Book details

Publication date: December 2018
Features: Full colour throughout, 154 photographs, foreword, notes, bibliography, index
Keywords: Oral History / Cultural Memory / Ukrainian Studies
Subject(s): PHOTOGRAPHY / Photoessays & Documentaries, History, History / Oral History, History, History / Ukrainian History, Art & Performance, Art & Performance / Art & Design, History, History / Canadian History, Oral History / Cultural Memory / Ukrainian Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination & Race Relations, HISTORY / Social History, Social discrimination & equal treatment, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, Photography, Oral History / Cultural Memory / Ukrainian Studies, Canadian History
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press

Sandra Semchuk. Sandra Semchuk is a photographic, text, and video artist, and the winner of a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2018). She taught at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Jen Budney.

"To dwell in this book's pages is to experience dismay, sadness and sobering revelation. Finally though, a century later, internment stories are being told, making our nation's history more authentic."

Steven Ross, Alberta Views


"The book is a melding of Semchuk’s personal journey, visual art, narrative, and recall.... The Stories Were Not Told is an intriguing composition, stimulating thought and offering an artistic integrative approach to history and culture.... This grounding of the human experience through a variety of approaches reveals more than history per se." [Full review at https://ormsbyreview.com/2020/05/13/823-regular-hinther-mochoruk-semchuk-black-internment/] 

Keith Regular, The Ormsby Review, May 13, 2020


"[The author] underscores the linkage between the past and the present and the potential implications of not doing the individual and collective “memory work” that forces us to confront our personal and national histories in a meaningful and respectful fashion. It is a powerful invocation—and one we should heed."

Jim Mochoruk, Prairie History

"This is a record of the author’s personal voyage through difficult terrain, mingling her voice with others, and using the visual touchstones of photography to move her reader’s imagination outward."

Andrea Kunard, Associate Curator, Canadian Photography Institute, National Gallery of Canada


Book Design of the Year | Alberta Book Awards, Book Publishers Association of Alberta, Canada
Short-listed
2019
Kobzar Book Award, Canada
Short-listed
2020
1 Learning from the Past
The War Measures Act
Enemy Aliens
Families in Danger
2 Standing Where the Internees Stood
3 Stories from Internees and Descendants
Mary Bayrak
Jerry Bayrak
Philip Yasnowskyj, excerpt from “Internment”
Nikola Sakaliuk, “WWI Internment Account of a Ukrainian at Fort Henry,” an interview by Lubomyr Y. Luciuk
Ferdinand Zieroth, as told by grandson David Zieroth
Wasyl Bobyk, as told by son Albert Bobyk
Emile Litowski, as told by niece Christine Witiuk
Vasyl Doskoch, as told by daughter Anne Sadelain
Stefa (Mielniczuk) Pawliw, as told by granddaughter Kim Pawliw
Petro Witrowicz, as told by granddaughter Valdine Ciwko
Anonymous, as told by a grandson
Uncle’s Story, as told by nephew Andrew Antoniuk
Yurko Forchuk, as told by son Marshall Forchuk
Yuri Babjek and his brothers, John, Bill, and Theodore,as told by grandson Nick Topolnyski
Mikhail Danyluk, as told by granddaughter Florence McKie
Frederick, Hilda, and Fred Jr. Kohse, as told by son and brother Gerald Kohse
Metro Olynyk, as told by son Fred Olynyk
Maksym Boyko, as told by son Otto and daughter-in-law Kathleen Boyko
William Sharun, as told by son Lawrence Sharun
Harry Levitsky, as told by step-granddaughter Donna Korchinski
4 Spirit Lake Photographs
5 Engaging Memory Work
A Loss of Identity
They Were Kids
Authorities Can’t Control Memory
Telling the Story as Resistance
Humiliation
These Are the Last Flowers I Will See in My Life
Healing
Resilience
The Doors Open
ISBNs: 9781772123784 978-1-77212-378-4 Title: the stories were not told ISBNs: 9781772124392 978-1-77212-439-2 Title: the stories were not told ISBNs: 9781772127096 978-1-77212-709-6 Title: the stories were not told