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Canada's First World War Internment Operations


During the First World War the Canadian government established a network of 24 internment camps and receiving stations to imprison immigrants from enemy countries who were designated "enemy aliens." 8,759 people were interned between 1914 and 1920. Almost two-thirds were civilians living in Canada who'd committed no crime except being born in an enemy nation.
The victims of internment included Ukrainians, Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, Bulgarians, Romanians, Turks, Jew, Russians, and Italians. The majority of internees were Ukrainian.
They were made to do forced labour in sub-zero temperatures in remote camps. The conditions were appalling. The guards meted out arbitrary punishments and physical abuse. Some were tortured. 107 prisoners died in captivity. The humiliating and nightmarish experience left mental scars on many survivors.
A further 80,000 civilians were forced to register with the police and had their civil rights sharply curtailed. Tens of thousands more were fired from their jobs, had their property seized, and lost their right to vote.

Efforts to Remember
Few of the survivors ever spoke of their experiences, and this dark chapter in Canadian history was largely forgotten. In 1954 the National Archives of Canada destroyed almost all records of these events.
Efforts to gain recognition for Canada's first national internment operations began in 1978 when Nick Sakaliuk gave testimony to historians about his experience of internment. Many survivors and their children began to come forward with their own stories.
In November 2005, Parliament passed the Internment of Persons of Ukrainian Origin Recognition Act, which finally recognized these historic injustices. In 2008, representatives of the Ukrainian Community agreed with the Canadian Government to create the Canadian First World Internment Recognition Fund which would support commemorative, educational, scholarly and cultural projects that reminded Canadians of this dark chapter in our history.
This series of tours, created by On This Spot in partnership with the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund aims to raise awareness of these events and the experiences of those affected. All the tours are available in English and French in both audio and text formats.


Walking Tours

Canadian Dream to a Canadian Nightmare

First World War Internment in Banff

Today the Banff National Park is enjoyed by millions of visitors every year, but few know about the civilian internees who worked at gunpoint to build the park's roads and infrastructure in hellish conditions. This walking tour of the camp's former site at the Cave and Basin National Historic Site tells the shocking story of the best-documented of Canada's First World War internment camps.

Buried at Pleasant Valley

Remembering the Victims of Internment

In a corner of the Pleasant Valley cemetery, overlooking Vernon, British Columbia, are the graves of seven men from the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire. They died in Canadian internment camps during the First World War. In this tour we will reflect on these men who had been welcomed as immigrants before the war, but then suddenly found themselves interned as "enemy aliens" in conditions that led to their deaths.

An Abuse of Power

Vernon's Internment Camp

Vernon's W.L. Seaton High School today occupies the location of BC's main internment camp. This is where many German prisoners were kept with their families, and they lodged many legal challenges to their internment. In this tour we'll see how the Canadian legal system struggled to justify the arbitrary mass internment of civilians. We'll also see how the exceptional Canadian practice of civilian forced labour violated international law and embarrassed Canada on the world stage.

Enslaved in a 'Glorious Playground'

Internment in Jasper in 1916

In early 1916 several hundred internees were dispatched to Jasper National Park to build park infrastructure. Severe flooding and protest strikes in response to abuse of the internees by the guards and the near-starvation rations, meant that work slowed to a crawl. The camp was shut down only a few months later.

Horror at Exhibition Park

Lethbridge's Internment Camp

At Lethbridge's Exhibition Park hundreds of internees were crammed into some old chicken barns, and forced to live in squalid conditions. The camp gained a notorious reputation for the poor treatment of its prisoners, and embarrassed Canada when reports of torture were published in the world's press. In this tour we'll learn about the experience of 'enemy aliens' in Alberta, as well as hear about the many daring attempts to escape from the camp.

Moving Mountains

Conflict & Construction at Edgewood

The small community of Edgewood in BC's Kootenays was home to a road-building labour camp for internees. This tour tells the story of the abuses and injustices these men had to endure as they laboured in the mountains at gunpoint. We'll see how even in these dire circumstances they held their heads high and, despite the brutal consequences defied their captors and brought the work to a standstill.

