- On September 3, 1939, the Canadian federal government imposed the Defence of Canada Regulations (DOCR), which was a set of emergency measures implemented under the War Measures Act one week prior to Canada entering the Second World War.
- The Defence of Canada Regulations opened up new discussions of and issues relating to human rights it was the second time the War Measures Act was ever utilized.
- While both wars highlighted the state's excessive use of power, the Second World War was much more extensive.
- According to historian Ramsey Cook, the Defence of Canada Regulations "represented the most serious restrictions upon the civil liberties of Canadians since Confederation."
- The DOCR was introduced as a war measure to protect national security and loyalty to the state while ensuring the suppression of any threats.
- This meant that threats identified by the media, the RCMP, and political leaders, which included minority and controversial groups, soon became targets.
- The measure was used to intern opponents of the war including fascists and those who opposed conscription (such as Quebec nationalists), it was used to detain some German and Italian Canadians, and the measure was also used to intern Japanese Canadians and to confiscate their property during the war.
- The DOCR led to the censorship of 325 newspapers and periodicals, the ban of over thirty religious, social, ethnic and political organizations, the internment of 2,423 Canadians, the arrest of hundreds of citizens who spoke out against the war or who distributed banned literature, and allowed the police to arrest and detain individuals without charge or trial.
- This policy, among other wartime measures, led to countless instances of human rights violations and discriminatory practices.
Canada. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee on Emergency Legislation. Defence of Canada Regulations. [Ottawa, ON]: J. O. Patenaude, I.S.O. Printer to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty, 1939. https://archive.org/details/defenceofcanadar1939cana/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater
For the University of Toronto School's book on the Defence of Canada Regulations: https://librarysearch.library.utoronto.ca/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=01UTORONTO_INST:UTORONTO&search_scope=UTL_AND_CI&tab=Everything&docid=alma991106418982006196
For an alternate version of the full text of the Defence of Canada Regulations (1939): https://archive.org/stream/defenceofcanadar1939cana/defenceofcanadar1939cana_djvu.txt
For Ramsey Cook's quote it is titles "Canadian Freedom in Wartime" pages 37-54 in the book edited by W. H. Heick and R. Graham titled His Own Man: Essays in Honour of A.R.M. Lower published in Montreal by McGill-Queen's University Press: https://www.biblio.com/book/his-own-essays-honour-arthur-reginald/d/658964202
For more information on the DOCR: https://historyofrights.ca/encyclopaedia/main-events/1939-world-war-two/
& https://web.archive.org/web/20090324003626/http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/en/timePortals/milestones/41mile.asp