Premier Stephen McNeil recognized Project CTO’s work to commemorate internments in Canada during, and immediately after, the First World War.

The first of 100 plaque unveilings planned across the country today, Aug. 22, was held at the Cumberland County Museum and Archives in Amherst at 11 a.m.

The project is sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.

“Ensuring freedoms and legal protections for all residents of our country is a hallmark of a strong and healthy democracy,” said Premier McNeil. “The unveiling of these plaques across Canada reaffirms the commitment of Canadians to a more peaceful world where the rights of all individuals and communities are respected.

“I would like to thank the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund for making this possible.”

Marking the centennial of the start of the war and the War Measures Act, Project CTO is unveiling the plaques across the country at 11 a.m., local time, to raise awareness of the first time Canada imprisoned people of ethnic heritage it considered a threat during a time of conflict.

The plaques are being unveiled in churches, cultural sites, museums and other public spaces across the country. They encourage Canadians to remember the victims of the internment operations who were branded “enemy aliens.” They included people of Armenian, Croatian, German, Hungarian, Serbian and Ukrainian heritage.

More information about Project CTO is available at www.uccla.ca and www.internmentcanada.ca .

Source: Release