Enemy Aliens : the Treatment of Germans and Ukrainians in Canada During the First World War

"ENEMY ALIENS": THE TREATMENT OF GERMANS AND UKRAINIANS IN CANADA DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR

At the end of the 19th century, thousands of immigrants had poured into Canada; attracted by the offer of land in the undeveloped West. These people had come in the main from countries that were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where they had laboured without hope on small plots of land under despotic conditions. Canada offered hope, and Clifford Sifton's agents had roamed far and wide in Europe, seeking families who could open up Canada's West. The immigrants had flooded in and had worked in the harshest and most difficult of weathers on the prairies to convert them into what was to become "the bread basket of the world." In 1914 there were also significant Ukrainian communities in Ontario and Quebec, working in timber and mining industries as well as construction and manufacturing. Other immigrants had come to Canada's cities, where they found themselves often in slum areas, without work and resented by other Canadians, an easy target for prejudice and hostility.

When war broke out in 1914 there were about half a million immigrants from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire settled in Canada. These had not yet become British subjects. There were also many people of German descent, who had come to Canada since the 1850s and had settled in such areas as Renfrew County and Kitchener (then Berlin).

Under the terms of the War Measures Act (1914) the government gave itself powers to restrict civil rights and arrest and detain without due process of law. Taking the view that these Ukrainian nationals ("enemy aliens") posed a threat to Canada's security, by the end of 1914 some 6,000 males of military age had been interned in some of the 24 internment camps set up across the country, usually in remote areas. Many of these young men were interned simply because they were unemployed, or as a result of anti-immigrant attitudes or wartime hysteria. In all 8,579 "enemy aliens" were interned during the war, as were many prisoners of war brought in from Europe. Canada was not alone in her policies. In Australia the War Precautions Act (1914) interned Germans living in Australia. They were detained mainly in a camp at Liverpool in New South Wales and later deported. In Britain, people of German descent were interned on the Isle of Man.

Following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, the government's fear that radicals and revolutionaries were responsible for labour unrest, resulted in Orders-in-Council forbidding strikes and lockouts, prohibiting the public use of "foreign languages" such as German, Czech and Ukranian, and suppressing foreign language newspapers. In this the government found much support from the Canadian population which, as the war progressed, became increasingly hostile to "foreigners," especially those of German descent.

There was in fact no question of the loyalty of Ukrainian Canadians to Canada and Britain. They joined the Canadian army in large numbers, often being obliged to change their name or falsify their country of birth. Corporal Filip Konowal of the 47th Battalion was to win the Victoria Cross at Hill 70. Others, whose nationality was discovered, found themselves discharged and then interned.

By 1914 there were about a half a million Canadians of German origin. They had settled in such places as Victoria, British Columbia, and in Ontario. In 1874 Lord Dufferin the Governor-General had paid tribute to settlers of German origin: "I, in common with all your other British fellow-subjects, am prepared to recognize you as fellow-citizens with the utmost cordiality and affection... the Canadian people... all recognize in the German element, a contribution of strength to our national Constitution, and a population who, by their thrifty habits, by their industry, sobriety and general good conduct, are likely to aid most powerfully in furthering the prosperity of our common country."

Like their Ukrainian colleagues, Canadians of German descent enlisted in large numbers in the Canadian forces and some sacrificed their lives.