Internment Camps

• The Laurier years had seen a tremendous wave of new immigrants who had been attracted by Canada’s vast open spaces.

• After the outbreak of war many Canadians saw foreigners as “enemy aliens”.

• They were now subject to injustice and discrimination. • Many were prejudice against new Canadians from

Germany and Austria- Hungary.

• Many peoples, such as Ukrainians, had come to Canada to escape the bonds of the German and Austrian Empires.

In 1914, Parliament passed the War Measures Act.

The Act allowed for the registration and internment of anyone considered a threat to Canada.

• Imprisonment of Canadians of German and Slavic descent.

• This resulted in the forcible internment of 8579 people, including 156 children, in 24 camps across Canada.

• Some of the internees helped build Canada’s first national parks.

• Those who tried to escape or protest their imprisonment were dealt with harshly.

• In at least one camp in northern Ontario, full-scale conflict broke out.

Aboriginal Peoples in WW1

• Aboriginal peoples and people of Asian and African heritage were denied equal rights.

• Isolated by racist and discriminatory policies

• Aboriginal peoples struggled to maintain their own identity and survival

• As Canada searched for its national identity, their voices were unheard.

• People of Aboriginal, African, and Asian heritage faced hostility and discrimination that reflected the intolerance of all “non-British” people during the war.

• 4000 aboriginals fought in the War• Considered skilled riflemen and snipers

Francis Pegahmagabow

• Credited with 400 sniper hits• Deadliest shot in the army• After the war, he was given fewer benefits as compared

to white soldiers• Received very little recognition

Residential Schools

• Boarding schools for individuals of Aboriginal, Métis or Inuit heritage

• Funded by the Department of Indian Affairs and administered by the Christian Churches (Catholic and Anglican)

• 80 residential schools set up by 1931• Last residential school closed in 1996• 150,000 First Nations children passed through the school

system. • 4,000 died while attending the schools

Conditions

• Children were removed from their familes (siblings were often separated)

• Were not allowed to speak their own language or practice their own religion/ take part in their culture

• Reports of physical and sexual abuse • Reports of sterilization • Poorly constructed schools with poor ventilation allowed for the

spread of disease• Overcrowded dormitories• Malnourishment• Many died from tuberculosis

• Public apology for residential schools not offered until June of 2008

• “Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission” established to uncover truth. Their investigations are still ongoing as of 2013.

“I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone... Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department"

- Dr. Duncan Campbell Scott, Superintendent of Indian Affairs

• ... Because they didn't want us to get along with the other girls, they would have boxing matches to make us fight just so that we wouldn't like the other girls, and also, too, because they thought they had so many rules, they thought if we fight with each other we'll end up taking our anger, or whatever we have, out on the other girls.

• ... I remember fighting with my sister. She's 2 years younger than me, but we never beat each other. We just did it. ... You don't do it just because you want to. They did it because they wanted us to be angry and to beat up on somebody younger.

• http://www.wherearethechildren.ca/en/projector/index.php?terms=Abuse&req=getSearchResults

Rabbit Proof Fence (Australian Residential Schools)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWjGteDg9VE • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaZtOIsgBqQ