St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery,
marketed
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...
as West Oak Memorial Gardens, is a cemetery in
Oakville, Ontario
Oakville is a town in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton. At its Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census population of 213,759, it is List of tow ...
, established in 1984.
According to the cemetery's website, it is operated by
St. Volodymyr Cathedral.
The cemetery offers both in ground burial and burial vaults in perpetuity, and is open to all those of Christian faith.
14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS emblem controversy
On 26 May 1988, ''Monument to the Glory of the UPA'', a memorial to members of the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army, was erected. Soon after, a
cenotaph was erected, displaying the emblem of
, and an inscription dedicating it "To Those Who Died For the Freedom of Ukraine".
On October 14, 2017, the
Embassy of Russia in Ottawa
The Embassy of Russia in Canada is the Russian embassy in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located at 285 Charlotte Street (also known as Free Ukraine Street), at the eastern terminus of Laurier Avenue, built by W.E. Noffke. To the south it looks out on ...
's
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account posted images of the monuments, alongside a bust of
Roman Shukhevych in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
, with a caption referring to them as "monuments to Nazi collaborators." Alexandra Chyczij, vice president of the
Ukrainian Canadian Congress
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC; uk, Конгрес Українців Канади) is a nonprofit umbrella organization of Ukrainian-Canadian political, cultural, and religious organizations.
History
Originally known as the Ukrainian ...
, called these claims "long-disproven fabrications".
John-Paul Himka
John-Paul Himka ( ua, Іван-Павло Химка; born May 18, 1949, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American-Canadian historian and retired professor of history of the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Himka received his BA in Byzantine-Slavon ...
, University of Alberta scholar who has researched this topic in depth, stated about these monuments, “The fact is the Ukrainian government and the diaspora have been honouring Holocaust perpetrators and war criminals for a long time.”
Author
Per Anders Rudling has also stated on the topic "Unfortunately, the Ukrainian-Canadian organizations have not shown real readiness to discuss these issues... On the whole there's a great deal of resistance".
Around June 21, 2020, the cenotaph was vandalized, with spray paint reading "Nazi war monument".
Halton Regional Police Service
The Halton Regional Police Service provides policing service for the Regional Municipality of Halton, which is located west of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. Halton Region encompasses the City of Burlington and the Towns of Oakville, Milton and Ha ...
initially reported that the vandalism was a "hate motivated offense", and refused to release images of the graffiti. Halton police later stated that the graffiti may have been targeting Ukrainians either as a whole or in the area, and that they did not "consider that the identifiable group targeted by the graffiti was Nazis."
In July 2020, Halton Regional Police released a statement saying that the message written on a controversial monument was no longer being considered a hate offence.
Oakville's mayor
Rob Burton
Rob Burton is a Canadian businessman, journalist and politician. He currently serves as the mayor of Oakville, Ontario, in Canada. He was elected in the municipal elections of 2006, having failed to unseat Ann Mulvale in 2003. He was re-elect ...
commented that the memorial was "repugnant" to him, but the contents of private cemeteries was out of his reach. Otherwise, he would have had it removed "years ago".
Notable Burials
*
Gregory Hines
Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time. As an actor, he is best known for '' Wolfen'' (1981), '' The Cotton C ...
- an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer.
*
Negrita Jayde Negrita Jayde (July 5, 1958August 28, 2009) was a Canadian female bodybuilding champion, personal trainer, author, actress and businesswoman. She was the longtime partner and fiancée of Gregory Hines at the time of his death in August 2003. Her boo ...
- was a Canadian female bodybuilding champion, and Author.
*
Ulas Samchuk
Ulas Oleksiiovych Samchuk (; 20 February 1905, Derman – 9 July 1987 Toronto) was a Ukrainian writer, propagandist, publicist, journalist, and a member of the Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile. He was a member of the natio ...
- a writer, publicist, journalist, propagandist, Nazi collaborator, and antisemite.
*
Roman Danylak Roman Danylak (December 29, 1930 – October 7, 2012) was a Canadian Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Ukrainian Catholic bishop.
Life
Roman Danylak was born in Toronto, Canada on December 29, 1930. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood i ...
- Canadian Ukrainian Catholic bishop.
*
John Yaremko
John Yaremko, (August 10, 1918 – August 7, 2010) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1951 until 1975 who represented the downtown Toronto riding of Bellwoods ...
- first Ukrainian-Canadian to be elected to the Ontario legislature.
See also
*
Roman Shukhevych statue (Edmonton)
The Roman Shukhevych statue in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is a controversial sculpture located near the Ukrainian Youth Association ''narodny dim'' of the Ukrainian nationalist Roman Shukhevych, a military leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (U ...
*
List of Nazi monuments in Canada
Canada has several monuments and memorials that to varying degrees commemorate people and groups accused of collaboration with the Axis powers, collaboration with Nazi forces.
Monuments and memorials include or have included a statue of Draža M ...
References
External links
*
*
{{coord, 43.4550, N, 79.7498, W, region:CA_type:landmark, display=title
Buildings and structures in Oakville, Ontario
Ukrainian-Canadian culture in Ontario
Cemeteries in Ontario
1984 establishments in Ontario
1984 establishments in Canada