Discoveries made along the way

CANADA | Monday, 1 July 2013 | Views [463] | View Smaller Image

Though not a graveyard, this site earns the same reverence. Wreaths, flowers, stones and other small objects seem to be routinely left as gifts. In this image, a lone red plastic flower was left atop the bronze plaque that shared the history of the Castle Mountain Internment Camp in three languages – English, French, and Ukrainian.

Tags: offerings, monument, castle mountain internment camp, banff national park

Flowers, pine cones, small rocks – all were left on the top of the stone on which the historical plaque was mounted. Inspired by the tradition, I too placed a small stone on top of the monument as a remembrance of those who were imprisoned here.

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As I left a wonderful visit to the wonderland of Banff National Park (Canada), I was drawn to stop at a roadside monument. There, I learned I’d been traveling on a road partially built by what was essentially slave labor. The monument recognized the site of Castle Mountain Internment Camp, where more than 600 Ukrainian immigrants had been held under the War Measures Act (1914) as “enemy aliens,” simply because of their national origins in a time of war.

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Discoveries made along the way

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