THE HISTORY OF THE UKRAINIAN COMMUNITY OF VAL-D’OR, QUEBEC
Myron Momryk
The Cold War in Val-d’Or, A History of the Ukrainian Community in Val-d’Or, Quebec is a mini-history of an ethnocultural community in northwestern Quebec. The story has many similarities to the evolution of immigrant and ethnocultural groups in many one-industry towns in northern Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. This study should be of special interest to the many former residents of Val-d’Or who lived in an isolated resource town in a predominantly francophone milieu. The earliest mention of Ukrainians in Abitibi is their internment in the Spirit Lake Internment Camp during the First World War established near Amos, Quebec. The Sheptytsky Colony established in the late 1920s continued to be farmed by Ukrainians until the 1970s. The mining economy and the local cultural environment shaped this community but also the left-right political rivalry during the Cold War years documented in the surveillance reports prepared by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and found in Library and Archives Canada. This surveillance by the RCMP may also interest students and researchers in Canadian labour and political history. Ukrainian immigrants arrived in the Abitibi region as prospectors and miners in the 1930s and established the first rival pro-communist and nationalist community organizations that reflected their political orientation. The local branch of the Ukrainian National Federation was established in 1937 in opposition to the Workers Benevolent Association and the Ukrainian Labor-Farmer Temple Association, both pro-Communist branches. This rivalry was the ‘motor’ that activated the community but also perpetuated political differences that is the main theme of this study. This rivalry was reinforced during the Cold War years with the arrival of the Ukrainian Displaced Persons in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM) branch was established in the early 1950s and initiated several community activities - Ukrainian School, dramatic plays and concerts, weekly radio program - and were particularly active in the building of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The radio program remained a central part of CYM activities where community news, Ukrainian music and editorials from Homin Ukrainy were read. But the uncertainties of the mining economy, the aging of the work force and the isolation from the large urban centres encouraged out migration that contributed to the gradual decline of the community. Most members of CYM left Val-d'Or for southern Ontario and became active members of CYM branches in Oshawa and Toronto. The Val-d'Or CYM branch was formally dissolved in 1963. Material for this book is based on documents in the Library and Archives Canada, Ontario Archives, and Ukrainian, English and French-language newspapers. Many of these ethnocultural communities in one-industry towns established in the 1930s have faded away and in some cases, their story is forgotten. This story is a record of their experiences in Val-d’Or and a contribution to Canadian history.
Biographical note
Myron Momryk grew up in Val-d’Or and was a witness to many of the events described in this story about the local Ukrainian community. He graduated from the University of Waterloo in 1972 with an M.A. in Canadian history and worked for over twenty-five years as an archivist in the area of multicultural archives at the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. In addition to many articles in journals and presentations at academic conferences, he is the author of the history of the Ukrainian Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion in Montreal, Remember the Flag, Mazeppa Legion History (2009) and Mike Starr of Oshawa, A Political Biography (2017). He continues his research and writing in the area of Cold War history.
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