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Freedom Had A Price Essay Research Paper

Freedom Had A Price Essay, Research Paper


Ukrainian Internment During the First World War


Representations of History


Freedom Had a Price is a 1994 award winning documentary about the Canadian


internment of ?enemy aliens? (as considered by the Canadian government) during


the


First World War. Produced and directed by Yurj Luhovy, it is a moving visual


account


of the atrocities perpetrated on prisoners who had committed no crimes. While a


small


percentage were German captives, the majority were Canadians of Ukrainian


descent.


Hated and feared because of their ?alien heritage? and because they posed


economic


threat to a country in recession, these people were imprisoned and forced to


perform


back-breaking work for a few cents per day.


Freedom Had a Price contains all the elements of a modern thriller: innocent


people rounded up and thrown in crowded work camps; half starved forgotten


captives


freezing in isolated wilderness areas: torture, desperate escape attempts,


sickness and


death. The climax of the movie comes when the prisoners finally revolt and


achieve


small victory in better food and living conditions. But unlike modern stories,


there is no


feeling of satisfaction when the film runs out there is no resolution to the


story, not then,


and not now.


In the film, frozen images stare through time, gaunt, bewildered and


reproachful:


men huddling around fires trying to keep from freezing in northern Ontario,


groups


hacking down trees along railway lines in western Canada so train tourists could


get a


better view, a bullet riddled body shot after an escape from the Spirit Lake


camp in


Quebec. Interspersed with the pictures, two survivors of the camps recall their


bitter


memories, still afraid of reprisals from a government that imprisoned them once


before


for no reason. Modern historians also add explanation and interpretation to a


chapter of


Canadian history many would prefer to forget.


As powerful as the documentary is, its failing is in its narrow focus.


Produced in


1994 by La Maison de Montage Luhovy Inc., and the National Film Board, Freedom


Had a Price accomplishes its aim of exposing the stark horror of the camps and


the


unjust treatment of the prisoners. But because no context or balancing


viewpoints are


given, the film teeters on sensationalism. For example, the man in charge of


the


internment camps, Sir William Otter, is mentioned only once in passing. But in


the book


A Canadian General: Sir William Otter, author Desmond Morton devotes a whole


chapter to Otter?s struggle to set up and regulate the camps on government


orders. From


the account, it appears Otter was not inhumane, and tried to do the best he


could for the


prisoners. Unfortunately, most of the day-to-day operations were often left to


inept camp


commanders and government bureaucrats. As Morton explains,


Though he had a plan, Otter was very much at the mercy of decisions made


by the registrars and they were susceptible to public opinion. He was not, as


he repeatedly had to explain, Head of the Enemy Alien catchers, he was simply


responsible for those they sent him.


And Otter himself wrote:


The various complaints made to you by prisoners as to the rough conduct


of the guards, I fear is not altogether without a reason, a fact much to be


regretted, and I am sorry to say by no means an uncommon occurrence at other


stations.


Although Freedom Has a Price was made to shock and outrage-it is still


fairly


accurate. The fact and figures it presents are confirmed by a number of other


available


sources, such as a chapter on the internment camps in Ontario in a book put out


by the


Multicultural History Society of Ontario. According to the book and the film,


about five


thousand people of Ukrainian heritage, mostly unemployed men were incarcerated


in


internment camps under the War Measures Act of 1914. These workers had


previously


worked in semi-skilled areas such as mining, lumbering, and manufacturing


industries,


and had been the first to face unemployment during the recession. Government


logic


held that the camps would provide them with food, shelter and work while keeping


a


feared political and economic menace away from society. Altogether, there were


twenty-


six camps across Canada. Ontario held six, including Petawawa and the damp and


dreary


Fort Henry in Kingston. Living and working conditions were undoubtedly brutal,


and the


psychological deprivation was as hard as the physical discomfort. During the


years the


camps were in operation, from 1914-1920, one hundred and six people were


declared


?insane? and one hundred and seven died, some shot while trying to escape;


others from


tuberculosis and pneumonia. One of the interviewees in Freedom Had a Price was


a


woman who was interred with her father and family when she was just a child.


