What was the War measures Act of 1914?

With the outbreak of World War I, the War Measures Act (1914) was implemented as a result of an Order in Council by the Canadian Government.

The start of the World War I virtually ended European foreign Immigration to Canada for the period of the war. The reasons for this were two-fold:

· Foreigners were needed in their European home countries to fight in the war effort.

· The amount of shipping across the Atlantic slowed down considerably. It became too expensive and dangerous for many immigrants to cross the ocean in the middle of a global conflict.

Because Canada and Britain were at war with the likes of Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Ukraine, immigration from these countries was suspended entirely, and people of German, Austrian, Hungarian, Turkish, and over 5,000 were Ukrainians who had immigrated to Canada from territories under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were considered enemy aliens under the War Measures Act, 1914.

Under this act, enemy aliens had to be registered with the government and carry ID cards at all times. They were also not allowed to:

· possess firearms;

· publish or read anything in a language other than English or French;

· leave the country without exit permits;

· Join socialist, communist or other movements the government deemed unlawful.

for the rest that did not have a job were sent to 24 internment camps across Canada, where they worked in:

· farms

· mines

· lumber camps

· steel mills

· Developing national parks such as Banff.

Thousands of these enemy aliens were placed against their will in internment camps or were deported from Canada. Only when the work force became depleted around 1917 were aliens finally allowed to leave these camps gradually. This solved the labour shortage problem in Canada, although war veteran groups were particularly displeased with this decision. They feared these enemy aliens would keep these jobs once soldiers returned home.