War Measures Act

Canadian legislation drafted in 1914 by Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden in response to the wartime pressures of World War I. It gave broad powers to the government and was patterned after the British Defence of the Realm Act. While undemocratic, it was felt that such laws were necessary for the state to properly defend itself from a threat to society. The provisions of Section 6 included absolute control over:

• censorship and the control and suppression of publications, writing, maps, plans, photographs, communications and means of communication;
• arrest, detention, exclusion and deportation
• control of the harbours, ports and territorial waters of Canada and the movements of vessels;
• transportation by land, air, or water and the control of the transport of persons and things;
• trading, exportation, importation, production and manufacture;
• appropriation, control, forfeiture and disposition of property and of the use thereof.

The provisions of the act are very powerful and came with the restriction:

... this Act shall only be in force during war, invasion, or insurrection, real or apprehended.

The act has been invoked three times.

1. During World War I, in 1914, by Sir Robert Borden:

• In World War I, the act was used to create Concentration Camps, ban newpapers in "enemy tongues" and for imposition of Prohibition in 1918.

2. During World War II, in 1939, by William Lyon Mackenzie King:

• In World War II the act was invoked again, and was used to outlaw the Communist party, create Concentration Camps, and incarcerate the Mayor of Montreal. Canadians of Japanese descent had property seized under the provisions of this law. Many Japanese Canadians were stripped of citizenship and deported.

3. During the October Crisis of 1970, by Pierre Elliott Trudeau:

• After a terrifying rise in FLQ terrorist bombings and kidnappings in Montreal in October 1970, the mayor requested the Prime Minister of Canada (Pierre Elliott Trudeau) mobilize an anti terrorist response. Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act of 1914 (his speech), citing insurrection and suspended basic civil liberties. Hundreds of people were arrested under suspicion of involvement in the terrorist group FLQ; most were never charged. This event solidified the hatred that Quebec Separatists had for Trudeau, whom they previously considered a traitor and now a despot. English Canadians generally perceived the event as a regrettable but necessary defense of a civil society under seige from terrorists.

The War Measures Act remains on Canadian books, and may be invoked if deemed necessary in the future.

I was opposed to the use of the War Measures Act during the October Crisis because of the danger it posed, owing to the fact that, as it seemed to me, an apprehended insurrection could be nothing more than a prime minister's bad dream.

This is not much of a restriction.

I was under the impression the act has been updated, and that one, or several pieces of legislation were passed, with varying degrees of draconian powers, to replace it. The abuses, by provincial amd municipal politicians, if not federal, that the War Measures Act can lend authority to, are illustrated by the October Crisis.

It was, and is, a shock to most Canadians that such extreme legislation was ever on the books, and used, in Canada. But my country has not always been even as outward-looking as it is today, and has a history, authorized by this bad law, that is something to be ashamed of.

See Japanese Canadian Internment in World War II