In Fear of the Barbed Wire Fence - Ukrainian Canadian Civil ...

In Fear of the Barbed Wire Fence
Anti-alien prejudices
Although many “Austrians” needlessly interned at the war’s outbreak were
paroled before its end, (see Documents I and VIII, pages vii and 52) a national
debate erupted over whether and how “enemy aliens” could be effectively
deployed for national service. In the pages of the Daily British Whig, for
example, one writer argued that the foreigners should not get work in
munitions factories and industrial plants at high wages while “our boys” were
fighting overseas “for the cause of humanity.” Instead “enemy aliens” should be
rounded up and compelled to aid in producing foodstuffs for the Allies, paid
wages no greater than was necessary to sustain them and their families, “and
nothing more.” [55] Not untypical of these calls for the registration and
conscription of alien enemies for national service were the resolutions proposed
at a meeting held in Toronto’s Massey Hall, 4 February 1918. Several speakers
commented on how best to cure ‘the alien enemy disease in Canada.” Sir
William Hearst, premier of Ontario, exclaimed that if Canada could draft her
sons to the army then aliens ought to contribute to the war in some other way.
“They have no right to fatten upon the horrors now being practised,” he said,
to applause. The Liberal leader, Mr. William Proudfoot, followed suit, echoing
the premier’s opposition to Chinese labor, going on to say that after the war
immigrants should be admitted only from allied countries. He endorsed what
was described as the old motto, “Canada for the Canadians,” then added, “And
we are going to live and die for the British Empire.” Later, Colonel Cecil
Williams, secretary of the Navy League of Canada, reminded his listeners that
“Canada should be a white country from shore to shore, and should not be
allowed to drift into the hands of aliens.” Following that, J. H. Ballantyne,
representing the Toronto Labor Party, noted with concern how aliens already
constituted 10% of Canada’s population and owned 47% of the land in the
Middle West. [56]
Ottawa did not adapt the harsh measures many had called for. On 17
February 1918 it instead issued a memorandum pointing out that conscripted
alien labor could not be utilized on farms except in large numbers under
military discipline. Withdrawing that many aliens from the positions they
already occupied in the labor force would be difficult and disruptive.
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