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War Measures Act, statute (1914) conferring emergency powers on the federal Cabinet, allowing it to govern by decree when it perceives the existence of "war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended." The Act was proclaimed in force with detailed regulations limiting the freedom of Canadians during both world wars. Its use to imprison Canadians of German, Ukrainian and Slavic descent in WWI and Japanese Canadians during WWII and to confiscate their property was an issue until the 1980s, when compensation packages and formal apologies were made to those affected. More limited emergency legislation, the offshoot of War Measures, was applied during demobilization after WWII, and during and after the KOREAN WAR in the 1950s.
The only use of the War Measures Act in a domestic crisis occurred in October and November 1970, when a state of "apprehended insurrection" was declared to exist in Québec and emergency regulations were proclaimed in response to 2 kidnappings by the terrorist FRONT DE LIBÉRATION DU QUÉBEC (see OCTOBER CRISIS). Afterwards Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau pledged to refine and limit the application of the Act in internal crises, but by the time of the Liberal defeat in 1984 the Act had not been modified. Finally, in 1988, a more detailed and limited law, the Emergencies Act, was passed into effect.
 Soldier and ChildSoldier and child, 18 October 1970, during the October Crisis (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/PA-117477).
Author
DENIS SMITH
Links to Other Sites
Last Lunch with Trudeau
Pierre Elliott Trudeau reflects on the October Crisis and related issues in this article by William Tetley, McGill law professor. Click on links on the left side of the page for additional articles about the October Crisis.
The October Crisis: Civil Liberties Suspended
CBC radio and television news stories chronicle the major events of the 1970 October Crisis.
A ‘MERE RUSTLE OF LEAVES’: CANADIAN STRATEGY AND THE 1970 FLQ CRISIS
A detailed account of the events leading up to the deployment of Canadian military forces during the 1970 October Crisis. With photographs of military activity in various locations. From the “Canadian Military Journal.”
October Crisis, 1970
Trudeau's notes for his nationally televised "War Measures Act" speech, October 16, 1970. From the Library and Archives Canada website "First Among Equals."
War Measures Act
A selection of newspaper clippings that vividly chronicle the imposition of the War Meaures Act in 1970. From the Winnipeg Tribune fonds, the University of Manitoba.
Sir Robert Laird Borden
This biography of Sir Robert Laird Borden includes interesting details about Canada's role in World War I and related issues. From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
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