Internment - The Canadian Encyclopedia

Internment, detention or confinement of a person in time of war. In Canada such persons were denied certain legal rights, notably habeas corpus, though in certain cases they had the right to appeal their custody. Though not strictly PRISONERS OF WAR, civilian internees were generally treated according to international POW standards.


	Keywords

	Military History

During WORLD WAR I enemy aliens (nationals of Germany and of the Austro-Hungarian and Turkish empires) were subject to internment, but only if there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they were engaged in espionage or otherwise acting illegally. Some municipalities "unloaded" indigents, many of them recent immigrants, on internment camps. In 1916-17, many Austrians were paroled to fill labour shortages. Of 8579 men at 24 camps across Canada, 5954 were Austro-Hungarians, 2009 Germans, 205 Turks and 99 Bulgarians; 81 women and 156 children, dependants of male internees, were voluntarily interned. Although responsibility shifted in 1915 from the Department of Militia and Defence to the Department of Justice, Major-General Sir William OTTER remained officer commanding (later director of) internment operations.

In WORLD WAR II the minister of justice could detain anyone acting "in any manner prejudicial to the public safety or the safety of the state." Thus both enemy nationals and Canadian citizens were subject to internment. Precise statistics are not available but the number of internees was less than during the earlier war. Most of the Germans were members of German-sponsored organizations or leaders of the Nazi Party in Canada. After Italy entered the war, a number of prominent Italians and Canadian fascists, notably Adrien ARCAND of Montréal, were interned.

Immediately after Pearl Harbor the RCMP interned 38 Japanese nationals; later, an additional 720 Japanese, mainly Canadian citizens and members of the Nisei Mass Evacuation Group who resisted separation from their families, were interned. Contrary to common usage, the approximately 20 000 Japanese Canadians who were removed from the Pacific Coast in 1942 were not interned. Although many were housed in isolated areas and had their activities severely restricted, they were not formally imprisoned. Because citizens could be interned for belonging to such outlawed organizations as the Communist Party, some claimed that internment was used as a weapon against labour leaders, eg, J.A. "Pat" Sullivan, president of the Canadian Seamen's Union, interned 1940. Along with about 90 other communists, he was released in 1941 after the USSR joined the Allies. Most prominent, however, was Mayor Camillien HOUDE of Montréal, interned 4 years for denouncing national registration in 1940 as a prelude to CONSCRIPTION.

Administration was divided between the army and the secretary of state. A total of 26 camps operated in Ontario, Québec, Alberta and New Brunswick, but only 2 held primarily Canadians. In WWI, Canada had accommodated 817 internees from Newfoundland and British Caribbean colonies; in WWII Canadian camps housed POWs and merchant seamen captured by the British, as well as some British civilians. At the peak in October 1944, Canada held 34 193 persons for the UK. Provision for internment continues. An emergency planning order approved May 1981 by Cabinet authorizes the solicitor general to establish civilian internment camps in wartime.

Japanese Evacuation
In 1942 the Canadian government moved to relocate all Japanese in British Columbia, seizing any property that the people could not carry (courtesy Erindale College Photo Collection).

Japanese Relocation
Even those Japanese who were Canadian citizens were relocated in 1942 (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-46350).

Author PATRICIA E. ROY

Links to Other Sites

Japanese Canadian National Museum
The website for the Japanese Canadian National Museum. Offers information about exhibits, archives, and programs relating to Japanese Canadian history from the 1870s through the present.

New Brunswick Internment Camp Museum
A brief history of the New Brunswick Internment Camp Museum from the Village of Minto website.

The City Without Women
A brief review of "The City Without Women," a book about living in a Canadian internment camp during World War II. A Manitoba Library Association website.

Vanishing B.C. Japanese Canadian internment sites in the Slocan
Photographs, illustrations, and personal accounts document living conditions in internment camps in BC during World War II. From Michael Kluckner's website.

Canada's Forgotten PoW Camps
CBC Archives takes a look back at the reality of life behind barbed wire in Canada's forgotten Prisoner of War Camps.

Spirit Lake
A brief history of the World War I Spirit Lake internment camp. From the Conseil de la culture de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

Spirit Lake internment camp
A photograph of the Spirit Lake internment camp, Abitibi district, Québec. From the Musée McCord website.

Under Suspicion
People born in "enemy" countries face hostility and imprisonment in Canada during the First World War. From the CBC website.

Prisoners in the Promised Land
A review of the book "Prisoners in the Promised Land: The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk, Spirit Lake, Quebec, 1914." From the Manitoba Library Association website.

Glossary: Japanese Canadian History and Culture
A glossary of terms related to Japanese Canandian history and culture. Check the rest of this site for more information. From "Sedai: The Japanese Canadian Legacy Project."