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Canada and the War
After supper a bugle call announces that the gate is open for fishing or a walk along the river. Here the camp spokesmen watch the signing-out and will see that every man returns. They post their own sentries outside to see that no one wanders. - AN19830444-052 - Canadian Army Photo 2907-1
After supper a bugle call announces that the gate is open for fishing or a walk along the river. Here the camp spokesmen watch the signing-out and will see that every man returns. They post their own sentries outside to see that no one wanders.
Canadian Army Photo

Life on the Homefront: Axis Prisoners in Canada

Canada was the wartime home to thousands of Allied prisoners-of-war and internees. Great Britain, faced with a possible invasion by Hitler, asked Canada in June 1940 to accept 4,000 civilian internees and 3,000 German prisoners of war. By October 1944, nearly 34,000 military prisoners were held in Canada, many of them in remote camps in northern Ontario and Quebec and in the Rocky Mountains. Some of the prisoners cut timber and pulpwood for a small wage, and others assisted farmers in the more populated parts of the country.

Prisoners taken during the fighting in Europe sometimes had their hands tied or handcuffed. German prisoners captured during raids in Europe had their hands bound, and the Germans answered that by tying and handcuffing Canadian and British prisoners. From October to December 1942, the Canadian government handcuffed a number of prisoners in Canada to protest against similar German actions. This sparked camp riots by prisoners of war, the most serious in Bowmanville, Ontario.

Companies of the Veterans Guard of Canada, a force mainly made up of First World War soldiers, guarded the camps. There were a number of escapes, but most prisoners were soon found and re-captured. Those who died in accidents or from illness were buried in Canada. In 1945 the prisoners were returned to their homes, some later returning to Canada as immigrants.

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