Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized on Thursday for the internment of Canadians of Italian descent during the Second World War, saying the community has carried the weight of the unjust policy for generations.
He told the House of Commons that internees were business owners, workers, and doctors, but they were taken away to internment camps in Petawawa, Ont., Fredericton, N.B., Kananaskis, Alta., or Kingston, Ont.
"Once they arrived at a camp, there was no length of sentence," he said. "Sometimes, the internment lasted a few months. Sometimes, it lasted years. But the impacts — those lasted a lifetime."
Trudeau said the country didn't have to declare war on Canadians of Italian heritage when it declared war on Italy's fascist regime in June 1940.
Live from the House of Commons: I am offering a formal apology to acknowledge the harm caused by the internment of Italian Canadians during the Second World War, and to honour the families of those who were affected. Tune in: https://t.co/PzYIIU7553
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 27, 2021
"To stand up to the Italian regime that had sided with Nazi Germany, that was right," he said.
"But to scapegoat law-abiding Italian-Canadians, that was wrong."
He said 31,000 Italian Canadians were labelled "enemy aliens," and then fingerprinted, scrutinized and forced to report to local registrars once a month.
Trudeau said more than 600 men were arrested and sent to internment camps, and four women were detained and sent to jail without formal charges, ability to defend themselves in a fair trial or a chance to present or rebut evidence.
"To the tens of thousands of innocent Italian-Canadians who were labelled enemy aliens, to the children and grandchildren who have carried a past generation’s shame and hurt and to their community — a community that has given so much to our country — we are sorry," he said.
Trudeau said those who were interned did not turn their backs to Canada, and instead, they chose to contribute to building it, proving they loved the country they had chosen as their home.
"Every thriving business these men and women rebuilt or local charity they started was a testament to their commitment to Canada," he said.
"What better way to show that the injustice done to them had been a mistake?"
Trudeau delivered a few lines of his speech in Italian and wove personal stories into his apology, including that of Giuseppe Visocchi, who he said was apprehended while attending a wedding in Montreal in 1940.
"The officers who took him away told his family that they just had to speak with him, but he would be able to come right back," the prime minister said.
"He didn't. Within weeks, he was at a prisoner of war camp in Petawawa, wearing a uniform marking him as an internee, with a target on the back and the number 770.
"It would be another two years until Giuseppe came home."
Trudeau said after Visocchi came back to his family, he worked hard to build a better life. He bought a house, saw his kids grow up and taught them to be good, upstanding citizens who loved this country, he said.
"Courage, resilience, an unshakable belief that we are stronger together. That was the path he chose. And it's a path we must continue to choose today," he said.
Opposition parties also lent their voices to the apology, with Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole sharing several stories of Italian Canadians who were impacted by the policy.
O'Toole said former prime minister Brian Mulroney apologized for the internment at an event hosted by the Italian-Canadian community in 1990 attended by hundreds of people, including several surviving victims at the time.
He said both apologies from Mulroney and Trudeau acknowledge the pain caused to thousands of Canadians by their own government.
"For over a century, Italian-Canadians have indeed given their big hearts, their tireless energy and their labour to Canada," he said.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said the formal apology will give Italian Canadian families the justice they were waiting for and they deserve, but he called on the government to provide compensation
"The internment of Italian Canadians is a dark chapter that has haunted families and has stained our country's history for decades," he said.
He said that the federal government froze Italian Canadians' bank accounts, many had to sell their homes and women had to find work to become breadwinners.
"Restitution can only be accomplished with compensation for Italian Canadian families that were impacted, that Canada had wronged," he said.
Bloc Québécois MP Marie-Helene Gaudreau said Italian Canadians were interned because they were thought to be sympathetic to Mussolini’s fascist regime.
"Sometimes they were. Mussolini's regime did use the diaspora to further its own interests. Many Italian nationals, like many other Canadians, were seduced by fascism," she said in French.
"But many of the Italian Canadians internees had no connection to Mussolini's regime. Their internment was discriminatory and unfounded."
Gaudreau also highlighted the plight of Italian Canadian women, who she said were left alone with several children, no income and no assistance.
"Children died of malnutrition in the complete indifference of the authorities," she said.
Green MP Elizabeth May said the apology is a long time coming and she noted that so many of those who were interned are no longer with us.
She thanked the prime minister and government for delivering the apology in the House of Commons, which she said gave it the gravitas to be meaningful for families.
