Eaton Internment Camp, although short-lived, was one of twenty-four official

internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

facilities created in Canada to accommodate prisoners of war during the period from 1914 to 1920. It was the only facility of its kind in the province of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. Under the 1914 ''

War Measures Act The ''War Measures Act'' (french: Loi sur les mesures de guerre; 5 George V, Chap. 2) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could t ...

'', 8,579

enemy aliens In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...

— nationals of countries at war with Canada — were interned in Canada during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

. Primarily immigrant settlers of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

origin, they were sent to prisoner of war camps—most located in the Canadian hinterland—where they would work on government public projects as military conscript labour. Toward the end of the war however, the majority of internees were conditionally released to industry, the result of the growing labour shortage. This led to some camps being dismantled, others consolidated, as well as to the relocation of those internees considered undesirable. As part of this relocation process, sixty-five internees were sent in October 1918 to an internment facility at

Munson, Alberta Munson is a village in central Alberta, Canada. It is located 13 km north of the Town of Drumheller along Highway 9 and the Canadian National Railway tracks. History Prior to the end of World War I, Munson was the site of a Ukrainian Ca ...

where they laboured on the railway. However the outbreak of the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

(Spanish Influenza) and disciplinary issues forced the relocation of the Munson camp. On February 25, 1919, the internees were removed to a hastily constructed camp on the site of the railway siding at Eaton, Saskatchewan. It was thought that the move would placate the inmate population. It had little effect. Growing resistance among the internees and lack of confidence in the military guard prompted authorities to abandon the Eaton siding location for more secure facilities. On March 21, twenty-four days after the facility was initially established, the internees were transported by rail to a military installation at

Amherst, Nova Scotia Amherst ( ) is a town in northwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, and south of the Northumberland Strait. The town sits on a height of land at the eastern boundary of th ...

where they were to be processed for deportation. The Eaton Internment Camp was dismantled shortly afterwards. The site of the original camp is on the grounds of the present-day

Saskatchewan Railway Museum The Saskatchewan Railway Museum is a railway museum located west of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at the intersection of the Pike Lake Highway (Hwy 60) and the Canadian National Railway tracks (on "Hawker" siding). It is operated by the Saskatchewan R ...

, situated at the junction of

Highway 60 The following highways are numbered 60: International * AH60, Asian Highway 60 * European route E60 Australia * Bruxner Highway * Dawson Highway (Rolleston to Gladstone) - Queensland State Route 60 Brazil * BR-060 Canada * Alberta Highway 60 ...

and the Canadian National Railway, four kilometers southwest of

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

. In 2005, as part of a national campaign to seek official acknowledgement and redress for the World War I internment of Ukrainians and others, the

Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage The Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage (PCUH) is an academic unit of St Thomas More College, a liberal arts college federated with the University of Saskatchewan. Initiated in 1998 and formally established in 1999, its mission is to ...

, an academic unit at the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, in association with the Saskatchewan Railway Museum commissioned and unveiled on the original site a bronze and tindal-stone memorial. The monument entitled "Fortitude" was sculpted by Saskatchewan artist Grant McConnell.

Sources

*Bohdan Kordan, ''Enemy Aliens, Prisoners of War: Internment in Canada during the Great War''. Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002. *Bohdan Kordan and Craig Mahovsky, ''A Bare and Impolitic Right: Internment and Ukrainian-Canadian Redress''. Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004. *http://www.stmcollege.ca/historic_site.html{{Dead link, date=August 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes World War I internment camps World War I sites in Canada Temporary populated places in Canada 1919 establishments in Saskatchewan 1919 disestablishments in Saskatchewan

See also

Sources