List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Canada

There were 40 known prisoner-of-war camps across Canada during World War II, although this number also includes camps that held Canadians of German and Japanese descent.[1] Several reliable sources indicate that there were only 25 or 26 camps holding exclusively prisoners from foreign countries, nearly all from Germany.[2][3][4]

The camps were identified by letters at first, then by numbers.[5] In addition to the main camps there were branch camps and labour camps. The prisoners were given various tasks; many worked in the forests as logging crews or on nearby farms; they were paid a nominal amount for their labour. Approximately 11,000 were thus employed by 1945.[3]

The largest number of military prisoners of war was recorded as 33,798 by several sources.[6][7][8] In addition to POWs, some civilian internees were held in the camps and some estimates include such prisoners.[7][9]

All POWs were protected by the conditions of the Geneva Convention. There are claims that conditions in the Canadian camps tended to be better than average, and many times better than the conditions of the barracks that Canadian troops were kept in.[2] They were guarded by the Veterans Guard of Canada, mostly men who had been soldiers during WW I.[7] It is believed by some that the lenient treatment foiled many escape attempts before they even started. It is told that a group of German prisoners returned to Ozada camp after escaping because of encountering a grizzly bear.[10] Starting in 1945, all POWs were released and returned to their home countries.[7] None were allowed to remain in Canada, but some later returned as immigrants.[3]

Camp Place Province Location Period
10 Chatham Ontario 260 km southwest of Toronto 1944
1945-1946
10 Fingal Ontario 40 km south of London 1945-1946
20 (C) Gravenhurst Ontario 170 km north of Toronto 1940-1946
21 (F) Espanola Ontario 330 km NNW of Toronto 1940-1943
22 (M) Mimico Ontario 15 km west of Toronto 1940-1944
23 (Q) Monteith (near Iroquois Falls) Ontario 700 km north of Toronto 1940-1946
30 Bowmanville Ontario 65 km ENE of Toronto 1941-1945
31 (F) Kingston Ontario 145 km SSW of Ottawa 1940-1943
32 (H) Hull Quebec 10 km north of Ottawa 1941-1947
33 (F) Petawawa Ontario 130 km WNW of Ottawa 1942-1946
40 (A) Farnham Quebec 50 km ESE of Montreal 1940-1941
1942-1943
1944-1946
42 (N) Newington (Sherbrooke) Quebec 130 km east of Montreal 1942-1946
43 Ile Ste Helene, Montreal Quebec 1940-1943
44 Feller College / Grande Ligne Quebec 275 km northeast of Montreal 1943-1946
45 Sorel Quebec 65 km NNE of Montreal 1945-1946
70 (B) Fredericton (Ripples) New Brunswick 20 km east of Fredericton 1941-1945
100 (W) Neys Ontario 1100 km northwest of Toronto 1944-1943
1944-1946
101 (X) Angler Ontario 800 km northwest of Toronto 1941-1946
130 Seebe Alberta 100 km west of Calgary 1939-1946
132 Medicine Hat Alberta 260 km ESE of Calgary 1943-1945
133 Ozada Alberta 130 km west of Calgary 1942
133 Lethbridge Alberta 160 km southeast of Calgary 1942-1946
? Chisholm Alberta 180 km N of Edmonton ?
135 Wainwright Alberta 190 km ESE of Edmonton 1945-1946
(R) Red Rock Ontario Lake Superior 1940-1941
? Whitewater Manitoba Riding Mountain National Park 1943-1945
N/A Wainfleet Ontario Close to Port Colborne 1943-1945

See also

References
  1. "Canadian Internment Camps | Petawawa Heritage Village". www.petawawaheritagevillage.com.
  2. "Prisoner of War Camps in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  3. "The Happiest Prisoners | Legion Magazine". legionmagazine.com.
  4. "Little left of PoW camps that dotted northern Ontario 70 years ago | Toronto Sun". 30 August 2012.
  5. Tremblay, Robert, Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, et all. "Histoires oubliées – Interprogrammes : Des prisonniers spéciaux" Interlude. Aired: 20 July 2008, 14h47 to 15h00.
  6. August 30, Jon Thompson More from Jon Thompson Published on; August 31, 2012 | Last Updated; Edt, 2012 11:31 Am (30 August 2012). "Little left of PoW camps that dotted northern Ontario 70 years ago".
  7. "WarMuseum.ca - Democracy at War - Axis Prisoners in Canada - Canada and the War". www.warmuseum.ca.
  8. Dodson, Timothy; Myers, A. "Prisoners of War and Dreams of Freedom: Dugout Canoes at a Second World War Work Camp in Manitoba, Canada" – via www.academia.edu. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. "Homefront in Alberta - Alberta and the Keeping of German Prisoners of War, 1939-1947". wayback.archive-it.org. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010.
  10. "HOMELAND STORIES: Enemies Within" (PDF). ReadingAndRemembrance.ca.
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