Vladivostok Mutiny Dec 21 2010.ff
2011-12-22
On the morning of December 21st, 1918,
French-Canadian conscripts in the 259th Battalion
of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (Siberia)
mutinied at the corner of Fort and Quadra Street
in downtown Victoria. They refused to embark for
service in a new theatre of war - the Russian
port of Vladivostok and Siberia, to aid the White
Russian forces fighting the Bolsheviks in the
Russian Civil War. The war on the Western Front
had ended six weeks earlier, prompting sharp
debates within Canadian society and the military
force itself.
But at the point of the bayonet, the mutinous men
were forced to embark for Russia, exceeding the
powers granted under Canada's conscription law,
the Military Service Act 1917. The ringleaders
were shackled together in the bottom of the ship,
the SS Teesta, and received sentences of between
30 days and 3 years imprisonment with hard labour
for "Joining in a mutiny while on active service
in his majesty's armed forces."
This year, on the 93rd anniversary of the mutiny,
we are gathering to remember this forgotten
moment in the history of Victoria, French and
English Canada and the world. The event will
feature the story of the conscripts and mutiny
itself, a moment of silence for the fallen
soldiers of the Siberian Expedition, a musical
interlude, and a public call for a formal apology
for the families and a full pardon from the
federal government for the French-Canadian
soldiers wrongfully convicted of mutiny at
Victoria.
Learn more:
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Categories
Tags BenIsitt | Resisters | SiberianExhibition | Victoria
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