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#MLU100 #WW1 - 22 AUG 1914 WAR MEASURES ACT Imposed - Feds suspend civil liberties On the evening of 4 August 1914, when Canada found itself at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary, parliament was on summer recess. The House of Commons was recalled early on 18 August 1914. On 19 August, Prime Minister Borden told the Commons his view of things to come: “In the awful dawn of the greatest war the world has ever known, in the hour when peril confronts us such as this empire has not faced for a hundred years, every vain or unnecessary word seems a discord.” “As to our duty, we are all agreed. We stand shoulder to shoulder with Britain and the other British dominions in this quarrel and that duty we shall not fail to fulfil as the honour of Canada demands. Not for the love of battle, not for lust of conquest, not for greed of possession, but for the cause of honour, to maintain solemn pledges, to uphold principles of liberty, to withstand forces that would convert the world into an armed camp.” On 22 August 1914, Canada passed the War Measures Act, providing the government with new, intrusive powers to prosecute the war. The Act allowed the federal government to suspend civil liberties and by-pass parliament with orders-in-council. These sweeping powers included the right to detain and arrest Canadians and the right to take assume control of private property. The government could further determine which private factories should stop manufacturing their current products and start manufacturing whatever munitions the government so determined.  Immigrants who had come from what were now enemy countries, like Germany or Austria-Hungary, had their movements controlled and anyone thought to be an “aliens of enemy nationality” could be arrested and held in internment camps without trial. This last provision accounted for the internment of approximately 8600 “aliens” from the Austria-Hungary Empire, 4000 of which were Canadian Ukrainians (Ukraine at the time was part of that Empire). Another 80,000 were basically left at large, but on “parole”, having to report regularly to the police. With a labour shortage in 1916-1917, most of the internees were paroled to local farmers across the country for farm labour. The War Measures Act of WW1 remained in effect until the state of war with Germany was terminated on 10 January 1920. The last internment camp was not closed until February 1920. #WW1 #GreatWar #OTD #OnThisDay #Canada #Ukraine #Ukrainian #Britain #Austria #Hungary #Germany #Centenary

PHOTO 1: A Toronto notice for "Enemy Aliens" to register at a new office after the War Measures Act was imposed on 22 August 1914. ATTENTION! Every German, Austrian, Hungarian, and Turk is hereby notified to report himself immediately to the Office of the Registrar for Alien Enemies, Toronto. PHOTO 2: Banff Internment Camp - the Cave & Basin site near Castle Mountain, Alberta. "Enemy Aliens", mostly Ukrainians, are detained under the watch of guards. Many of these internees were put to work in the mines around Crowsnest Pass. (Glenbow Archives NC-54-4336)