St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery

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St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery, also known as West Oak Memorial Gardens, is a cemetery in Oakville, Ontario, established in 1984.[1][2] According to the cemetery's website, it is operated by St. Volodymyr Cathedral.[2]

A prominent Ukrainian writer Ulas Samchuk is buried at the cemetery.

Controversy[]

Monument to the Glory of the UPA (left) and cenotaph with emblem of 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician). (right)

On 26 May 1988, Monument to the Glory of the UPA, a memorial to members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, was erected. Soon after, a cenotaph was erected, displaying the emblem of 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), and an inscription dedicating it "To Those Who Died For the Freedom of Ukraine".[3]

On October 14, 2017, the Embassy of Russia in Ottawa's Twitter account posted images of the monuments, alongside a bust of Roman Shukhevych in Edmonton, with a caption referring to them as "monuments to Nazi collaborators."[4][5] Alexandra Chyczij, vice president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, called these claims "long-disproven fabrications".[6]

Around June 21, 2020, the cenotaph was vandalized, with spray paint reading "Nazi war monument". Halton Regional Police Service initially reported that the vandalism was a "hate motivated offense",[7] and refused to release images of the graffiti. Halton police later stated that the graffiti may have been targeting Ukrainians either as a whole or in the area, and that they did not "consider that the identifiable group targeted by the graffiti was Nazis."[8][9]

In July 2020, Halton Regional Police released a statement saying that the message written on a controversial monument was no longer being considered a hate offence.[10] Oakville's mayor Rob Burton commented that the memorial was "repugnant" to him, but the contents of private cemeteries was out of his reach. Otherwise, he would have had it removed "years ago".[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "About us". St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery. Archived from the original on 7 Dec 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b "About Us". West Oak Memorial Gardens. Archived from the original on 2020-07-18. Retrieved 2020-07-18.
  3. ^ Rudling, Per Anders (3 July 2020). "Long-Distance Nationalism: Ukrainian Monuments and Historical Memory in Multicultural Canada". In Marschall, Sabine (ed.). Public Memory in the Context of Transnational Migration and Displacement. pp. 105–108. ISBN 978-3-030-41329-3.
  4. ^ Embassy of Russia in Ottawa [@RussianEmbassyC] (14 October 2017). "There are monumets to Nazi collaborators in Canada and nobody is doing anything about it. #NeverForget #Holocaust #WorldWar2" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ^ Smith, Marie-Danielle (25 October 2017). "Russia tweets about 'Nazi' monuments in Canada amid ongoing concerns over political interference". National Post. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  6. ^ Lea, David (24 October 2017). "Russian Embassy charges monuments to alleged 'Nazi collaborators' in Oakville". Oakville Beaver. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  7. ^ Connor, Kevin (23 June 2020). "Cops investigate two hate crimes in GTA". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  8. ^ Halton Regional Police Service [@HaltonPolice] (17 July 2020). "The Halton Regional Police Service has issued a media release that provides clarification regarding the ongoing investigation into graffiti at St Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery in Oakville. ^jh" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ Pugliese, David (17 July 2020). "Graffiti on memorial to Nazi SS division now being investigated as vandalism". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  10. ^ a b Desormeaux, Thomas (July 18, 2020). "Vandalized Nazi Monument in St. Volodymyr Cemetery".

External links[]

Coordinates: 43°27′18″N 79°44′59″W / 43.4550°N 79.7498°W / 43.4550; -79.7498

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