Canada and the Ukrainian Question, 1939–1945 the Start of the Second
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
99578_90.fm Page i Monday, August 27, 2001 5:16 PM Canada and the Ukrainian Question, 1939–1945 The start of the Second World War placed Canadian officials in the difficult position of trying to maintain their stated position of respect for national self-determination while refusing to further Ukrainian Canadian requests that Canada support the principle of Ukrainian independence. Bohdan Kordan shows that Canadian offi- cials, claiming that Ukrainian independence was not in the interest of the Canadian state, used measures such as close surveillance of the community and intervention in community affairs in the attempt to manage the so-called Ukrainian problem. Focusing on the difficulties the government faced in trying to rec- oncile moral imperatives and political interest, Kordan provides an innovative interpretation of government policy toward Ukrainian Canadians. Drawing extensively on Canadian, British, American, and Soviet archival material, he highlights the connection between the government’s foreign and domestic concerns and the implica- tions of each for Canadian nation building. Meticulously researched and richly detailed, Canada and the Ukrainian Question, 1939–1945 offers a clear but critical statement about Canada’s uneven approach to ethnic integration and policy making. bohdan s. kordan is professor of international relations in the Department of Political Studies and the director of the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage, St Thomas More College, Uni- versity of Saskatchewan. 99578_90.fm Page ii Monday, August 27, 2001 5:16 PM mcgill-queen’s studies in ethnic history donald harman akenson, editor 1 Irish Migrants in the Canadas 10 Vancouver’s Chinatown A New Approach Racial Discourse in Canada, Bruce S. Elliott 1875–1980 Kay J. Anderson 2 Critical Years in Immigration Canada and Australia Compared 11 Best Left as Indians Freda Hawkins Native–White Relations in the (Second edition, 1991) Yukon Territory, 1840–1973 Ken Coates 3 Italians in Toronto Development of a National Identity, 12 Such Hardworking People 1875–1935 Italian Immigrants in Postwar John E. Zucchi Toronto Franca Iacovetta 4 Linguistics and Poetics of Latvian Folk Songs 13 The Little Slaves of the Harp Essays in Honour of the Italian Child Street Musicians in Sesquicentennial of the Birth of Nineteenth-Century Paris, London, Kr. Barons and New York Vaira Vikis-Freibergs John E. Zucchi 5 Johan Schrøder’s Travels in Canada, 14 The Light of Nature 1863 and the Law of God Orm Øverland Antislavery in Ontario, 1833–1877 Allen P. Stouffer 6 Class, Ethnicity, and Social Inequality 15 Drum Songs Christopher McAll Glimpses of Dene History Kerry Abel 7 The Victorian Interpretation of Racial Conflict 16 Louis Rosenberg The Maori, the British, and the New Canada’s Jews Zealand Wars Edited by Morton Weinfeld James Belich 17 A New Lease on Life 8 White Canada Forever Landlords, Tenants, and Immigrants Popular Attitudes and Public Policy in Ireland and Canada towards Orientals in British Catherine Anne Wilson Columbia W. Peter Ward 18 In Search of Paradise (Second edition, 1990) The Odyssey of an Italian Family Susan Gabori 9 The People of Glengarry Highlanders in Transition, 19 Ethnicity in the Mainstream 1745–1820 Three Studies of English Canadian Marianne McLean Culture in Ontario Pauline Greenhill 99578_90.fm Page iii Monday, August 27, 2001 5:16 PM 20 Patriots and Proletarians 23 Search Out the Land The Politicization of Hungarian The Jews and the Growth of Immigrants in Canada, 1923–1939 Equality in British Colonial Carmela Patrias America, 1740–1867 Sheldon J. Godfrey and 21 The Four Quarters of the Night Judith C. Godfrey The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh 24 The Development of Elites in Tara Singh Bains and Hugh Johnson Acadian New Brunswick, 1861–1881 Sheila M. Andrew 22 Resistance and Plurialism A Cultural History of Guyana, 25 Journey to Vaja 1838–1900 Reconstructing the World of a Brian L. Moore Hungarian-Jewish Family Elaine Kalman Naves mcgill-queen’s studies in ethnic history series two: john zucchi, editor Inside Ethnic Families Coalescence of Styles Three Generations of Portuguese- The Ethnic Heritage of St-John Canadians River Valley Regional Furniture, Edite Noivo 1763–1851 Jane L. Cook A House of Words Jewish Writing, Identity, Brigh an Òrain/A Story in Every and Memory Song Norman Ravvin The Songs and Tales of Lauchie MacLellan Oatmeal and the Catechism Translated and Edited by John Shaw Scottish Gaelic Settlers in Quebec Margaret Bennett Demography, State and Society Irish Migration to Britain, With Scarcely a Ripple 1921–1971 Anglo-Canadian Migration into the Enda Delaney United States and Western Canada, 1880–1920 The West Indians of Costa Rica Randy William Widdis Race, Class, and the