Internment camps: Second World War

The Secretary to the Cabinet prepares documents for meetings of the Cabinet, which consists of advisors to the Prime Minister of Canada. Known as Cabinet conclusions or Cabinet minutes, these documents include agendas, lists of attendees and summaries of discussions. Search this database to find these Cabinet records from 1944 to 1979.

This database is large and covers a wide range of subjects. Use keywords such as “internment,” “enemy,” “alien,” “camp” or “registrar” to yield the more relevant results.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947” to find results related to Second World War internments.

The series consists of summary minutes of Cabinet meetings. The records are organized by date and meeting number. An agenda is included with each meeting that identifies the location, date, time and names of those present at the meeting. It also lists the items discussed. The original Cabinet conclusions have been withdrawn from circulation.

Microfilm reels are available for the period 1944-1956. All or some of the documents described have been digitized and are available on Canadiana Héritage.

The series consists of the minutes of the Defence Committee of Cabinet, 1938-1939; memoranda of meetings of the Emergency Council, September to November 1939; and the minutes and supporting documents of the Cabinet War Committee from December 1939 to May 1945.

The index to this series is on microfilm reels C-11789, December 1939 to December 1940, and C-4873, 1939-1945. The conversion list is available in the Government Archives Division. The finding aid consists of a general alphabetical index containing the meeting numbers at which each indexed subject was discussed (the underlined numbers) and the topic's order of appearance on the meeting's agenda. The documents are arranged both chronologically and consecutively by meeting number. The use of a conversion list is necessary to obtain the microfilm reel number on which the minutes or documents of a particular meeting appear. The original records have been withdrawn from circulation and a microfilm copy is available to researchers.

The finding aid is a two-part alphabetical index to the subjects discussed by the Cabinet War Committee, including references to the meeting numbers. Each part also contains a table providing the dates for the meetings and archival references for consulting the records.

Researchers can find finding aid 2-12 part 1 and 2-12 part 2 online. They can be found in the finding aid section of the record description.

The sub-series primarily consists of central registry files maintained by the Privy Council Office prior to 1953 and covers a wide range of topics. Many of the records in this series relate to Canada's participation in the war effort, liaison with the Allied powers, post-war reconstruction, the development of social policies and the international diplomacy of peacetime. Matters relative to internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War are also included.

This sub-series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the sub-series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “prisoner,” “enemy” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this sub-series and search your keywords within it.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947" to find results related to Second World War internments.

The series consists of files pertaining to various aspects of the administration of censorship by the Privy Council Office during the Second World War, including reports, minutes of meetings, directives for press and radio, Defence of Canada Regulations, correspondence, army, navy and air force censorship, censorship of internment operations, censorship of newspapers and magazines, telegraph and postal censorship, censorship in the U.K. and the U.S.A., censorship regarding Japan and related material.

The contents of this series can be searched with finding aid 2-25, which is not available online.

The sub-series consists of central registry files relating to all aspects of Post Office operations. Subjects covered are airmail and railway service, as well as wartime and post-war operations including but not limited to internment camps in Canada.

Finding aid 3-4 is a typed file list indicating volume number, file title and outside dates for volumes 3392-3424, 3430-3435.

All or some of the documents described have been digitized and are available on Canadiana Heritage, see Post Office registry systems : Duplex numeric classification system.

The sub-series consists of numbered subject files of correspondence addressed to the Secretary of State during the Second World War. Subjects include enemy property, the establishment of a voluntary registration bureau, national registration and samples of the records of the Statutory List (Black List) committees in the U.K., the U.S.A. and Canada.

The contents of this sub-series can be verified through the use of finding aid 6-24. It can be found in the finding aid section of the record description.

The sub-series consists of general correspondence created and maintained by the Correspondence Branch, which was under the direct supervision of the Under-Secretary of State. Subject matters include internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War. Finding aid 6-1 is a verified file list consisting of volume number, file number, file part, file title and outside date range. It can be found in the finding aid section of the record description.

This sub-series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the sub-series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “prisoner” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this sub-series and search your keywords within it.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947" to find results related to Second World War internments.

The series consists of files from the 1909-1941 central registry system. Subject matters include internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War.

Finding aid 7-12 is in two parts. The first part, created by the Office of the Governor General, is an alphabetical subject index to the files opened and maintained by the Central Registry. The second part is a table that identifies the files preserved by Library and Archives Canada and the archival references for consulting the records. It can be found in the finding aid section of the record description.

Start by browsing part one of the finding aid to find files with subjects of interest and their record numbers. The record numbers are found in the first three columns of this list. You can conduct a full-text search by using the search function in the Adobe Reader program (use the keyboard shortcut “ctrl F” or the taskbar button that looks like a magnifying glass). Since the index is in English only, you must use English words and proper names without accents when searching.

In the second part of the finding aid, use the file number to locate the number of the microfilm containing a copy of the record that you would like to view. In this list, the file number is located in the third column and the microfilm number can be found in the second column.

The records in this accession were created with a security classification of Confidential or higher. They form part of the Central Registry operations but were kept physically separate within the department and belong to a different filing system. The files in this accession relate to a variety of air, marine and surface transportation subjects, but especially to cooperative efforts between the departments of Transport and National Defence, including the following:

• the study panel on Canada's vulnerability to atomic bombing
• prisoners of war on the Russian Front
• German movements of prisoners
• prisoners of war and civilians for Japanese repatriation
• repatriation of prisoners of war
• gunnery and bombing practice areas
• military air traffic control over Canada
• the Cabinet defence committee
• the committee on the war book

Also included are files on merchant shipping policy, northwest communications, British Commonwealth oil reserves, United Kingdom air transport policy, hydrographic-oceanographic survey operations in Canada by the U.S. Navy, and restrictions on Soviet shipping.

The Advisory Committee on Orders of Restrictions and Detention was formed in September 1939 to hear objections against internment under Regulation 21 of the Defence of Canada Regulations and to make recommendations to the Minister of Justice.

The series consists of records created and/or maintained by the Advisory Committee on Orders of Restrictions and Detention. The records include the following:

• correspondence of the Committee concerning administrative arrangements
• correspondence with District Officers Commanding and others concerning internees and internment camp operations
• reports from the RCMP on internees
• reports of the Advisory Committee
• exhibits displaying the activities of German organizations in Canada
• transcripts of evidence given at hearings
• decisions of the Committee

The series contains interviews transcripts of certain internees.

Finding aid 13-10 is an unverified file list. It can be found in the finding aid section of the record description.

The series consists of operational and subject files created and/or maintained by the Legislation Section of the department. The mandates of this section included drafting federal government bills, drafting or reviewing federal regulations, harmonizing federal legislation with the civil law of Quebec, and publishing federal legislation and related tables. Subject matters include internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War.

