Announcement by the Minister of the Environment, the Honourable Peter Kent - March 27th, 2012. Minister Kent made a number of announcements regarding Military Historic matters including this one:
The Detention of Second World War Military Prisoners of War and of Enemy Aliens Sent to Canada from Great Britain
From 1940 to 1947, Canada was the wartime “home” for more than 38,000 prisoners of war and of “enemy aliens” sent from Great Britain. This detention constitutes an important element of Canada’s contribution to the Allied war effort and defence strategy, as camps located throughout the country were used to hold combatants from the German armed forces as well as merchant mariners and Great Britain’s enemy aliens far from the theatres of war. On the home front, the detention benefited Canadian society, notably through the establishment of work programs for the production of non-military goods essential to the domestic economy and the employment of members of the Veterans Guard of Canada as camp guards. Internationally, Canada’s fair treatment of military prisoners was noted, and it influenced the permanent post-war settlement of former detainees in Canada.
In the first years of conflict, the British government had amassed a significant military prisoner and civilian internee population, and, until 1940, they were safely detained in Great Britain. As the threat of German invasion loomed, however, this population posed a security threat and a resource drain. Consequently, the British government requested the transfer of its enemy aliens and prisoners of war. With its vast open spaces and available resources for such an operation, Canada was an ideal location for housing some of these men.
The effort involved an intricate network of 26 permanent and dozens of temporary internment camps in remote areas throughout Canada. While the bulk of the population that was detained at the request of the British government was made up of combatants from the battlefields, waters, and airspace of Europe and Africa, it also included German and Italian merchant mariners, seized from ships in the Atlantic or Canadian ports. As well, some 4,000 “enemy aliens” who had been arrested in Great Britain due to fears of pro-Nazi action were sent by the British and then interned in these camps. Most of these enemy aliens were returned to England or released in Canada by November 1943. By 1948 all prisoners of war had been repatriated, with the exception of a handful of escapees and those who had died here.
Despite the unpopularity of German prisoners of war within Canada, they were relatively well treated. Indeed, their detention in Canada was seen as a model of compliance with the 1929 Geneva Convention. Often, the experience of prisoners of war in Canadian camps created a fondness for Canada, with hundreds of them eventually immigrating here after the war. As well, the camps directly affected the country’s war-time economy, as many detainees provided labour in agriculture, forestry, lumbering, construction, and in other non-military work projects. Furthermore, the need for camp security led to the employment of members of the Veterans Guard of Canada, composed primarily of First World War veterans who were keen to participate in the war effort.
Next steps are the plaque wording and approval, unveiling ceremony date, and the actual unveiling ceremony.
