Mr. Speaker, I am rising in the House today to mark an historic occasion. This apology will give Italian-Canadian families the justice they have been waiting for and that they deserve.
This was indeed a dark chapter in Canadian history, but not the only one. The internment of Italian Canadians is a dark chapter that has haunted families and left a stain on our country's history for decades.
On June 10, 1940, Italy declared war on Canada. That very evening, former prime minister Mackenzie King announced that he had ordered the internment of hundreds of Italian Canadians identified by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as enemy aliens.
An estimated 600 Italian Canadians were interned in camps by the federal government. The majority of those interned were from areas with the highest concentration of Italian Canadians at the time, such as Montreal, Toronto and communities across Ontario. There were also some cases documented in western Canada.
Camps were situated in Ontario, New Brunswick and Alberta. Internment was up to three years, and the average interned person was held for almost 16 months. People interned were doctors, lawyers, carpenters, bakers, contractors, priests and loved ones.
The RCMP arrested Italian Canadians without due process, put them on trains and sent them to internment camps. Canada declared them enemies of the state for no reason other than being who they were: Italian Canadians.
Parents were often separated from their children. Innocent people sent to internment camps were forced to leave their families, who then had to fend for themselves. Women were forced to look for work to support their large families. Italian-Canadian children were pulled out of school because they too were considered enemies of the state.
This injustice tore families apart. The pain, degradation and anxiety these families had to endure did not have to happen. The federal government went even further. It froze bank accounts and forced Italian Canadians to subsist on as little as $12 a month. Many Italian families were forced to sell their homes, businesses and family heirlooms.
It was a system purposely designed to keep people out of their rightful place in society. There was no reason outside of prejudice to suspect those interned posed any threat whatsoever to Canada or Canadians. Many of them were First World War veterans who had fought for their adopted country.
Like the internment of Japanese Canadians, Ukrainian Canadians, German Canadians and so many others, the forced registration and internment of Italian Canadians is a dark chapter of our history. We can imagine the pain of learning a loved one had been sent to an internment camp for no reason, and we can imagine the fear and confusion a family would go through not knowing where the police had taken a loved one.
While an apology is long overdue, restitution can only be accomplished with compensation for the Italian-Canadian families who were impacted and who Canada wronged. Canada has one of the largest Italian diasporas in the world. Despite the internment, and the many other challenges and barriers faced by Italian Canadians, the community went on to make significant contributions to our country and continues to do so.
I recognize that many of the people who should be hearing today's apology, those who were sent to internment camps by the Canadian government, are no longer with us. I hope that today's apology will bring some comfort and some closure to their descendants.
I urge everyone in this House to recommit to never letting this type of injustice ever happen again. Since its foundation, Canada has committed injustices against the first people of this land, against those who fled wars seeking refuge, and against those who came here simply to build a better life.
Canada must act to right these wrongs of the past so we can build a fairer and more just future for all. Let us make sure that all our work in the House of Commons is always invested in building a more fair and more just society for all.