Enemy Aliens Exhibit

The Fort Museum of the NWMP and First Nations Interpretive Centre is pleased to be hosting a temporary exhibit focused on Canadian World War One Internment Camps.

“During the First World War, national security fears and
wartime prejudice drove the policy of internment, which
lasted until 1920. During this time, Canada interned
8,579 people identified as “enemy aliens”, mainly Ukrainian
and German immigrants, across a network of 24 camps.
“Enemy alien” was the term used to describe citizens of states
legally at war with the British Empire, and who resided in
Canada during the war. These included immigrants from the
German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman
Empire and Bulgaria. They could be interned for a number
of reasons, including unemployment, attempting to leave
Canada and failing to abide by government regulations.
Using photographs drawn from Canadian archival collections
one hundred years later, this exhibition explore internment
operations and the experiences of the internees: who they were,
the conditions they endured and the legacy they left behind.” ~Excerpt from the Canadian War Museum