Enemy Aliens Argumentative Essay

506 Words3 Pages

Canada actively sought out immigrants from eastern Europe to help populate the west of Canada in 1914. Canada was largely populated of immigrants from other countries and when Canada participated in World War I and World War II many immigrants from the enemy countries were viewed as suspicious and treacherous. This led to the internment of enemy aliens, during this time enemy aliens were treated with very little respect as human beings. The Canadian government had to figure out who the enemy aliens were and how they were going to treat them. The treatment of enemy aliens had many impacts on the 20th and 21st century both negative and positive. Canada has tried to right their many wrongs of the past, but no number of apologies can fix the past. …show more content…

Enemy aliens of the first World War were the Ukrainian, Germans, Italians and Austrian/Hungary, during the second World War the Minister of Justice declared that anyone who acted in a prejudicial manner that affected one’s safety could be detained; therefore, Canadian citizens and enemies could be interned. The Ukrainians and Japanese’s were treated the The Canadian government passed laws that revoked the rights of enemy aliens to vote, work in specific places, and the right to teach their native language in schools, excluded them from conscription, leaving no rights and liberties. Enemy aliens were perceived as untrustworthy and a threat to others, this made people scared and put many innocent people in internment camps, “Even if they were not strictly Prisoners of War, civilian internees were generally treated according to international POW standards.” (Patricia E. Roy 2013). Sometimes there was no evidence of that a prisoner committed a crime or showed disloyalty but were merely discriminated because of where they came from. There were an estimated 40 camps located around Canada that held 30,000 to 35,000 prisoners. People were forced to leave their homes The living conditions of internment camps were very poor, dieses ridden, dirty and overcrowded. People lost their homes, belongings, money and never got them back, people endured