On June 10, 1940, Vancouver detained 29 Italian Canadians living in Vancouver who were subsequently shipped to intern camps in Alberta and Ontario
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The City of Vancouver should apologize to descendants of Italian Canadians who were interned during the Second World War, according to a report going to council on Wednesday.
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The report says 29 Italian Canadians living in Vancouver were rounded up by Vancouver police on June 10, 1940 and subsequently detained at an immigration building at the north end of Burrard Street, then chained to seats in a train and interned in Kananaskis, Alberta and Petawawa , Ont.
According to the report — from the general manager of Arts, Culture and Community Services — none of the 29 men were ever charged but were forced to live in camps for the duration of the war.
Another 1,800 Italian Canadians in Vancouver were ordered to report once a month to the BC RCMP headquarters at 33rd Avenue and Heather Street.
“The people interned were men, who were forced to abandon their families, in many cases including young children, businesses, and entire livelihoods,” the report states.
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“In addition to the economic hardships that many families experienced because their breadwinners were taken away, the stigmatization, humiliation, and shame experienced due to being targeted and having to report to the government on a regular basis remained for several years after the war ended, ” the report states.
Included in testimony used to back the recommendation are comments from a man who as a 10-year-old boy saw his father arrested at home and taken away.
The men were detained at the request of the federal government that ordered local police forces to round up anyone connected to the Fascist party in Canada. Canada declared war on Italy in 1940.
The report says an apology should be made during Italian Heritage Month in June 2022 and that a work of art be commissioned in honor of those interned and that a public awareness campaign be launched. None of the men interned are alive.
The federal government apologized to Italian Canadians interned during WW2 in May, 2021.
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