This series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “German,” “Italian,” “Japanese,” “enemy” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this series and search your keywords within it.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947" to find results related to Second World War internments.

This accession contains files created by the Department of Justice during and after the Second World War. Boxes 1-27 document the department's war effort. They cover such subjects as the drafting of war laws, the internment of Italian and Japanese Canadians, and the prosecutions of subversive individuals, subversive organizations and war criminals.

Boxes 29-158 contain records that document the activities of the Department of Justice in its work preparing legislation and regulations in cooperation with other departments and in its planning and coordination of legislation being considered by Parliament. Some of the subjects include the Defence of Canada Regulations, the Regency Act, the Official Secrets Act, ordinances of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, the Criminal Law Act , the Old Age Security Act, the Criminal Code of Canada and the Government Organization Act.

This accession is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the files, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “German,” “Italian,” “Japanese,” “enemy” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this accession and search your keywords within it.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947" to find results related to Second World War internments.

The series consists of subject files created and retained in the office of the Director of Internment Operations that relate to the internment in Canada of German and Italian prisoners of war and of Canadian residents whose loyalty was suspect. In addition to policy files, there are inspection reports and returns as well as files relating to welfare matters, complaints and intelligence. The finding aid is a list of files.

The series also contains pay documents, medical documents and an alphabetic index of prisoners of war and internees on microfilm (see reels T-7020 to T-7057). These constitute a finding aid to other internment records as they indicate the camps in which the prisoners were held.

The series also contains photographs of internment camps across Canada for German and Italian prisoners of war, ca. 1940-1945 (see accession 1975-292); skating rinks at internment camps A (Farnham, Quebec) and N (Sherbrooke, Quebec) (see accession 1978-064); and postcards entitled "YMCA postcards for the use of German prisoners of war in Canada during World War II."

All or some of the documents described have been digitized and are available on Canadiana Héritage, see Directorate of Internment Operations.

The sub-series consists of records from the second Royal Canadian Navy central registry system. The records cover all manner of subjects related to the Royal Canadian Navy, including internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War.

This sub-series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the sub-series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “internee,” “prisoner,” “detention” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this sub-series and search your keywords within it.

The sub-series consists of records from the third Royal Canadian Navy central registry system. The records cover all manner of subjects related to the Royal Canadian Navy, including internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War.

This sub-series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the sub-series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “internee,” “prisoner,” “detention” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this sub-series and search your keywords within it.

The sub-series consists of war diaries created and/or maintained in internment camps during the Second World War.

War diaries describe the daily activities of a unit or formation on active service. Their purpose is "to supply authentic material for the history of the unit, and of the force; to furnish a historical record of operations; and to provide data upon which to base improvements in training, equipment, organization and administration. A good war diary makes possible the accurate and detailed reconstruction of circumstances, conditions and action.” ("Instruction for Compilation and Despatch of War Diaries,” appendix to CASF Routine Order No. 147, November 22, 1939).

The sub-series consists of war diaries created and/or maintained by the Veterans Guard of Canada during the Second World War.

The Veterans Guard of Canada (initially Veterans Home Guard) was a citizen militia supporting the Canadian Army during the Second World War, tasked with defending mainland Canada by guarding military installations such as internment camps. They were modelled after the British Home Guard.

The sub-series consists of records maintained from the Department of Militia and Defence's 1903 central registry system, which was adopted and expanded by the newly created Department of National Defence in 1923. Subject matters include internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War.

This sub-series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the sub-series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “prisoner” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this sub-series and search your keywords within it.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947" to find results related to Second World War internments.

The series consists of records that reflect the operations of the Department of External Affairs as a whole and the Office of the Under-Secretary of State in particular.

Canada's external relations are covered in files on imperial relations, the League of Nations, the Second World War, trade and immigration questions, Canadian-American economic and defence relations and the United Nations.

The role of the Under-Secretary in Canadian domestic issues is shown in files on Dominion-provincial relations and conferences, Japanese immigration and the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War, internal security issues and numerous files on the Canadian North. The Under-Secretary's administrative responsibilities are covered in the files on the operation of the department, personnel-related questions and the establishment of foreign consuls.

All or some of the documents described have been digitized and are available on Canadiana Héritage, see Department of External Affairs : Office of the Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs.

The sub-series consists of general registry files from the registry system for the period 1940-1963. These files are the main departmental files on any given subject. This registry system is commonly referred to as the "40 Series."

This registry system covers all operations of the Department of External Affairs between 1940 and 1963. Topics covered include Canada's diplomatic activities throughout the Second World War, the establishment of all of the many post-war organizations, including the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and bilateral and multilateral relations with almost every other country in the world. There are also files relating to the operation of the Department of External Affairs itself and architectural drawings of the Regent Annex and the L.R. Steel building used to accommodate the department.

This sub-series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the sub-series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for all 14 sub-sub-series.

Included below is a list of sub-sub-series containing relevant information on internment operations. However, you will need to filter the results of each sub-sub-series.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “internee,” “prisoner,” “detention” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this sub-sub-series and search your keywords within it.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947" to find results related to Second World War internments.

The following are the sub-sub-series containing relevant information to internment camp operations:

• 40 Series - files 1 to 999
  Reference: R219-245-X-E, RG25-A-3-b
• 40 Series - files 1000 to 1999
  Reference: R219-246-1-E, RG25-A-3-b
• 40 Series - files 2000 to 2999
  Reference: R219-247-3-E, RG25-A-3-b
• 40 Series - files 3000 to 3999
  Reference: R219-248-5-E, RG25-A-3-b
• 40 Series - files 4000 to 4999
  Reference: R219-249-7-E, RG25-A-3-b, RG25M 945010
• 40 Series - files 5000 to 5999
  Reference: R219-250-3-E, RG25-A-3-b
• 40 Series - files 6000 to 6999
  Reference: R219-251-5-E, RG25-A-3-b
• 40 Series - files 7000 to 7999
  Reference: R219-252-7-E, RG25-A-3-b

The series consists of the records of the main departmental registry system, commonly referred to as the "1939 Series." The file numbers are arranged consecutively within each year, but not according to subject matter. Under this system, a subject may have a different file number from year to year. Although the Department of External Affairs screened and destroyed numerous files that were no longer of operational value to the department prior to their transfer to the National Archives, these records still reflect most aspects of the department's operations from its beginnings until after the Second World War. The registers and indexes were used by the registry office for maintaining the "1939 Series" records within the department. An alphabetical index and a list of indexes are available.

This series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “internee,” “camp,” “prisoner” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this series and search your keywords within it.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947" to find results related to Second World War internments.

The series consists of central registry files dealing with all aspects of the administration of the Japanese Division, including such subjects as placement and relocation plans, housing centres, foreign policy, segregation and repatriation, naturalization and censorship of mail. Internees, Defence of Canada Regulations, prisoners of war and refugees are also covered in this series (RG27, Vols. 640-662, 1527-1529).

