St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery

St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery, marketed 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] The cemetery offers both in ground burial and burial vaults in perpetuity, and is open to all those of Christian faith.

St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery
Grave of Vasily Nikolaevich Ivanis
Details
Established1984
Coordinates43°27′13″N 79°44′47″W

14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS emblem 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] John-Paul Himka, a University of Alberta scholar, stated about these monuments, “The fact is the Ukrainian government and the diaspora have been honouring Holocaust perpetrators and war criminals for a long time.”[7][8] Author Per Anders Rudling has also stated on the topic "Unfortunately, the Ukrainian-Canadian organizations have not shown real readiness to discuss these issues... On the whole there's a great deal of resistance".[8]

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",[9] 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."[10][11] 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.[12] 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".[12]

Notable burials
  • Gregory Hines – an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer.
  • Negrita Jayde – was a Canadian female bodybuilding champion, and Author.
  • Ulas Samchuk – a writer, publicist, journalist, propagandist, Nazi collaborator, and antisemite.
  • Roman Danylak – Canadian Ukrainian Catholic bishop.
  • John Yaremko – first Ukrainian-Canadian to be elected to the Ontario legislature.

See also

References
  1. "About us". St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery. Archived from the original on 7 Dec 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  2. "About Us". West Oak Memorial Gardens. Archived from the original on 2020-07-18. Retrieved 2020-07-18.
  3. Rudling, Per Anders (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 978-3030413293.
  4. Embassy of Russia in Ottawa [@RussianEmbassyC] (14 October 2017). "There are monuments 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. Smith, Marie-Danielle (23 December 2017). "Ukrainian-Canadian community urged to confront WWII past amid controversy over monuments". National Post.
  8. Rudling, Per Anders (2022). Marschall, Sabine (ed.). Public Memory in the Context of Transnational Migration and Displacement. p. 118. ISBN 978-3030413293.
  9. Connor, Kevin (23 June 2020). "Cops investigate two hate crimes in GTA". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  10. 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.
  11. Pugliese, David (17 July 2020). "Graffiti on memorial to Nazi SS division now being investigated as vandalism". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  12. Desormeaux, Thomas (July 18, 2020). "Vandalized Nazi Monument in St. Volodymyr Cemetery".
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