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IRVING
ABELLA
and HAROLD
TROPER
'The line must be drawn
somewhere'.'Canada and
Jewish
Refugees,
933 - 9
ON• 5 M^Y•939 907desperate
GermanJewssetsailfi'omHamburgon
theluxurylinerSt.Louis.Like manywhohadsailedon thisshipbefore,
thesepassengers
were- or at leasthad been- the crearnof Gertnan
society:
distinguished,
well-off,educated,cultured.Mosthad contributed much to their native land. All were now penniless.They had
beenstrippedof their possessions,
houndedout of their homesand
businesses
and now their country.Their mostprized possession
was
the entrance visa to Cuba each carried on board.
For the Jewsof Germanylife had becomeimpossible.Countless
thousands had been brutalized, murdered, or sent off to concentration
camps.The Naziswere anxiousto emptyGermanyof itsJews- but
wherecouldtheygo?InitiallyneighbouringcountriessuchasHolland,
France,and later Great Britain had acceptedsome,but soonthe nationsof the world had clangedshut their gatesbefore thesehelpless
men,women,and children.Germanywasdeterminedto throw their
Jewsout; everyoneelseseemedjust asdeterminednot to let them in.
A poignantjoke at the timesaysit all. A Jewwishingto travelgoestoa
Berlin travelagentwho placesa globein fi'ont of him, whirlsit, and
says:'Choose.'
After studyingthe globefor a shorttimetheJewlooks
up witha painedexpression
andasks:'Do youhaveanythingelse?'
The Jewson the St.Louisconsideredthemselves
lucky.They were
leaving.When they reachedHavanaon 3¸ May, however,their luck
had run out. The Cubangovernmentrefusedto recognizethe enTheauthors
areindebted
toRobertF. Harneyof theMulticulturalHistorySociety
of
Ontario,DavidRomeof theCanadian
JewishArchives,
andLawrenceTapperof the
Canadian
EthnicArchives
for theirencouragement
andassistance.
Canadian
Historical
Review,Lx, =, • 979
ooo8-3755/79/0600-0
• 78 $ox.=5/0 ¸ Universityof TorontoPress
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 179
trancevisas;noneof thesewretchedpeoplewereallowedto diserahark,
evenwhen they threatenedmasssuicide.• The search[k)ra havennow
beganin earnest.Argentina,Uruguay,Paraguay,
and Panamawere
approached,
in vain,bywu-iousJewish
organizations.
Withintwoclays
all the countriesof I,atin Americahad re,jeeredentreatiesto allowthese
Jewsto land. On • June the St. Louiswas[k)rcedto leaveHavana
harbour. The last hope seemed to be either Canada or the United
States.
The latter did no• even bother sendinga reply. Insteadit senta
gunboat
toshadow
theSt.Louisasit madeitswaynorth.TheAmerican
coastguardhadbeenorderedto makecertainthattheSt.Louis'
stayed
•hrenoughoWshoresothat it couldnotberun agroundnorcouldany
of its fi'anticpassengers
attempt to swimashore.z Now (mir Canada
remained tmc(mm•itted.
The plight of the St.Louishad touchedsomeinfltmntialCanadians.
On 7Juneseveralof•heseled bythe eminenthist(n'ian(;eorgeWrong,
and includingB.K. Sandwellof Saturdav
Night,RobertFalconer,past
presidentof the Universityof T(•romo, and EllsworthFlarelie,a
weahhvbusinessman,sent a telegram Io prime minister Mackenzie
Kingbeggingthathe show'true Christiancharity' and offer thehomeless exiles sanctuary in Canada/
Jewishre[hgeeswerefar from the prime minister'smind at thistime.
He wasin Washingtonaccompanying
the Rowfifamilyon thefinalleg
of its triumphant tour of North America.The St. Louis,he [•lt, was
not a Canadian problem. Nonetheless,he asked().D. Skehon,the
undersecretary
of statefi)r externalafihirs,to consultthe actingprime
minister,ErnestLapointe,and the directorof immigration,F.C. Blair,
for theiradvice/Boththesemenwereknown[•n'their staunch
oppositiontoJewishimmigrationto Canada.They did notdisappointKing.
Lapointestatedthat he was 'emphaticallyopposed'to the admission
of the St. Loui•'passengers,
while Blair, the bureaucrat,claimeelthat
theserefugeesdid not qualify under immigrationlaws•br admission
andthat,in anycase,Canadahadah'eadydonetoomuch[br theJews.•
Why shouldCanada'go out of her way,' he askedSkehon,to allowin
peoplewho wouldlikely'smugglethemselves'
acrossthe borderto the
UnitedStates?Blair'sgreatfear, however,wasthatif theseJewswereto
G. Thomasand M.M. Witts,TheVoyage
oftheDa•nned
(NewYork t 974), • 35-2 • 7
NewYorkTimes,3-5 June • 939
PublicArchivesof Canada[1,^c],KingPapers,Wronget al.to King,7June1939,
238579
v^c,KingDiary,8June2939,KingPapers,Kingto Skelton,8june 2939,237o87
KingPapers,Skeltonto King, 9June 2939,•37o95-6
180
THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
find a hometheywould 'likelybe followedby other shiploads.'No
country,he added,could'openits doorswideenoughto take in the
hundreds
of thousands
ofJewishpeoplewhowantto leaveEurope:the
line must be drawn somewhere.'6
Their lastflickeringhopescrushed,thedespairingpassengers
of the
St.Louisheadedbackfor Europe(wherethe governmentsof Britain,
Belgium,
andHollandfinallyofferedtemporary
shelter).
