The Ukrainian Cultural Center caught fire in the early hours of April 13, in the city of Hamilton, 70 kilometers south of Toronto. The fire destroyed over 50 years of archives chronicling local Ukrainian Canadian history.
Firefighting Chief Enio DiNardo told the Hamilton Spectator, a local newspaper, that the building was empty and nobody was injured. But the community center was “heavily damaged.”
The Hamilton Spectator said the fire broke out after midnight and continued throughout the night, with more than 60 firemen fighting the blaze until at least 10 a.m.
DiNardo said the fire was not considered suspicious, but the cause was not immediately clear. An Ontario Fire Marshal was expected to investigate the cause of the blaze.
The Ukrainian Cultural Center in Hamilton has a long history. Archives about the life of Hamilton’s Ukrainian community dating back to 1967 were stored in the Center where the local Ukrainian community gathered during traditional Ukrainian holidays, weekend events. The Ukrainian Youth Association’s Hamilton branch met there.
Ukrainian Cultural Center in Hamilton, Canada, seen here before it burned down on April 13. (Brian Kowalewicz/Historical Hamilton)
The association branch posted on Facebook about the loss of its home, saying: “It is with great sadness and heartbreak that we have to announce that our domivka (Ukrainian for “home”) has burned down.”
Canadian ambassador to Ukraine Roman Waschuk tweeted that there was no suspicions the fire was caused deliberately. He lamented that archives detailing 50 years of Ukrainian Canadian history in Hamilton were lost.
