Myron Momryk - The Cold War in Val-dOr: A History of the Ukrainian Community in Val-d’Or, Quebec

THE
COLD WAR IN
VAL-DOR

A History of the Ukrainian Community
of Val-dOr, Quebec

MYRON MOMRYK

(January 1, 2020)

THE
COLD WAR IN
VAL-DOR

A History of the Ukrainian Community
of Val-dOr, Quebec

MYRON MOMRYK

(January 1, 2020)

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The Cold War in Val-dOr: a history of the Ukrainian community in Val-dOr, Quebec / Myron Momryk.

Names: Momryk, Myron, 1946- author.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200298593 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200298771 | ISBN 9781771615167 (softcover) | ISBN 9781771615174 (PDF) | ISBN 9781771615181 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781771615198 (Kindle)

Subjects: LCSH: UkrainiansQubec (Province)Val-dOrHistory20th century. | LCSH: UkrainiansQubec (Province)Val-dOrSocial conditions20th century. | LCSH: UkrainiansQubec (Province)Val-dOrSocial life and customs20th century. | LCSH: Val-dOr (Qubec)History20th century. | LCSH: Val-dOr (Qubec)Social conditions20th century. | LCSH: Val-dOr (Qubec)Social life and customs20th century.

Classification: LCC FC2949.V35 Z76 2020 | DDC 971.4/13900491791009045dc23

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote a brief passage in a review.

Published by Mosaic Press, Oakville, Ontario, Canada, 2020.

MOSAIC PRESS, Publishers

Copyright Myron Momryk, 2020

Printed and bound in Canada.

Designed by Andrea Tempesta

Cover photo: VE Day in Val-dOr, 8 May, 1945 with Soviet and pro-Tito Yugoslav f lags. Photo credit: La Socit dhistoire et de gnalogie de Val-dOr.

We acknowledge the Ontario Arts Council
for their support of our publishing program

MOSAIC PRESS 1252 Speers Road, Units 1 & 2, Oakville, Ontario, L6L 5N9 (905) 825-2130

Dedicated to the memory of my parents,

Steve Momryk (1918-2005) and Katherine Wowk (1923-2001)

ABBREVIATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

As a specialist in the history of Ukrainians in Canada, I am very pleased that this study by Myron Momryk is devoted to a Ukrainian community in a part of the country that is often overlooked or simply overshadowed by the attention that gets paid to rural settlements on the prairies or in large urban centers. Quebec Ukrainians, in particular, tend to be under-researched, notwithstanding some useful work that has been done over the years on aspects of Ukrainian organizational life in the province.

The case of Val-dOr is especially interesting, being a city situated 530 kilometers northwest of Montreal and in many respects similar to the mining communities with significant Ukrainian populations established around the same time in Kirkland Lake and Timmins, across the border in Ontario. These and other cities and towns that grew around resource industries in remote areas of the Canadian Shield have a distinct make-up, which was naturally reflected in their Ukrainian organizational activity. Having a strong working-class character, they frequently witnessed strikes and labour unrest that were influenced in no small part by ideological differences between radical trade unionists sympathetic to the Communist Party and the Soviet Union, and the often more conservative immigrants from Ukraine. Although seemingly far removed from world events, the Cold War was very much a factor in some of the developments that took place in the one-industry settlements in the northern reaches of Ontario and Quebec. The great value of Mr. Momryks study is that it documents how these issues played out among Ukrainians while telling the story of a Ukrainian community that almost nothing has been written about.

Jars Balan

Director

Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies

University of Alberta

Edmonton, Alberta

INTRODUCTION

The research and writing of this local history of the Ukrainian community in Val-dOr began as a series of small projects and presentations while working at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) in Ottawa in the years after 1981. During my research on Ukrainian Canadian historical topics, I was able to identify historical information in federal government records and in several private archival fonds on Ukrainian individuals and organizations across Canada including Val-dOr. I became interested in the local history of the Ukrainian community in Val-dOr in an attempt to better explain the events and evolution of the community because of its unique situation as a one-industry town in a French Canadian milieu. Further information was located in other archival institutions in Toronto and elsewhere. Relevant publications, newspaper articles and academic dissertations were consulted in the LAC, Archives of Ontario, University of Ottawa Library and material obtained through the inter-library loan system. I lived in Val-dOr with my parents from 1949 until 1965 and I was witness to many of the events described in this story.

An early draft of this study was prepared for the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association Conference held in Montreal in 1985. With the approach of the Centennial of the first two Ukrainian immigrants to Canada in 1991, a further effort was made to research the local history. A summary of this study, The Ukrainian Community in Val dOr-Bourlamaque, Quebec, was published by the Ukrainian Canadian Centennial Commission of Montreal in the publication edited by Alexander Biega and Myroslav Diakowsky,