Overview
Italians came to Canada to seek a better life. From the 1870s to the 1920s they arrived in large numbers and found work mainly in mining, railway building, forestry, construction, and farming. As time passed, many used their skills to set up successful small businesses, often in Little Italy districts in cities like Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Winnipeg. Many struggled with the language and culture in Canada, but their children became part of the Canadian mix.
But when Canada declared war on Italy on June 10, 1940, the government used the War Measures Act to label all Italian citizens over the age of eighteen as enemy aliens. Those who had received CAnadian citizenship after 1922 were also deemed enemy aliens. Immediately, the RCMP began making arrests. Men, young and old, and a few women were taken from their homes, offices, or social clubs without warning. In all, about 700 were imprisoned in internment camps, mainly in Ontario and New Brunswick.
The impact of this internment was felt immediately by families who lost husbands and fathers, but the effects would live on for decades. Eventually, pressure from the Italian Canadian community led Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to issue an apology for the internment and to admit that it was wrong.
Using historical photographs, paintings, documents, and first-person narratives, this book offers a full account of this little-known episode in Canadian history.
Full Product Details
Author: Pamela Hickman ,
Jean Smith Cavalluzzo
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company
Imprint: James Lorimer & Company
Dimensions:
Width: 22.90cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 27.90cm
Weight: 0.001kg
ISBN: 9781459400955
ISBN 10: 145940095
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 01 September 2012
Audience:
Young adult
,
Teenage / Young adult
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Availability: Not yet available
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Author Information
PAMELA HICKMAN is the author of over thirty-five non-fiction books for children, including winners of the Green Prize for Sustainable Literature, the Best Book Award from the Society of School Librarians International, and the Canadian Authors Association Lilla Sterling Memorial Award. She co-authored the first book in this series, Righting Canada's Wrongs: Japanese Canadian Internment in the Second World War. She lives in Canning, Nova Scotia. JEAN SMITH CAVALLUZZO is a Toronto writer interested in social justice issues. She has degrees in sociology and social work as well as a diploma in journalism. Her articles have appeared in Chatelaine, the Toronto Star, Eye-talian Magazine, and the Globe and Mail. She has also written for CBC radio. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.
