43rd PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION House of Commons Debates Official Report (Hansard) Volume 150 No. 105 Thursday, May 27, 2021 Speaker: The Honourable Anthony Rota CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 7457 HOUSE OF COMMONS Thursday, May 27, 2021 The House met at 10 a.m. target on the back and the number 770. It would be another two years until Giuseppe came home. Prayer [Translation] Those were two years where his seven children needed their fa‐ ther, two years where his wife did not know how she was going to ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS feed them and keep a roof over their heads, two years while this single mother had to survive without money and without being able ● (1005) to ask for help from family members because they were afraid of [English] reprisals. SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES (A), 2021-22 [English] His Excellency, Right Hon. Richard Wagner, the Administrator of the Government of Canada transmits to the House of Commons the supplementary estimates (A) of sums required to defray expens‐ This is not the story of just one man or just one family. During es of the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending the Second World War, 31,000 Italian Canadians were labelled ene‐ March 31, 2022, and in accordance with section 54 of the Constitu‐ my aliens, and then fingerprinted, scrutinized and forced to report tion Act, 1867, recommends those estimates to the House of Com‐ to local registrars once a month. Just over 600 men were arrested mons. and sent to internment camps, and four women were detained and sent to jail. Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos (President of the Treasury Board, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I also have the honour to table, in both official languages, the supplementary estimates (A), 2021-22. They were business owners, workers and doctors, they were fa‐ thers, daughters and friends. When the authorities came to their * * * door, when they were detained, there were no formal charges, no ability to defend themselves in an open and fair trial, no chance to GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO PETITIONS present or rebut evidence. Yet, still, they were taken away to Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Presi‐ Petawawa or to Fredericton, to Kananaskis or to Kingston. dent of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and to the Leader of the Govern‐ Once they arrived at the camp, there was no length of sentence. ment in the House of Commons, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Sometimes the internment lasted a few months; sometimes it lasted Standing Order 36(8)(a), I have the honour to table, in both official years, but the impacts lasted a lifetime. languages, the government's response to 19 petitions. These returns will be tabled in an electronic format. [Translation] * * * These are stories that have gone untold for far too long, stories APOLOGY FOR THE INTERNMENT OF ITALIAN that have been silenced by shame and fear. This is injustice that has CANADIANS DURING WORLD WAR II laid heavy on far too many generations. Right Hon. Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister, Lib.): Mr. Speak‐ er, in the summer of 1940, the police arrived at a wedding on Dante [English] Street in Montreal. They were there for one of the guests, Giuseppe Visocchi. When on June 10, 1940, this House of Commons declared war The officers who took him away told his family that they just had on Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy, Canada did not also have to to speak with him and that he would be able to come right back. He declare war on Italian Canadians. To stand up to the Italian regime did not. Within weeks, he was at a prisoner of war camp in that had sided with Nazi Germany, that was right, but to scapegoat Petawawa, wearing a uniform marking him as an internee, with a law-abiding Italian citizens, that was wrong. 7458 COMMONS DEBATES May 27, 2021 Routine Proceedings [Translation] about how her father never stopped loving this country, or Zita and her daughter, who spoke about their family's resilience, you honour While some Canadians were being told to pull together for the your father or grandfather with the kind of person he taught you to war effort, while some people were being reminded to do their part, be. others were being treated like the enemy even though they had committed no crime. [Translation] The policy of internment was wrong. It went against the values we had gone to war to defend. It went against the values that Italian Thanks to the members of my own caucus who worked tirelessly Canadians would have enlisted to protect, despite the fact that to ensure that justice is done for the Italian Canadian community, members of their family had been interned in these camps. It went and to the organizations across the country who worked hard to against the values that made our country strong, such as fairness, help make this moment a reality, we are now on a better track. due process and equality in the justice system, all of which would later be enshrined in our charter. To all Italian Canadians who enrich our communities, from St. John's to Vancouver, from Montreal to the Far North, you re‐ The way that Italian Canadians were treated by the government mind us that diversity will always be our strength. was unacceptable and caused real harm, not only to the men and women who were interned and to their families, but to the genera‐ tions that have lived with this legacy of discrimination. It is time to Courage, resilience and the unshakeable conviction that we are make amends. stronger together: these are some of the values that have always been embodied by Italian Canadians. ● (1010) [English] [English] Mr. Speaker, Signor Presidente, I rise in this House today to is‐ sue an official apology on behalf of the Government of Canada for When, almost 80 years ago, Giuseppe came back to his family the internment of Italian Canadians during the Second World War. from the POW camp, he worked hard to build a better life. He bought a house, saw his kids grow up, and taught them to be good, To the men and women who were taken to prisoner of war camps upstanding citizens who loved their country. Courage, resilience or jail without charge, people who are no longer with us to hear this and an unshakable belief that we are stronger together was the path apology, to the tens of thousands of innocent Italian Canadians who he chose and that is the path we must continue to choose today. were labelled enemy aliens, to the children and grandchildren who have carried a past generation's shame and hurt and to their com‐ [Member spoke in Italian] munity, a community that has given so much to our country, we are sorry. [English] [Member spoke in Italian] Internees and their families showed the way: integrity, solidarity, [Translation] faith and loyalty to Canada. For this, our country is ever grateful. To all those who were affected by this chapter of our history, we are sorry. Their families and their communities did not deserve this ● (1015) injustice. Despite everything, despite that dark time, they continue to look to the future. Hon. Erin O'Toole (Leader of the Opposition, CPC): Mr. Speaker, in 1940, Anthony Danesi was 23 years old when the [English] RCMP, under orders from the government in Ottawa, arrested him I have heard your stories. We have heard your stories how, once and his brother at their home in Toronto. The officers took them your parent or grandparent was released, they worked hard to give away without charge and they were interned in a camp in back to their country despite how its government had treated them. Petawawa. These are his words that describe the terror his family felt some 80 years ago: Every thriving business these men and women rebuilt, or local charity they started, was a testament to their commitment to My mother at the time was over 60 years old and when she heard they were tak‐ Canada. Everyone who became a service member in the Canadian ing us away, she fainted on the floor from the shock. We were told “do not touch her, leave her there”.... We had to leave our home with the RCMP and a vision of Armed Forces or a representative in government was an example of my mother in a heap on the floor...even a dog would have been treated better.... their dedication to their fellow citizens. On Christmas Day, my father passed away [but] we were not allowed to come What better way to show that the injustice done to them had been home to pay our respects or go to his funeral.... I spent, along with my brother, two a mistake. What better way to prove that they loved the country years and 12 days [interned] seeing my mother and sister only once. God only they had chosen to call home. It would have been so easy to turn knows how they managed. We were released and sent home to try and pick up our lives and to try and clear the debts which had accumulated. their backs on Canada. Instead, they put their backs into building it. That is their legacy and it is a legacy that lives on today. Hundreds of Italian Canadian families during World War II were To everyone who has had the courage to speak up about this forced to try to pick up their lives and recover from a trauma that painful chapter in our history, to people like Anita, who told me had been inflicted upon them by their government.