The Cold War in Val-d'Or

The Cold War in Val-d’Or, A History of the Ukrainian community in Val-d’Or, Quebec is a mini-history of an ethnocultural community in northwestern Quebec. The story has many similarities to the evolution of immigrant and ethnocultural groups in many one-industry towns in northern Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. This study should be of special interest to the many former residents of Val-d’Or who lived in an isolated resource town in a predominantly francophone milieu. The mining economy and the local cultural environment shaped this community but also the left-right political rivalry during the Cold War years, documented in the surveillance reports prepared by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This surveillance by the RCMP may also interest students and researchers in Canadian labour and political history. Ukrainian immigrants arrived in the Abitibi region as prospectors and miners in the 1930s and established the first rival pro-communist and nationalist community organizations that reflected their political orientation. This rivalry was the ‘motor’ that activated the community but also perpetuated political differences that is the main theme of this study.