Last week was to mark a long overdue event: the opening of an interpretive centre by Parks Canada at Cave & Basin to acknowledge Canada’s unjust World War I internment of so called “enemy aliens”. More than 8000 recent immigrants to Canada were held captive and made to work. The network of public parks in Canada was built on the backs of slave labourers. My grandfather was one of them. He was interned at Jasper. The majority of those interned were Ukrainian.
After much kicking and screaming, Parks Canada was finally opening this interpretive centre, at 2pm on June 20th. I wanted to be there.
Denise Drury and Banff Public Library kindly invited me to speak on the evening of June 19th, about my own interned grandfather and the two books I have written on this subject.
Calgary writer extraordinaire and friend Cathy Ostlere was in attendance and she decided to stay in the area overnight in order to attend the next day’s opening of the interpretive centre.
But by the next day, all had changed. The flooding and mudslides had begun. Calgary was shut down. The roads to Banff were flooded out.
All of the dignitaries who had flown in to Calgary to come to Banff the next morning for the exhibit opening were stranded in Calgary. The Honourable Jason Kenney was one of them.
Those of us in Banff did get a sneak peek at the exhibit, but we were not allowed to take photos. In Calgary, a commemorative event was quickly put together.
I have to say that I was surrounded by a wonderful group of people stranded in Banff. The circumstances were not ideal, but I loved the opportunity to spend time with Cathy Ostlere, and John Boxtel. John is the gifted sculptor who has created the iconic internment statues like the Interned Madonna at Spirit Lake and the internee at Castle Mountain. Also there was Atul Bahl, who has been working on resource materials on internment. Several of my fellow UCCLA members made it in, including Ryan Boyko who is in the midst of creating a feature film on the internment.
On Friday afternoon, the sun did come out, so Cathy and I walked around Banff.
Early Saturday morning, Cathy and I decided to try to make our escape. We stopped at information booths along the way so we’d be updated on which roads to take. The devastation that we saw on our journey was astounding. When we got into Calgary it was like driving into a nightmare. Those of you in Calgary, please stay safe.
It was a an 11 hour trip. Cathy got me to the airport at 6 and I was able to change my flight for a seat on the only flight available that evening — 7:15 — with 19 minutes to spare before boarding time. There was almost no one on the flight — maybe 20 people in all — each passenger had a row to themselves. I got home around 2am Ontario time.
