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Spirit Lake Internment Centre Breaks Attendance Records For Visitors to Museum

Dec 6, 2016 | Newpathway, Featured

Zorianna Hrycenko-Luhova, Ottawa.

La Ferme, Quebec: Award-winning Spirit Lake Internment Interpretative Centre, celebrating its sixth successful year, continues to welcome many visitors to its museum. This year’s summer tourist season broke previous summer records with over 4,000 coming to the Centre. Since 2011 over 30,000 have walked through the Centre to learn about the area, the unjust internment at Spirit Lake the second largest internment site in Canada and about early 20th century Ukrainian immigrant history to Quebec.

This summer, with three university students on a government grant working full-time, the Centre extended its hours from 9am to 9pm, allowing more flexibility for family visits and young people. Visitors came from parts of Canada and Europe.

During the summer months, the Centre was donated bicycles (including special bikes for handicap) offering free bike rentals located in front of the Centre, to view the area on bike paths, bicycle around Spirit Lake next to the Centre, and visit the museum. Historically, with the lake frozen in the winter, internees were forced to walk daily across Spirit Lake to cut trees, often severely injuring themselves in the cold.

This fall and winter, for teachers that have a limited amount of time and money for student bus visits, the Centre provides instructors to go to schools conducting information-seminars in student packed auditoriums. In turn, this creates awareness about history and a desire to come later to experience the internment site on their own.

Spirit Lake Centre, located uniquely on the original internment grounds, is the only internment museum in Canada open all year round. Future increase in museum attendance looks very favorable. Because content in the Quebec high school curriculum has changed, the Centre’s educational outreach program is expanded. The history of World War I and its impact on society is now being taught in Quebec elementary grades 5 and 6 and in high school grades 11 and 12. CEGEP, post high school classes, incorporating regional history and heritage studies. As a result, Canada’s First World War internment operations of 1914 to 1920 and Spirit Lake (1915-1917) is being included.

“The need for support for educational programs and the museum’s existence has prompted Spirit Lake Centre’s national fundraising campaign to reach out across Canada”, stated James Slobodian chairperson of the Centre. “Spirit Lake internment is Canada’s story and we invite our community to help ensure increasing broad public awareness by embracing our work. Cultural institutions survive with the public’s support.” The Spirit Lake internment story (1915-1917) is captured in Yurij Luhovy’s documentaries “Ukrainians in Quebec 1891-1945” and “Freedom Had a Price”.

For further information see: www.campspiritlake.ca or tel. 819.727.2267.

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