The series also contains correspondence, memoranda, reports and newspaper clippings.

The series consists of central registry files created and/or maintained by the Unemployment Relief Commission. This material relates to the relief measures undertaken by the federal government, particularly during the period 1930 to 1942. The records include correspondence with municipalities, provinces and other government departments and agencies.

Considerable attention is given to relief legislation and the resulting programs such as the Single Men's Unemployment Relief Camps, farm relief schemes and resettlement programs. There are numerous files containing relevant statistical information about these operations as well as contracts for relief projects and settlers' accounts that itemize aid given to resettlement participants.

This series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “enemy” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this series and search your keywords within it.

The sub-series consists of a sampling of all aspects of the various prisoner-of-war labour projects that were the responsibility of the Department of Labour. Such topics as salaries, compensation, medical, dental and hospitalization fees and clothing are covered. Order in Council PC 2326, 10 May 1943, authorized the Minister of Labour to utilize the services of prisoners of war in agriculture and other labour projects. This activity was placed under the National Selective Service. The conditions of employment, rates of pay, etc., conformed to the terms of the Geneva Convention of 1929 and to British practices in this regard. Projects outside the internment camps were under the direction of the Department of Labour, in cooperation with the Department of National Defence. In April 1946, at the request of the United Kingdom, plans were made to withdraw POWs from labour projects for eventual return to Europe. By the end of that year, all POWs had left Canada.

Finding aid 27-47 is an unverified file list of contents for this sub-series. It can be found in the finding aid section of the record description.

The Royal Commission, or the Bird Commission, 1947, was set up to examine the claims of Japanese Canadians living in Canada for losses resulting from receiving less than the fair market value of their property.

At the end of the war there was renewed action arising out of the inadequate and unfair compensation proposals made by the government to Japanese Canadians. In the fall of 1946, for example, the Japanese Canadian Committee for Democracy conducted a survey of economic losses of 198 Japanese family heads who had resettled in Toronto. It showed the aggregate value of their property was more than 1.6 million dollars. Of that, 1.3 million dollars had been sold off, netting the owners slightly more than 500,000 dollars.

This fonds consists of individual claim files (vols. 1-74), transcripts of hearings, withdrawn and rejected claims, a memorandum entitled "Appendix III, Fair Market Value," legal arguments and related material.

Hearings of the commission were held from December 3, 1947, to March 3, 1950, in Lytton, New Denver, Kamloops, Vernon, Grand Forks, Nelson and Vancouver, all in British Columbia; and in Lethbridge, Moose Jaw, Winnipeg, Fort William, Toronto and Montréal. There were 1434 persons who filed claims.

Those volumes have been digitized and indexed on the University of Victoria Landscapes of Injustice - Digital archive.

Records cover many aspects of the administration of federal forest lands under the Forestry Branch and Dominion Forestry Service. Included in the registry files are records relating to such topics as personnel, equipment and supplies, silvicultural research, management of forest reserves, conservation of forest resources, national and international forestry conferences, the development of the National Forestry Programme and the operation of the Canada Forestry Act. Subject matters include internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War.

This series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “prisoner,” “internment” or “camp.” This will keep the filter set to this series and search your keywords within it.

The sub-sub-series consists of subject and case files maintained in the first central registry system. The subject files relate to a wide variety of topics in the history of Canadian immigration, settlement (especially but not confined to settlement of western Canada), ethnic groups, and the representation and promotion of Canada abroad.

These files include but are not limited to documents on federal immigration and settlement policy, both generally and on specific issues such as the control of "undesirables" and illegal immigration (including deportation, rejection at the border, and reports on criminality in the country), and subject matters relative to internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War. There are lists of names of individual immigrants on many of the subject files.

As the file titles often do not convey the full range of information available in the files, users should consult as wide a variety of files in their subject area as possible. Many of the files are titled with the name of an immigration office or officer or the name of an organization. Thus researchers should look not only for files on the topic they are researching, but also for files of reports submitted by specific immigration headquarters or field officers or by named private organizations relevant to the subject. The contemporary subject indexes (finding aid 76-8) index some of the topical material on this type of file.

This sub-sub-series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the sub-sub-series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “internee,” “camp,” “prisoner,” “detention,” “Japanese,” “enemy” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this sub-sub-series and search your keywords within it.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947" to find results related to Second World War internments.

The sub-series consists of records from the central registry system that was developed in the 1940s and used until the 1970s. Subject matters include internment operations in Canada during the period of the Second World War.

This sub-series is large and covers a wide range of subjects. To search within the sub-series, click on the link above, and then click on “view lower level descriptions.” This will take you to the Collection search results page for those records.

Click on “Modify Search” and enter keywords such as “internment,” “internee,” “prisoner” or “alien.” This will keep the filter set to this sub-series and search your keywords within it.

Set the date filter to “1939-1947" to find results related to Second World War internments.

The series consists of central registry files relating to all the activities of national and historic parks administrations from 1911 to the mid-1960s. Some material on file precedes the years in which the registry system was in operation. For national parks, the files cover:

• the establishment of parks
• park townsite development
• land leases
• wildlife
• conservation
• sports
• tourism
• campgrounds
• forestry
• roads
• water power
• wartime work camps
• surveys
• commercial development
• forest fire prevention
• lectures by park officials
• interpretation services
• public relations
• other topics relating to general park administration

The national historic parks records deal mainly with research and the interpretation of specific historic parks and sites and their operation. They concentrate on:

• the activities of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board
• park boundaries
• the establishment and operation of park museums
• equipment
• publicity
• visits by distinguished individuals
• curators
• displays
• restoration
• other related activities

There are also some Engineering and Construction Branch files concerning national park matters and the Trans-Canada Highway.

The vast majority of the records are arranged by subject and park. Further information on internment camps and prisoner-of-war camps and related operations, especially as it relates to labour, can be found by viewing the lower-level descriptions and searching the alphabetical prefixes by camp name. For example, matters relating to prisoners of war in Jasper National Park will be found in the J to L prefix files.

The sub-series consists of case files opened by the Custodian of Enemy Property between 1939 and 1945, pursuant to the Defence of Canada Regulations issued in 1939. The files deal primarily with the control and release of property sequestered, including real estate, stocks and bonds, and cash and chattel. They address property owned by Canadians of enemy origins, Canadian organizations declared illegal under the Defence of Canada Regulations, Canadian companies with transactions or property in enemy countries, and foreigners holding Canadian property, including stocks and bonds.

The files are titled according to the name of the individual, company or organization.

Adrien Arcand, born in Montréal on October 3, 1899, worked as a reporter for several newspapers, such as La Patrie and La Presse, from 1918 to 1929. He later became director of Le Miroir and Le Goglu and editor-in-chief of L'Illustration nouvelle, Combat national and L'Unité nationale.

