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Compensation for detained Italian Canadians: “Current debates on internment … are woefully uninformed by history”

MPs discussing a private member’s bill proposing an apology and compensation for Italian Canadians (about 700) who were interned during the Second World War might want to read this book, introduced and summarized here.

Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro’s assertion that those detained were “just everyday people going about their lives” when they were “pulled off the streets” doesn’t stand up to the scrutiny of historians who have studied the issue.

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