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War Measures Act

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War Measures Act
With great power comes great responsibility; that famous quote from Spiderman perfectly describes the war measures act. The war measures act was created in 1914 and gave the government the full power to do anything in order to maintain peace and safety for all Canadian citizens. It was only used three times in Canadian history before it was replaced by the Emergences act in 1988. It was invoked during World War I from 1914-1920, World War II from 1941-1945 and once again during the October crisis in 1970. The question is was the war measures act necessary, or was the Canadian government over reacting over nothing? Still after 40 years since the war measures act was used Canadians and the world are debating on the answer to that question. The war measures act is very controversial because it gave the government in charge the power to remove rights form citizens. Although removing citizen’s rights is wrong the war measures act was 100% necessary and it did its job by keeping Canada safe during the hard times of war/ terrorism. Throughout this essay it will explain how the war measures act protected Canada, strengthened Canada as a nation and saved millions of lives. The war measures act protected Canada and should be given the proper respects it deserves.

The War measures act protected the citizens by creating fear, detaining enemy aliens and arresting individuals that might have been a threat to Canada. Fear is a contributing factor because with the amount of RCMP/ Military soldiers made it virtually impossible to obtain important information during the world wars and impossible to succeed in an act of terrorism. During the October crisis a terrorist group named the FLQ terrorized Quebec but with the quick actions of the government and the deployment of many Canadian soldiers. Just a few weeks later the FLQ gave up and bargained for their lives Secondly the Canadian government during both world wars set up internment camps where enemy aliens were sent “The


Bibliography: 1) Breti, Diana. “Internment camps in British Columbia”. http://www.vancouverisland.com/general/details.asp?id=44 (15/01/2011) 2) Great Canadian Debates. “War Measures Act”. http://www.mta.ca/about_canada/study_guide/debates/index.html (16/01/2011) 3) Smith, Denis. “War Measures act”. The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008439 (09/01/2011)
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