In 1934, he founded the Parti national social chrétien (Christian National Social Party), which eventually became the National Unity Party of Canada in 1938. Arcand was arrested in May 1940 for fascist activities and interned for the duration of the war, initially at the Fredericton camp in New Brunswick and then in Petawawa, Ontario. He was released on July 3, 1945, and moved to Lanoraie, Quebec. Arcand unsuccessfully ran in the 1949 federal election as a National Unity candidate for the riding of Richelieu-Verchères and in 1952 for Berthier-Maskinongé-Lanaudière. He continued to lead the party until his death on August 1, 1967.

The fonds consists of personal agendas; correspondence; texts from Arcand on topics such as the global revolution, Christianity and free trade; texts by various authors and files related to Arcand himself, as well as others such as Dr. S. Mark Eastman, James-Albert Mathez and Raymond Kirch Rudman; and two audio recordings of public conferences by Arcand in 1957 and 1965.

Antonino Spada was an influential journalist, lifelong democrat and community leader in the Italian community in Canada in the 1930s and 1940s. Founder of the Free Italy Movement, he was one of the community's leading anti-fascist spokesmen during the war years. During that period, he helped many families in the community whose brothers and fathers were interned by the federal government.

The fonds consists of:

• Antonino Spada's personal correspondence with members of the Italian community in Canada and the Canadian and Italian governments
• material relating to his founding of the Italo-Canadian Society
• documents relating to his fight against fascism within the Italian-Canadian community before and during the Second World War, including his assistance to the families of those persons interned by the federal government and his work with the Canadian Aid to Italy Fund and American Relief for Italy, Inc.
• miscellaneous issues of L'Indipendente, 1933-1937, and L'Azione Italo Canadese, 1933
• an issue of Now: Hitler over Canada [1939?]
• a souvenir programme of the Italian Great War Veterans' Association Ottawa dinner and banquet in Hull, 1933
• miscellaneous newsletters and research material for his book The Italians in Canada (1971)
• information files and research notes for his study of Italian history in Canada as well as his personal memoirs

Born in 1917 in Breslau, Germany, Bernhard Pfundt left his homeland for Scandinavia in 1939. He remained in Norway until April 1940, when Germany invaded that country. He fled to Britain, where he was interned. In June 1940, he and other British internees were shipped to Canada, where he remained in internment until November 1943, when the internment camps were closed. He was sent back to Britain, where he worked as a bookkeeper. Becoming a British citizen in 1949, he returned to Canada in 1950. Interested in history, he read widely in the field and in the meantime worked at a variety of odd jobs, such as a taxi driver. Faith and Utopia in the Twentieth Century, an unpublished manuscript that includes observations on his own experiences as emigré and internee, is the product of his historical research. Bernhard Pfundt passed away on April 22, 2007.

The fonds consists of a few letters (1939-1943) received by Mr. Pfundt after he left Germany, as well as Pfundt's four-volume manuscript entitled Faith and Utopia in the Twentieth Century, in which he examines a variety of historical events, provides his observations on different philosophical issues and comments on his own experiences as internee and refugee.

Bertha Hower, businesswoman and Second World War internee, was born in 1904 at Salsberg, Austria-Hungary, and immigrated to Canada in 1928. After a few years on a farm near Everts, Alberta, she took a position as a cook at the Deer Lodge Hotel in Agassiz, British Columbia, from 1935 to 1936, when she opened her own restaurant with a friend in Harrison Lake, British Columbia. She remained there until her arrest and internment on April 27, 1940. She was released from internment in 1942.

The fonds consists of a brief presented by John Stanton to the Minister of Justice in March 1942 on behalf of Mrs. Bertha Hower, arguing that Mrs. Hower had been unjustly interned.

Carl Weiselberger, born in Vienna, Austria, became a journalist after graduating from the University of Vienna. He left Austria for London, England, in 1939 to escape from the National Socialists. Following the outbreak of war, he was interned in England and deported to Canada, where he remained in internment camps in northern Quebec. Following his release in 1943, he took a position as a translator with the Censorship Branch of the Department of National Defence. In 1946, he joined the Ottawa Citizen, where he became especially well known for his articles on art and theatre.

The fonds consists of short stories that record Weiselberger's experiences as an internee and includes descriptions of fellow internees, accounts of work activities, recreation, meals and other aspects of everyday life at the camps.

Charles Stanley Gallop was born in England at the Isle of Wight in 1891. He enlisted in the First World War in 1915 at North Battleford, Saskatchewan, 9th C.M.R. Unit. He was discharged in 1918. In 1940, he enlisted in the Veterans Guard of Canada at Dundurn Camp. He moved to Red Rock Internment Camp on March 30, 1941, where he would remain until May 5, 1941. He died at Battleford, Saskatchewan, in 1942.

The collection consists of photos showing prisoners of war walking inside wired fences at Red Rock Internment Camp, Ontario (Camp R), the barracks, a tunnel made by the internees and some of the guardians of the camp, as well as a photo of Private Charles Stanley Gallop with his dog.

Eric Exton was born in Potschappel, Germany. He was expelled in the Kristallnacht purge of students from his college in November 1938, where he was studying industrial chemistry. He fled to England in April 1939, where he was interned and then sent to Canada in 1940. He spent a year in the Sherbrooke Internment Camp for refugees. After his release, he worked as an industrial chemist for Sandoz Chemical in Toronto until 1946, except for a brief period of service with the Royal Canadian Artillery.

The fonds consists of:

• family papers
• personal documents
• correspondence
• photographs and cards of the Exton family in Germany and Canada
• material relating to the Exton Negev Dinner
• scrapbooks of material related to B'nai Brith Canada, the Jewish National Fund of Canada, Canadian Friends of Boys Town, and Baycrest Centre, Toronto
• correspondence, personal documents, speeches, lectures and reports relating to Exton's business career and Seel Enterprises Limited

Eric (Otto) Koch, broadcaster, author, born in 1919 in Frankfurt am Main, was studying in England when he was interned as an enemy alien in May 1940. In July of the same year, he was shipped to Canada. He remained in internment until November 1941.

Textual material in the fonds includes correspondence (1938-1941), which relates primarily to Koch's years of internment, as well as documents that he collected from former internees when he wrote Deemed Suspect. These include memoirs, correspondence, poetry, dramas and other material (n.d., 1937-1944, 1948-1959, 1972, 1974, 1978-1982) that relates largely to the internment experience. Also included is the script for a documentary film on the former internees, entitled The Spies Who Never Were (1981), by Harry Rasky, as well as typescripts of interviews by Rasky with the same group (n.d.).

There are sound recordings of approximately one hundred interviews with anti-Nazi refugees who were interned in Canada in camps during the Second World War, conducted by Eric Koch as research material for his book entitled Deemed Suspect (1978-1980), and oral history interviews done by Koch for Inside Seven Days: The show that shook the nation, his book on the CBC television series This Hour Has Seven Days.

