Canada, Trudeau apologizes for Italians interned during World War II

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today formally apologized in Parliament for the Italian Canadians who were interned during the Second World War, after the declaration of war against the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. “To the men and women who were interned in prisoner of war camps or incarcerated without charge, people who are no longer with us, to the tens of thousands of innocent Italian Canadians who have been branded as ‘alien enemies'”, I mean ” we’re sorry, “said Trudeau, offering his apology and speaking of” injustice “. “When, on June 10, 1940, this House of Commons declared war on the fascist regime of Mussolini in Italy, Canada should not have declared war on the Italian Canadians” – said Trudeau – “to intervene against the Italian regime which had sided with the Nazi Germany was right. But turning Italian citizens obedient to the law into scapegoats was wrong “. 600 Italians were imprisoned in the internment camps, including sailors whose ships had landed in Canadian ports. Another 31,000 Italians were branded as “alien enemies” with the obligation to report once a month to the police. Some inmates had children who fought in the Canadian armed forces and among them was Quinto Martini, a trade unionist in the textile sector who in 1957 became the first Canadian deputy of Italian origin.