul. The organization also unveiled a monument at Alberta’s Legislature on Oct. 2, 2023. According to UCCLF, Canada’s War Measures Act was first used from 1914-1920. It paved the way for operations which ensnared 8,000 Ukrainians and other eastern Europeans in a network of 24 internment camps from coast to coast and forced a further 80,000 to check in semi-regularly with police.