Photographs (1940-1945) depict buildings, living conditions and activities of refugees from Germany and Austria, many of whom were Jewish, at internment camps in Canada at Farnham, Quebec, and Sherbrooke, Quebec.

In addition, the fonds consists of artistic material. Included is a drawing in pen and ink with watercolour (1940) by an unknown artist, depicting enemy alien internees from England leaving a ship that brought them to the city of Québec in 1940. There are also eight watercolours and two drawings in crayon, pen and ink (1940-1941, predominantly 1940) by Robert Langstadt, depicting Canadian internment camps at Sherbrooke, Quebec, and Monteith, Ontario, during the Second World War.

Friedrich Martin, born in 1894 in Dresden, Germany, immigrated to Canada in 1913. Settling in Winnipeg, he worked for a few years as a clerk before starting his own business, Fred Martin Agencies, a firm dealing in sporting goods. He was active in local German social life and, when he was interned in 1940, was a leading member of the German Society of Winnipeg. He was first confined to Camp Kananaskis, Alberta. In 1941, he was transferred to the Fredericton Internment Camp, where he remained until his release in 1943.

The fonds consists of letters (1942-1943) by Friedrich Martin to his wife in Winnipeg during his internment. Also included is a list of canvasses painted and sold while in internment, as well as a record of gifts sent by his family to Germany after the Second World War (1946-1956).

George S. Miyagawa, storekeeper, came to Canada from Japan in 1906 and, after working at a variety of jobs, became a storekeeper in Vancouver. He and his family were evacuated to Vernon, British Columbia, in 1942 and returned to Vancouver after the war.

The fonds consists of:

• correspondence concerning G.S. Miyagawa's unsuccessful efforts to obtain a 4th Class Engineer's certificate (1923-1925)
• correspondence concerning his life in Canada (1975)
• letters of reference (n.d., 1922)
• certificates, including a school certificate from Koyoritsu Nippon Kokumin Gakko in Vancouver and a certificate of discharge as a seaman (n.d., 1907-1942)
• Japanese and Canadian registration documents
• newspaper clippings—originals, 16 pages
• photographs of July first celebrations by the Japanese community, Vancouver, British Columbia; the Miyagawa home, family and activities; and Mr. S. Miyagawa's World War II Internment Card (1919-1947)

Born in 1923 in Hamburg, Germany, Gerald Frey went to England in 1939 to further his education. Here he was interned because of his German citizenship soon after war broke out. In 1940, he and other internees were sent to Canada. Frey remained in internment until the summer of 1941. Only 16 years old when interned, he received permission from the British government to be released so that he might continue his studies in Britain.

In 1942, he joined the British army, serving during the war and as part of the British occupation force in Germany after the war. He returned to civilian life after 1947, working in sales. In 1950, he was married and emigrated to Canada, convinced that he would have a better future here than in Britain. In Canada, he worked in various areas of the printing business until his retirement in 1970.

The fonds consists of diary notes (1939-1941) and memoirs (1943 and 1946), in which Frey describes his internment in Britain, his experiences as an internee in Britain and Canada, and life in Britain after his return from Canada. It also includes Frey's letters (1939-1955, 1973) to a close friend in the United States, in which he describes his internment, his transfer to Canada in 1940, his experiences as an internee in Canada, his release in 1941, life in the British military both during the war and the occupation of Germany, his adjustment to civilian life, and his coming to Canada and his adjustment to conditions here.

Giuseppe Grittani, insurance broker, was born in 1907 in Modugno, Italy. He immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, where he founded the Italian-Canadian Economic Board. This board was responsible for the exhibits at the Canadian National Exhibition. Grittani was made a chevalier by the Italian government for his initiatives.

The fonds consists of papers including a scrapbook (1930-1935), newspaper clippings (1934-1967) and correspondence relating to the Casa D'Italia affair and Giuseppe Grittani's internment at Camp Petawawa during the Second World War. The fonds also contains photographs depicting activities of Canadians of Italian origin, Toronto, Ontario (1930-1965).

The Rev. Gordon Nakayama was born in Okawamura, Ehmiken, Japan. He immigrated to Vancouver in 1919 and was licensed as a missionary in 1929 at the Anglican Church of the Ascension, which came into being in 1909. In 1942, when Japanese Canadians were evacuated inland from the coast, the Rev. Nakayama and his family were relocated to Slocan, British Columbia. He continued his priestly duties in Slocan, ministering to the Japanese of Slocan and the surrounding area.

This fonds consists of the following series of textual records:

• notebooks and notes (n.d., 1928-1973)
• writings (n.d., 1964-1975))
• correspondence (1936-1978))
• Church of the Ascension records (n.d., 1930-1952))
• Church of the Ascension bulletins, reports and announcements (1927-1978))
• serials (n.d., 1934-1977))
• books and pamphlets (n.d., 1946-1975) )
• other material (n.d., 1941-1946))

Also included in the fonds are films by Gordon G. Nakayama of missionary trips to eastern Canada and Alberta, the United States, Japan and South America, as well as films depicting Japanese internment camps in Canada during the Second World War and post-war Japanese Canadian communities.

Heinrich Holtmann, farmer, born in 1902 at Diestedde, Germany, immigrated to Canada in 1928. After a year as a farm labourer, he purchased his own farm near Little Britain, Manitoba. Here he became actively involved in German Canadian social life and was president of the local Schützenverein when he was interned in the summer of 1940. He was first confined to Camp Kananaskis, Alberta, and in January 1941 was transferred to Fredericton Internment Camp in New Brunswick. He was released in January 1942, following an appeal to the then-Minister of Justice, Louis St. Laurent.

The fonds consists of correspondence sent by H. Holtmann to his wife in Rosser, Manitoba, as well as letters received by him from relatives in Germany while he was interned (1940-1942).

Heinz Warschauer was the full-time Director of Education of Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto, between 1947 and 1976. Born and educated in Berlin, Germany, his university studies were discontinued in 1935 as a result of Nazi racial laws. He was interned at Buchenwald, a Nazi concentration camp, following Kristallnacht ("Crystal Night") in November 1938.

In 1939, he entered England as an agricultural trainee and served as superintendent of a Youth Aliyah training camp near Ashford, Kent. However, as a refugee in Great Britain, he was sent to the internment camp at Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1940. Upon his release from internment in 1942, he pursued studies in modern history (M.A.) and social work (B.S.W.) at the University of Toronto.