Her two-


year old sister died in the camp because there were no proper medical


facilities. The


cause of death was never determined and she was buried in a makeshift coffin in


a nearby


cemetery. All that remains is a faded snapshot of a smiling little girl and an


old woman’?


anguished memories and questions. One insistent fighter for restitution for the


internment injustices, Lubomyr Luciuk edited a 1994 book that addresses the


legacy of


the camps, Right an Injustice, which is described on the cover as ?The Debate


over


>

Redress for Canada?s First National Internment Operations.? The book is a


comprehensive collection of articles from various sources, including the late


twentieth


century newspaper articles, editorials and letters to a number of major Canadian


newspapers, as well as debates and proceedings from the House of Commons and the


Senate of Canada. Many articles discuss the circumstances surrounding and


preceding


camp development, thereby providing a larger overview than does the film.


In Righting an Injustice, it is revealed that the Canadian government


has finally


acknowledged some culpability in the brutality of the internment camps. For a


long time


it took the attitude of wait and hope they go away. But in a 1991 House of


Commons


debate, it was decided that??internment was unjust, repressive, and against the


Charter


of Rights and Freedoms. The government is also looking into ways to provide


compensation to the Ukrainian people. One suggestion was to get Parks Canada to


erect


historical monuments to acknowledge the injustices against the Ukrainian


Canadians and


educate the public about this chapter of our past. But, as shown in the


documentary,


theory and practice are not the same. A city councilor in Kapuskasing, Northern


Ontario who has been trying to get a monument there restored has found that


there are not


any funds available. It is also debatable how sincere the government is in


really education


the public.


A website (www.infoukes.com/history/internment) entitled Ukrainian


Internment in Canada was created by some of the people involved in the ongoing


struggle for recognition. The authors begin by explaining the reason for the


project.


These series of pages were motivated by the reluctance of the Canadian


Broadcasting Corporation (CBFC) to show Yurij Luhovy?s excellent documentary,


Freedom Had a Price?The CBC found excuse after excuse of why they could not air


this excellent film. When they finally did show it, it was aired Sunday, April


23, 1995 at 4PM EST with very little prior notice. The listing ?Sense of


History? was inconspicuous with no further information as to what it was. In


other words, the CBC successfully camouflaged the show to minimize its exposure


to the Canadian viewing public.


There is little doubt that the advent of the Internet, and the World


Wide Web have


transformed the way the world disseminates information. The organizational style


of the


website makes this site to be comprehensive and easy to navigate. The web site


at


www.ufoukes.com is a valuable companion to the film. Its pages include


information


on whom the internees were; where the internment camps were located in Canada;


and


the origins and history of the camps. A considerable amount of information is


taken from


primary sources. In addition, this web site provides a number of links


containing an


extensive amount of information pertaining to the internment of the Ukrainians.


While it may have been a slow process, many Canadians of Ukrainian descent are


finally starting to gain some atonement for the wrongs shown their ancestors in


the


internment camps of the First World War. The documentary Freedom Had a Price is


a


strong visual reminder of a regrettable part of Canada?s past. While it may not


be as


broad in scope or as unbiased as other accounts, it is an excellent source if


used in


conjunction with other resources. However, it is probably one effective way of


getting


the message to the general public. There are many who are determined the


message will


eventually reach everyone because for them it is a matter of honour. While


addressing a


standing committee on multiculturalism in 1987, Lubomyr Luciuk used the


following


quote from an unknown author in the Daily British Whig, September 8, 1917,


The man whose honour has been mistrusted and who has been singled out for


national humiliation will remember it and sooner or later, it will have to be


atoned for.


In conclusion, history is an important part of our everyday lives.


Documentaries,


films, books, and internet sites when used in conjunction with one another can


offer its


readers and viewers, a history that is rich, in depth, and diversified. The use


of archival


footage, vintage photographs, compelling testimonies of survivors, and


commentaries of


such prominent Canadian historians as Desmond Morton and Donald Avery, in


Freedom


Had a Price, the web site, and the books Fighting an Injustice and A Canadian


General: Sir William Otter have provided invaluable scholarship to the study of


Ukrainians and their internment. Together they have painted a moving human story


of


Canadian history that has all but disappeared from public consciousness.


Unfortunately,


this incident can not be erased from the history books or from the memory of the


people


who were involved, or their families. As historians we share in our


responsibilities to


ensure that history whether it is represented in historical films,


documentaries, web sites


or books, is faithful to historical evidence. Questions about how history works,


and how


scholars can objectively evaluate their sources are just some of the criteria


that must be


realized and satisfied. Sources must reach a public that has a simplistic


notion of


history. It is absolutely imperative that we gain tentative understandings of


the


construction of historical cultures. As historians, we all share in the


responsibility to learn


from the lessons of the past.

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