Integration of an Ethnic Minority Creating Societies Ronald N. Harpelle Immigrant Lives in Canada Dirk Hoerder Canada and the Ukrainian Question, 1939–1945 Social Discredit Bohdan S. Kordan Anti-Semitism, Social Credit, and the Jewish Response Janine Stingel 99578_90.fm Page iv Monday, August 27, 2001 5:16 PM 99578_90.fm Page v Monday, August 27, 2001 5:16 PM Canada and the Ukrainian Question, 1939–1945 A Study in Statecraft bohdan s. kordan McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston · London · Ithaca 99578_90.fm Page vi Monday, August 27, 2001 5:16 PM © McGill-Queen’s University Press 2001 isbn 0-7735-2230-1 (cloth) isbn 0-7735-2308-1 (paper) Legal deposit fourth quarter 2001 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Funding has also been provided by the President’s Publication Fund at the University of Saskatchewan and the Publications Fund, St Thomas More College. McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for its activities. It also acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for its publishing program. National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Kordan, Bohdan S. Canada and the Ukrainian question, 1939–45 : a study in statecraft Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-7735-2230-1 (bnd) isbn 0-7735-2308-1 (pbk) 1. Ukrainian Canadians – Government policy – History. 2. Canada – Politics and government – 1935–1948. 3. Ukraine – History – Autonomy and independence movements. 4. Self-determination, National – Ukraine. i. Title. fc580.k67 2001 971.063’2 c2001-900061-8 f1034.k67 2001 Typeset in Sabon 10/12 by Caractéra inc., Quebec City 99578_90.fm Page vii Monday, August 27, 2001 5:16 PM For Olga, my sister Always there 99578_90.fm Page viii Monday, August 27, 2001 5:16 PM 99578_91.fm Page ix Monday, August 27, 2001 5:17 PM Contents Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xiii 1 Realism and Canadian Statecraft 3 2 The Ukrainian Question and the Politics of the Status Quo Ante, 1939–1941 11 3 Realism, Canada, and the Grand Alliance: Political Obligations, Contradictions, and Costs 59 4 The Nationalities Branch and the Interests of State 95 5 Unencumbered Statecraft: Dealing with the Ukrainian “Problem,” 1943–1945 137 6 Towards an Understanding of Canadian Statecraft 177 Notes 189 Index 251 99578_91.fm Page x Monday, August 27, 2001 5:17 PM 99578_92.fm Page xi Monday, August 27, 2001 5:18 PM Acknowledgments At the end of a long and eventful journey, perhaps the greatest satis- faction for the traveller is to recall fondly both the company and the treasured moments when an assisting hand, encouraging voice, and sympathetic nod helped along the way. In this journey, I happily benefited from the good cheer and wise counsel of several individuals: Richard Hubert, the late Bohdan Bociurkiw, John MacDonald, Abraham Fox, Margaret Ovendun, Pat McGowan, Don Wolf, Michael Esler, Peter Melnycky, Lubomyr Luciuk, Bohdan Krawchenko, Nestor Makuch, Sonia Maryn, Hans Michelmann, David Smith and Don Story. Words fail to express my sincere and profound thanks for their generosity of spirit and kindness of heart. I have relied over the years on the service and assistance of several archivists who are much appreciated, in particular Myron Momryk of the National Archives of Canada (Manuscript Division), John E. Taylor of the u.s. National Archives and Records Service (Military Archives Division), and Dacre Cole of the Historical Division of the former Department of External Affairs. In Moscow, during the first few months that followed the Soviet collapse, when everything seemed possible, I not only enjoyed the amiable company of Viktor Kravchenko (Russian Diplomatic Academy) but was ably guided by him in negotiations with several bewildered and only partially “recon- structed” post-Soviet archivists associated with the state archives of the ussr. His assistance, for which I am truly grateful, proved invaluable. It is an honour to be associated with a fine publisher such as McGill- Queen’s University Press. Any organisation, however, is only as good as 99578_92.fm Page xii Monday, August 27, 2001 5:18 PM xii Acknowledgments its people. In this regard, I would like to acknowledge the encourage- ment, effort, and skill of the ever-capable editorial staff at McGill-Queen’s: Peter Goheen, Philip Cercone, Roger Martin, and Joan McGilvray. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with them. I am especially indebted to Ron Curtis, whose keen eye and precise editorial hand has added much polish to the final text. The Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada has helped offset the costs asso- ciated with the production of this book, and it is recognised here for its generous support. The author also wishes to acknowledge a similar grant from the President’s Publications Fund at the University of Saskatchewan and the Publications Fund, St Thomas More College.