This fonds consists of the following series of textual records:

• personal correspondence (n.d., 1932-1978)
• personal papers (n.d., 1946-1979)
• Holy Blossom Religious school (n.d., 1940-1976)
• Holy Blossom Temple (n.d., 1938-1979)
• printed material (n.d. 1914-1979)

Hermann Boeschenstein, university professor was born in 1900 in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland. He went to Italy to work as a foreign correspondent for a German-language Swiss newspaper shortly after he received his Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Rostock in 1924. After criticism of the fascists got him into difficulties with the Italian government, he left Europe for Canada in 1926.

In 1927, he settled in Toronto, where he was working as a laboratory assistant and translator when he was offered a position with the University of Toronto's Department of German. He remained with the university until the beginning of the war, when he was granted leave to take a position with the International YMCA to work with German prisoners of war and internees in Canada. Through this work, he became active in German community life, in particular the Canadian Society for German Relief.

The fonds consists of:

• Boeschenstein correspondence (1963)
• speeches (n.d., 1952-1954, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1973)
• newspaper articles (n.d., 1955-1973)
• copies of minutes, reports and correspondence on the work of the YMCA with German prisoners of war and internees in Canada (n.d., 1940-1950)
• copies of minutes of meetings of the Canadian Society for German Relief (1947-1952)
• publications and other material relating to the Society's work and to German life in Canada in general (n.d., 1947-1954)

This work consists of a view of an internment camp in New Brunswick known as Little River Camp, situated approximately 22 miles from Fredericton. The work was created by Max Gamper while he was interned there.

The donor acquired this work from carpenters who worked near the site of the prison camp. The carpenters, sympathetic to the prisoners' plight, would apparently purchase art from the prisoners and then sell it.

James Duncan Hyndman was born on July 29, 1874, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. From 1931 to 1940, Hyndman was president of the Pension Appeal Court in Ottawa. In 1935, he also headed the Hyndman Commission, which studied measures for the relief of unemployed ex-servicemen and disabled and handicapped ex-servicemen. From 1940 to 1941, he heard appeals from Europeans interned under the Defence of Canada Regulations.

The fonds consists of the papers of James Duncan Hyndman, which largely document his long years of public service and professional correspondence. The papers deal extensively with Hyndman's work on the Pensions Appeal Court (vols. 2-14, 16-17). They include his case notes on appeals in Second World War internment cases, 1939-1941 (vol. 14) and his draft recommendations and notes on hearings from the War Claims Commission (vols. 15-16). The papers also document one case (C.A. Powlett and C.H.A. Powlett versus the University of Alberta, n.d.) from the Supreme Court of Alberta and provide limited information about the Grain Commission, the Hyndman Commission, Canadian and American naturalization legislation (1941-1943), the operations of the Excess Profits Tax Act and the Exchequer Court.

The collection consists of documents accumulated for the purpose of documenting the history of the Japanese in Canada and covers the years 1918 to 1973 (with some undated material):

• documents pertaining to the Bridge Brand Food Services 25th Anniversary and to the grand opening of its new warehouse in Calgary
• clippings pertaining to Joe Miyazawa and an outline of an interview of Miyazawa conducted by Joy Kogawa
• a report to the Ministry of Fisheries on the sale of Japanese fishing boats
• an anniversary issue of the Canadian Japanese Mission Courier
• various newspaper clippings
• a number of histories on Japanese Canadians
• documents relating to the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War

The collection also consists of photographs (1910-1950) depicting Japanese immigrants in Lethbridge, Alberta; families evacuated to various places in Alberta and British Columbia; and Tashme, British Columbia, a non-denominational internment camp for Japanese Canadians.

The Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association (J.C.C.A.) was formed in 1947 to act as a national organization for Japanese Canadians. Its first major function was to assist claimants before the Royal Commission of Japanese Property Losses (Bird Commission). The J.C.C.A. was also in the forefront of the successful post-war struggle against discriminatory legislation. Because of a change in the organization's structure in 1953, most of the records in this collection are from the early period of its activity.

The records in this collection are essential for the study of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War and its aftermath. The evacuation of Japanese Canadians from the "protected area" of British Columbia in 1942 led to the destruction of most archival material predating 1941. Although much of the material in the collection relates to the issue of property losses, which provided the impetus for a national organization in 1947, there are many other subjects covered by these files. The rebuilding of an ethnocultural community, the struggle for basic civil rights and the activities of a national ethnic organization are all well documented.

The fonds consists of the records of the Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association and its predecessors and documents the business operations as well as the activities of the Association, especially in the field of evacuation claims. The fonds includes:

• the Association's financial records
• the records of its Executive Council
• briefs submitted to the federal Government of Canada and the provincial Government of British Columbia concerning discrimination against Japanese Canadians
• case files of individuals who sought re-entry into Canada after the Second World War
• literature on various conferences and correspondence with the Japanese American Citizens League and other similar organizations concerned with civil rights
• an account of a pilgrimage of Issei veterans to the unveiling of the Vimy Memorial in 1936
• historical notes and clippings used by Ken Adachi in writing his book The Enemy that Never Was: A History of the Japanese Canadians
• various published sources (n.d., 1884-1975)

The fonds also includes microfilmed copies of the first 17 containers of textual records, reels C-12818 to C-12836. This material includes correspondence, financial records, forms, minutes and printed material relating to the activities of the Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association, 1942-1953.

Keitaro Matsubara was born in Higo, Japan, and immigrated to Canada in 1907. He settled in Eburne, British Columbia, where he earned a living as a merchant. Subsequently, he became a clergyman, possibly for the United Church. In 1942, he was relocated with his family to Holmwood, Manitoba, where the family worked on a sugar beet farm.

The fonds consists of:

• diaries of Keitaro Matsubara, written in Japanese (1942-1946, 1949-1952, 1955-1960, 1965-1966, 1969)
• photographs of the life of the Matsubara family as workers on a sugar beet farm near Holmwood, Manitoba (1944-1947)
• Certificate of Naturalization, which was registered each year between 1914 and 1941
• several other documents that had belonged to K. Matsubara

The fonds consists of views of the internment camp and internees, Fredericton, New Brunswick; view of the Forestry Experimental Station and internment camp, Kananaskis, Alberta; and wood carvings and paintings made by internees.

Dr. Masajiro Miyazaki was born near Hikone City in Japan and came to Canada with his father at the age of thirteen. Dr. Miyazaki and his family were evacuated in 1942 to the townsite of Bridge River, located at South Shalalth. In 1945, he moved to Lillooet when Artie Phair petitioned the BC Security Commission to have him move there. He resumed private practice until his retirement in 1970. He published his autobiography My Sixty Years in Canada in 1973 and was awarded the Order of Canada in recognition of his services to the community in 1977. Dr. Miyazaki's old house in Lillooet, which he donated to the community upon his departure in 1983, was renamed Miyazaki House and remains a heritage site open to the public for tours to this day.