From the Coal Pit to the Barbed Wire

How Internment Came to Fernie

Fernie was the centre of coal mining in the Kootenay region, and when the war broke out many miners found themselves redesignated as 'enemy aliens.' In the dark days of 1915, the Allied miners threatened to strike unless all the 'enemy alien' miners were interned, resulting in the mass arrest of hundreds of miners. In this tour through downtown Fernie, we'll learn about the history of coal mining in this region, and see how the collapse of worker solidarity helped push Canada down the road to the mass internment of civilians on grounds of national origin.

Unearthing Injustice

Archaeology at Morrissey

After some time in Fernie, the miners interned at the ice rink were sent a short distance south to Morrissey, a disused mining camp. One of the camps with the worst reputations for the mistreatment of prisoners, the site of the camp is totally totally overgrown by thick forest. In this tour we will look at the recent archaeological excavations of the site by Sara Beaulieu and her team from the University of the Fraser Valley. We will show how her numerous findings help fill in many gaps in this dark chapter of Canadian history.

Imprisoned at Fort Henry

Kingston's Internment Camp

Kingston's Fort Henry was one of few major fortifications in Canada, and during the war it became an internment camp, primarily for Germans and Austrians considered to be of the 'officer' class. In this tour of the national historic site, we use a remarkable set of photos to tell the story of the men who languished in captivity here.

Fear, Hate, and Xenophobia

Toronto's Stanley Barracks

21st century Toronto is a cosmopolitan metropolis home to immigrants from every corner of the globe. A century ago it was a far less welcoming place. In this tour of the internee receiving station at Stanley Barracks, we will see how the Canadian public turned on so-called 'enemy aliens', and consider the war's lasting legacies of hatred and persecution.

Locked in the Citadel

Halifax's Internment Camp

The Citadel overlooking Halifax became an internment camp primarily for those captured at sea during the first Battle of the Atlantic. In this tour we will examine Halifax's naval history, its crucial role in Canada's First World War, and learn about the daring escape attempts by prisoners who could no longer tolerate the grinding monotony of captivity.

Walking Kapuskasing Camp

Exploring Canada's Dark History

This major camp was established in remote northern Ontario with the aim of having internees prepare the land for settlement at gunpoint. The camp became known for its harsh discipline, physical abuse by the guards, official corruption, and was the scene of a major riot which left an internee dead. In this tour we'll walk the grounds of the camp and reflect on the experiences of the men imprisoned here.

Twin Highway Camps

Forced Labour at Mara Lake

Most of those internees who came from the many nations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were deemed 'second-class' prisoners and sent to forced labour camps to build roads in awful conditions. The road alongside Mara Lake in the Shuswap was built by these men. In this tour we will learn how these forced labour camps came about, and hear the stories of the mostly Ukrainian men who, despite pledging loyalty to the British Empire, were sent to the camp.

For or Against Canada?

Niagara Falls, Enemy Aliens, and Canada's Defense

The internment camps were originally set up to hold those who posed a wartime security risk. We tell this part of the story at the Niagara Falls receiving station, just across the border from the neutral United States. Starting with Canada's persistent fears of America, we'll then examine hysteria about spies and saboteurs, and learn about a plan to invade Canada with a massive secret German-American army dressed in cowboy outfits.

Stories

Cities

Chicago of the North

Winnipeg

Hub of BC's Internment Camps

Vernon

Soul of the Rockies

Jasper

Gateway to Opportunity

Lethbridge

Capitale-Nationale

Quebec City

La Metropole

Montreal

Training for the Trenches

Valcartier

On the Arrow Lakes

Edgewood

Heart of the Elk Valley

Fernie

Limestone City

Kingston

Home of the Snuneymuxw

Nanaimo

On the Isthmus

Amherst

Village in the Badlands

Munson

Canada's Metropolis

Toronto

Canada's Atlantic Gateway

Halifax

Canada's Arsenal

Petawawa

Garden City & Model Town

Kapuskasing

Wheat City

Brandon

Canada's First National Park

Banff

Internment in the Shuswap

Mara Lake

Honeymoon Capital of the World

Niagara Falls

Dynamo on the Rapids

Sault Ste Marie

Forced Labour in the Snow

Yoho

Archaeology on the Mountain Pass

Monashee

Meadows in the Sky Parkway

Revelstoke

Partners


This project has been made possible by a grant from the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.


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