World War 1 Turning Point Analysis

World War One brought a variety of different turning points, both good and bad, which made Canada the nation it is today. One of these turning points includes the discrimination against the Ukrainians. At the time, Canada strongly encouraged immigrants from Eastern Europe to settle in Canada’s West. The British and Americans were most welcome however, under the new ‘open door’ policy, we were willing to accept Northern and Eastern Europeans; especially Ukrainians. Ukrainians were next desirable because they were known to be stronger, tougher, more skilled and used to the cold weather. By 1914, 170 000 Ukrainians lived in Canada. Many of them fled their country due to poor economic conditions and political domination of the Austrian-Hungarian
Empire. A large number of them were welcomed with open arms by the government in the 1900's for agricultural purposes in Canada's west. When World War I started, most had fled from the oppression of the Austria-Hungarian government. What they didn't know, was they would have to face terrible discrimination in Canada. When war was declared against Austria-Hungary, the recent immigrants from there were looked at with increased suspicion, which was when an anti-foreigner sentiment gripped Canada. Anyone who had not yet gained Canadian citizenship and who was not a former citizen of a country that Canada was at war with, were considered ‘enemy aliens’. They were required to carry identification papers and report regularly to the police or federal government. In April 1915, the federal government went as far as sending approximately 9000 people to 24 isolated internment camps. The internees were forced to live in horrible conditions and were often told to take care of dirty and dangerous labour such as clearing forests, draining land and building roads. They were also warned not to escape and if they tried, they would be killed. This wasn’t just said to prevent them from escaping. In fact an attempt of escape only lead to a tragic death for an eighteen year old man in 1915, who was killed by multiple gun shots after he jumped from a window. These experiences built anger within the Ukrainians. In 1916, many of them had been released because the federal government realized that they did not pose a threat to Canada. In 1920, the last of the ‘enemy aliens’ were released from the internment camps. As the war dragged on, the government placed many other restrictions on many immigrant groups. An example is that they could not travel freely or vote in