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Internment

Internment means that people are physically confined to an area or have limited rights during wartime, so that they do not pose a threat to national security. On June 10, 1940, Italy declared war on Canada. This was an event that would have a tremendous impact on the lives of many Italian-Canadian citizens. Almost immediately hundreds of Italian Canadians were ordered to be interned -- identified by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as enemy aliens. The government also called for the registration of all persons of Italian birth and authorized the confiscation of the properties of so-called enemy aliens. Although the majority of those interned were from the areas of highest concentrations of Italian-Canadians ( Montreal, Toronto and other centres in Ontario), there were also documented cases from western Canada.

In Western cities, such as Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, Italian-Canadians may not have experienced the same degree of hostility as their counterparts in Toronto and Montreal, but they were subjected to the close scrutiny of the RCMP to whom they had to report on a monthly basis. In some cases people were taken to work camps. Relief payments were suspended and, in some cases, travel restrictions were imposed. Activities such as the teaching of the Italian language, and meetings of Italian Societies were declared illegal.

Kanaskas Camp

Kanaskas Camp