Lecture: Political Ethics and the Policy and Practice of WWI Internment in Canada

An online talk by Dr. Bohdan Kordan, Professor Emeritus, Political Studies, St. Thomas More College / University of Saskatchewan

During WWI, some 8,579 individuals identified as enemy aliens were incarcerated in camps and forcibly put to work on Canada’s frontier. An additional 80,000 were required to register and report to authorities as a part of monitoring/surveillance system. How did this happen is only superseded by the question of why this happened, which enjoins us to consider the moral dimension of the policy and decisions that framed the experience of WWI internment in Canada. Recorded Wednesday, February 22, 2023, 7 PM CST.

Lecture: Archaeology of Internment at the Morrissey WWI Camp
An online talk with Dr. Sarah Beaulieu, Assistant Professor in the School of Culture, Media, and Society, University of the Fraser Valley.

To date, very little is known archaeologically about First World War-era internment camps, especially in Canada, where this history was actively erased through the destruction of the Federal Internment records in the 1950s. Archaeologists can play a fundamental role in contributing knowledge where oral and documentary evidence is lacking. Through GPR survey and excavation, archival records retrieval, and oral histories, Dr. Beaulieu analyzed the PoW diet at the Morrissey Internment Camp to confirm whether it was as poor as many prisoners had claimed. The material record adds a new line of evidence, contributing to a more nuanced perspective that aids in reducing the gaps in this dark facet of Canadian history. Recorded on Thursday, February 9, 2023, 7 PM CST .

Ukrainian Avant-garde Lecture Series: Lecture 1 – Ukrainian Artists in the Vanguard

In traditional narratives of art history, Ukrainian artists are often subsumed into the arts of the Russian empire. But in fact, many of these artists either self-identified as Ukrainian or drew explicitly from their Ukrainian heritage in their pursuit of innovative artistic styles.

This first lecture features Ukrainian artists including Aleksandra Ekster, artist, teacher, organizer and theatre designer; Oleksandr Bohomazov, “the Ukrainian Picasso”; and Kazimir Malevich, founder of Suprematism and a cornerstone for abstraction in Modern art. These and other Ukrainian artists were instrumental in the foundation and fluorescence of the artistic avant-garde in the early 20th century.

About the Ukrainian Avant-garde Lecture Series: The Ukrainian Museum of Canada is pleased to present a three-part lecture series by University of Saskatchewan art history instructor John Koenig, highlighting the creativity, inspiration, and leadership of Ukrainian artists in the first half of the 20th century. Time: 39:24 Lecture and video by John Koenig. Presented by the Ukrainian Museum of Canada.

Stay tuned for “The Ukrainian Avant-garde” Parts 2 and 3!