The fonds consists of:

• copies made in 1975 of draft memoirs and related correspondence (1973-1974)
• vital statistics of Japanese in British Columbia and printed surveys (1926-1940)
• correspondence, memoranda, notes and lists relating to the Village of Lillooet and East Lillooet Settlement (1945-1973)
• clippings (1938-1974)
• population survey reports (1935, 1938)
• an address by Sherwood Lett on the legal disabilities of the Japanese in Canada (1934)
• The Japanese Contribution to Canada (1940) published by the Canadian Japanese Association

The fonds also contains copies of photographs, originally taken from 1934 to 1943, of Japanese student organizations in British Columbia and a Japanese evacuation settlement.

Mitsuru Shimpo (or Shinpo) was born in Manchuria in 1931. He graduated from the International Christian University (ICU) in Japan (1957) and then received his M.A. in sociology from the Tokyo Educational College. After his graduation, Shimpo returned to the ICU as a lecturer (1959-1962). He then emigrated to British Columbia and completed an M.A. in sociology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1963.

Shimpo worked as a research sociologist at the Centre for Community Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. After returning to UBC to pursue doctoral studies, Shimpo went to Japan to carry out fieldwork. He subsequently held positions at the universities of Alberta and Waterloo.

Shimpo has authored a number of books that focus on the sociological aspects of Indigenous groups and Japanese Canadians regarding their early experiences in Canada, including the period of the Japanese evacuation during the Second World War.

The fonds consists of oral history interviews with Japanese Canadians about the riots at Powell Street in 1907, First World War veterans, Japanese immigration in the 1920s and 1930s, the relocation and internment camps and the Showa Club. The fonds also contains a recording of a round-table discussion of the past experiences of first-generation Japanese Canadians.

Grace Tucker was born in London, England, and came to Canada in 1905. She was educated in Peterborough, Ontario, and after several years in secretarial work entered the Anglican Women's Training College in Toronto.

Following her graduation from college, Tucker was assigned to Vancouver, British Columbia, for work among Japanese Canadians. From 1942 to 1946, she was a welfare worker at Slocan Relocation Centre in the interior of British Columbia. In 1946, the Anglican Church assigned her to Toronto, where she helped with the resettlement of Japanese Canadians in various parts of Ontario until 1952.

The fonds consists of material relating to Tucker's welfare work with Japanese Canadians in the relocation camps in the Slocan, British Columbia, area. As such, it includes:

• correspondence, petitions and notices from various Japanese Canadians at the Slocan Relocation Centre
• correspondence with the Co-operative Committee on Japanese Canadians
• minutes, agendas, financial records and news bulletins of the Co-operative Committee on Japanese Canadians
• reports from various areas in British Columbia submitted to the Anglican Japanese Mission
• articles and miscellaneous memoranda, forms and pamphlets documenting the Japanese evacuation and repatriation (1942-1951, 1968)
• photographs depicting the activities of Japanese Canadian families evacuated to the city of Slocan, British Columbia (1942-1944)

Muriel Kitagawa, née Fujiwara, was born in 1912 in Vancouver, British Columbia. She attended Connaught High School in New Westminster and the University of British Columbia for one year, after which she withdrew to work with her father, a dentist by profession. Evacuated from the "protected zone" of British Columbia, she relocated to Toronto, where she resided until her death in 1974. She was an active campaigner on behalf of Japanese Canadians' civil rights, working on many committees of the Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association.

The fonds consists of personal papers, articles and materials concerning the rights of Japanese Canadian citizens (n.d., 1931, 1935-1959).

The fonds also contains photographs of a hockey team at the Asahi Athletic Club, Vancouver (ca. 1919), and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Ellen Fairclough, with representatives of the immigration committees of the National Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association and the Chinese Canadian Association, Ottawa (June 20, 1958).

Norman A. Robertson, public servant, diplomat, was educated at the University of British Columbia, Oxford and the Brookings Institute. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1929 as third secretary to the Canadian legation, Washington. As well as serving as secretary to the Canadian delegation to the League of Nations (1930-1931), Robertson served as Canadian delegate to various international conferences and as advisor to imperial conferences during the 1930s. He was appointed Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs in 1941 and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in 1946. In 1949, he returned to Canada and was appointed Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet.

The series is comprised of files grouped by number under the following subjects:

• grain conference, agriculture crisis, Wheat Advisory Committee (1928-1938)
• trade agreements, discussions, conferences (1923-1941)
• League of Nations (1920-1936)
• Imperial Conferences (1932-1937)
• External Affairs departmental administration (1930-1940)
• Interdepartmental Committee on Internment Cases (1939-1941)

Vol. 19 consists of restricted documents from volumes 12 to 14.

Oskar Demuth, businessman and Second World War internee, was born in 1884 in Berlin, Germany, and immigrated to Canada in 1913. After an unsuccessful attempt at homesteading, he settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where in 1920 he opened a small tobacco shop. Among other things, he sold German-language newspapers and operated a lending library in German books.

Active in the local German community, in particular a sports club with National Socialist sympathies, he was interned immediately after war broke out in September 1939. After a brief stay in Kananaskis, Alberta, he was transferred to a camp near Fredericton, New Brunswick, where he remained for the duration of the war. After the war, he opened a small shop that sold used books as well as German toys, German-language cards and other goods of interest to new arrivals from his old homeland.

The fonds consists of a microfilmed autobiographical account, prepared in 1948, in which Oskar Demuth describes his experiences as an internee in Kananaskis, Alberta, and Fredericton, New Brunswick. This material is located on microfilm reel M-7495.

Otto Thierbach emigrated from Germany to Canada in 1928 and settled in Montréal, where he worked as a stonemason. During the 1930s, he joined the Deutsche Bund and worked as a Bund organizer for eastern Canada until 1939, when he was interned at the Fredericton Internment Camp until 1945.

The fonds consists of correspondence between O. Thierbach and friends and relations during his time at Fredericton Internment Camp (1940-1943). Also included are an identification card (1939) issued to Mrs. O. Thierbach, Montréal, and one photocopy of a receipt (1920) issued to Otto Thierbach when he joined the Kommandantur-Kiel.

The fonds also contains photographs and postcards: 13 photographs (ca. 1940-ca. 1945) depict activities of internees at the internment camp in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and 12 postcards (1939-1943, predominantly ca. 1941) reproduce drawings by internees of the Fredericton Internment Camp, depicting life in Canadian internment camps during the Second World War. The postcards were printed by the War Prisoner's Aid, YMCA.

Peter Krawchuk was born on July 8, 1911, in Stoianiv, now in western Ukraine. Peter arrived in Winnipeg at the beginning of the Depression. During this period, he joined the Communist Party of Canada (CPC). During May and June 1940, the CPC was outlawed along with related organizations and their leadership. Peter and the other leaders of the CPC were interned by the Canadian federal government. He was held in various internment camps and prisons including Kananiskis, Alberta, Petawawa, Ontario, and Hull, Quebec. When Peter was released in February 1942, he continued his work with Ukrainian left-wing organizations. After the war, he moved with his family to work in Toronto and became an active member of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians.

