Canada's WW1 Internment Operations, 1914-1920
Beginning in 1914, Canada interred 8,597 persons deemed to be ""enemy aliens"". They included immigrants from specified countries, merchant marines and military reservists.During the war, the government reduced the budget for national parks and used enemy alien internees as low-cost labour. BC Internment Camps were located at Nanaimo, Vernon, Revelstoke, Monashee-Mara Lake, Edgewood, Field and Fernie-Morrissey.Internees did a variety of work, including constructing roads and clearing land. Through their labour, the internees played an important part in building Canada’s western national parks.This information board is located on Emerald Lake Road and describes the program, including an episode at Otter Lake in 1916 when the prisoners defiantly laid down their tools for the remainder of the summer. The striking men were so desperate that they started to dig their way to freedom. When discovered on September 28, the tunnel reached beyond the compound fence and was only eight feet from the bush.
Plaque courtesy of the BC Labour Heritage Centre's project Plaques Around the Province. project