WAR MEASURES ACT (1914). An Act to confer certain powers upon the Governor in Council and to amend the Immigration Act.

Octavo (9.75 inches). 5 George V, Chapter 2 (Statutes of Canada). Caption title, 4 pages. Royal coat of arms. Neatly extracted from a bound volume and expertly mended. World War I was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes in many of the nations involved. At the time, Canada was a Dominion of the British Empire and, when Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, Canada was automatically at war. Within weeks, Parliament passed the War Measures Act, 1914 giving the Canadian government sweeping emergency powers to maintain security and order and govern by decree, with authority to arrest, detain, and deport persons when it perceived the existence of war, invasion, or insurrection, real or apprehended. The statute was used during WWI to imprison Canadians of German, Slavic, and Ukrainian descent, and again during WWII to imprison Japanese Canadians and confiscate their property. The Act was most recently used in late 1970 during the October Crisis when a state of apprehended insurrection was declared to exist in Quebec in response to two kidnappings by the terrorist group Front de Liberation du Quebec (the FLQ). More than 450 people were detained under the powers of the law, most of which were released without the laying or hearing of charges. In 1988, the War Measures Act was replaced by the Emergencies Act, which defined more limited and specific powers for the government to deal with security emergencies.…