The fonds consists of correspondence, diaries, draft articles and manuscripts, photographs and other material relating to the life and activities of Peter Krawchuk and his contributions to the Ukrainian left-wing movement in Canada.

Roger Sachio Obata was born in Prince George, British Columbia, on April 20, 1915, in a family of Japanese immigrants. In 1947, Roger Obata was elected as the founding president of the first national Japanese Canadian organization in Canada, called the National Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association. The main purpose of this association was to seek redress from the Canadian federal government for the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. In 1980, the name of the organization was changed to the National Association of Japanese Canadians.

The fonds consists of:

• records relating to the Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association, Japanese Canadian Centennial Society, National Adori project, Toronto Branch of the National Association of Japanese Canadians, Redress Campaign
• correspondence, reports and other general information
• records relating to the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, ethnocultural and cultural communities
• draft manuscripts relating to the Toronto redress story
• news clippings and related material
• publications and related material

Saul M. Cherniack, lawyer and politician, was born and educated in Winnipeg, receiving an L.L.B. in 1939 from the University of Manitoba, after which he practised law except for three years of military service. He served in the Canadian Army in the Second World War, enlisting in the Royal Canadian Artillery and leaving as a captain in the Canadian Intelligence Corps. as a Japanese-language specialist.

In 1947, he acted as counsel in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario for the Co operative Committee on Japanese Canadians, representing many Japanese claimants before the Royal Commission on Japanese Property Losses, 1947-1950 (frequently called the Bird Commission).

The fonds consists of correspondence regarding Cherniack's activities as legal representative for Japanese Canadians before the Commission.

The fonds also contains lists of property claimants and appropriate forms for filing property loss claims, as well as Cherniack's case files comprised of applicable property deeds, real estate assessments and tax receipts.

Thomas Kunito Shoyama was born in Kamloops, British Columbia, on September 24, 1916; his parents had emigrated from Kumamoto-ken, Japan, around the turn of the century. He joined Edward Ouchi and Shinobu Higashi in publishing a weekly newspaper, The New Canadian, which began regular publication in 1939. The newspaper was published entirely in English at first and became a vehicle for Nisei to express their views on human and civil rights issues affecting them and other minority groups in British Columbia. As the Japanese Canadian community was dispossessed of its property and relocated to camps in the interior of British Columbia and elsewhere, The New Canadian moved to Kaslo. Shoyama continued as publisher and editor of the newspaper until he left in 1945. He then enlisted in the S-20 (Japanese-language) unit of the Intelligence Corps. of the Canadian Army.

The fonds consists of correspondence, reports, speeches, memoranda, honorary degrees and awards, circulars, clippings and other documents, as well as photographs and drawings created and received by Thomas K. Shoyama. The material covers his university years, his work as editor of The New Canadian, and his rapidly advancing post-war career in the Saskatchewan and federal governments, as well as his final post at the University of Victoria and retirement life.

The fonds contains a mix of personal and work-related files. These papers document not only Shoyama's life and career but also the experiences and development of the Japanese Canadian community before, during and after the Second World War/internment. Documents include correspondence and a wide variety of subject files. The material has been organized according to the following series: early career series (divided into three sub-series: correspondence, subject files and photographs), Saskatchewan series, Ottawa series and Victoria series.

Moishe Wolofsky (later known as William "Bill" Walsh) was born in 1910 in Montréal. In 1935, Walsh became an organizer for the Communist Party of Canada (CPC), and for the remainder of the Depression he worked as a party and union organizer; he played an important role in organizing rubber workers in Kitchener and autoworkers in Windsor. Walsh's political activities led to his arrest in December 1940, and he was subsequently jailed and interned in Guelph, Ontario, and Hull (Gatineau), Quebec, under the Defence of Canada Regulations. Following his release in October 1942 and the death of his first wife Anne (Weir) Walsh in 1943, he joined the Canadian Army and served in Europe with the Essex Scottish Regiment.

The fonds consists of records concerning the career and personal life of labour leader William Walsh. The files document his internment and subsequent service in the Canadian Army during the Second World War, as well as personal and family matters. The files also document his work as labour consultant and arbitrator with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Ontario Nurses' Association and other unions; his work with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (Inuit Tapirisat of Canada) and the Dene Nation; and his involvement with the CPC and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers.

The series consists of photographs that depict the aspects of Dr. Kaye's personal and professional life. Photographs are of the following:

• Ukrainian Bureau of London, England
• Dr. Kaye's activities with the Nationalities Branch of the Secretary of State
• photos of the Ukrainian Shevchenko Scientific Society (1957)
• grave of Father John Ovsiantzky at St. Tirlou's Monastery, South Canaan, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

The series depicts Dr. V.J. Kaye as Director of Ukrainian Bureau, Canadian Citizenship Branch, teaching at the University of Ottawa, and receiving the Order of Canada (1932-1975); activities of Mrs. Olena Kysilevska as President of World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (1931-1952); and Mr. Michael Luchkovich and pupils of Bogucz School, Canora, Saskatchewan (1915).

There are also photographs of the following:

• presentation of the Order of Canada to Dr. V.J. Kaye by Governor General Jules Léger, Government House, Ottawa, Ontario (1975)
• Ukrainian Women's Conference in Ukraine (June 1934)
• Ukrainian-Canadian military personnel at service clubs in London, England, during the Second World War and at Maple Creek Camp, Maple Creek, Saskatchewan (1943)
• Ukrainian students' theatrical and musical group
• sixtieth wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Theodosy Wachna, Stuartburn, Manitoba (July 1957)
• ninetieth birthday of Mrs. Anna Wachna, Windsor, Ontario (1972)
• views of farmhouses in Rosa, Manitoba, and Barbritsi, western Ukraine
• Greek-Catholic Teachers' Convention, Uzhgorod, Ukraine (June 1916)
• delegates of Ukrainian origin at the Inter-Parliamentary Union Congress, Bucharest, Romania (1931)
• threshing scenes at Shandro, Alberta
• reception arranged by St. Raphael's Ukrainian Immigrants' Welfare Association of Canada for Senator Olena Kysilevska, Fort Garry Hotel, Winnipeg, Manitoba (August 26, 1929)
• first Teachers' Convention, Edmonton, Alberta (1917)
• Dr. Vladimir J. Kaye presenting his book Early Ukrainian Settlements in Canada, 1895-1900 to Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, East Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario (1967)
• group of Ukrainian miners in Lethbridge, Alberta (September 1905)
• first house built by Peter Smook, Senkiw, Manitoba
• second home built by Ivan Mihaychuk at Arbakka, Manitoba
• Ukrainian Catholic Church, Tolstoi, Manitoba
• first Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Gardenton, Manitoba