There,many
woulddie in the gaschambersandcrematoriaof the Third Reich.
In •933, when Adolf Hitler becamechancellor,Jews constituted
approximately• per cent of the German population;to reduce,and
eventuallyeliminatethat percentagebecameone of Hitler's major
ol•jectives.
Overthenextfewyearslegislation
waspassed
stripping
Jewsof theircitizenship,
barringthemfromschools,
fi'omgovernment
positions,
andfromaccess
to thecourts,subjecting
themto arbitrary
arrestsanddetention,confiscating
their propertyand businesses,
and
imposingon them enormouscollectivefines.In addition, actsof vio-
lenceagainstJewsand their propertywereofficiallysanctioned
and
evenencouraged.
In largepart,thesemeasures
weredesigned
specificallyto ibrceJewsto emigrate.And manywhocould,did. Yet, at the
sametime,tocompound
theproblems
of prospective
emigrants,
Jews
wereforbiddento carryGermanpassports
and werestrippedof all
theirassets.
Withoutcapital.Jews
becameevenlessattractiveasimmigrants.Thousands
wererandomlyroundedup and pushedinto the
no-man'slandbeyondGermanborders.
As Germanfrontiersexpandedinto the Rhinelandand, by x938,
intoAustriaandCzechoslovakia,
sodid the numberof Jewsunder
Germanrule.Hundredsof thousands
wereleavingfor Poland,France,
Britain,Holland,Belgium,and Switzerland.Hundredsof thousands
more would have had these nations allowed them in. None of these
countries
werepleasedwith the influxof theseunexpected
- and
unwanted-guests.
Theyprovidedonlya temporaryhavenandinsisted
thattheserefugees
lookfora permanent
homesomewhere
else,
anywhere
else.Indeed,somecountriesespecially
in Eastern
Europewhereanti-semitism
wasa wayof life, beganmakingnoisesabout
fbllowing
theGerman
precedent
andfbrcingoutunwanted
Jews?An
acuterefugeeproblemwasfastbecoming
explosive.
International
refugeeorganizations
couldnotbegintocopewiththe
problem.The Leagueof Nationshad createdthe Commissionfor
6 v•,c,Department
ofImmigration
Records
[m],BlairtoSkelton,
8June•939;•6June
•939, file 64445• (our italics)
7 J. HopeSimpson,
TheRefugee
Problem:
Report
ofSurvey
(London• 939),49-66
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 181
German Refugeesbut its accomplishments
were pathetic. Most
memberstateschoseto ignoreor belittletheplightof refugees,
in the
hopeperhapsthatthe problemwouldeitherdisappearor solveitself.
Mostnationsarguedthat if there wasa solutionit mustbe on the basis
of an accommodation
betweenGermartyandher non-Aryanpopulation.No countriescameforwardeitherto acceptthoserefugees
left in
Germanyor thoselivingtemporarilyin thecountries
surrounding
her.
AsChaimWeizman,then a leadingZionistand later firstpresidentof
theStateof Israelputit: 'The worldseemedtobedividedintotwoparts
- thoseplaceswheretheJewcouldnotlive,andthosewheretheycould
notenter? Canadafbll into thelattercategory.
Of the inore than 8oo,oooJews
seekingrefugefi'OlntheThird Reich
in theyearsfrom • 933 to • 939,Canadafoundroomwithinherborders
[br approximately400o."In a world whichwasdecidedlyinhospitable
to refugees,Canadawasno exception.Yet, evenby thestandardof the
time, Canada stoodvirtually alone in the niggardlinessof her contribution.Argentina,for example,admitted•,ooo; Australia,•o,ooo,
andwatspreparingto receive• 5,ooomorewhenwar brokeout;Brazil,
2o,ooo;China, •5,ooo; Great Britain, 85,000; Palestine,•oo,ooo;the
United States,•4o,ooo;and evenpenuriousMexicoand Colombiahad
eachacceptedabout•o,ooo.tø
8 Quotedin A..]. Sherman,L•landR.e/itge:
Britaiv•mdRtJhgees./?om
theTkirdReich
•033• ) (I.onclon•973), t•2
9 It isimpossible
to specifythe exactnumberof ref'ugces
of all classes,
orJewish
refugeesin particular,admittedintoCanadain theprewaryears.In replyto a letter
in • 94ø h'oman m' requestingthesestatistics,
thedirectorof immigrationconceded:
'Wehaveno refugeeclassification
in our immigrationstatistics
asthetermisa
temporaryvariableoneand we try to keepstatistics
byrace[ethnicity],nationality,
occupation
anddestination.'
Nevertheless,
it ispossible
tosystematically
approximate
thetotalnumberofJewishrefugees.In theseyearsgovernmentstatistics
revealthat,
of a total immigrationof some•oo,ooo,only6ooowereJews.By allowingfor those
JewswhoenteredCanadaf¾omcountriesStlchasthe UnitedStatesand the United
Kingdom,beyondtheshadowof the Nazi threat,or whoemigratedbeforeNazi
expansionmadeflightimperative,wecanassumethatabout4oooenteredasrefugees.This latterfigureisgivenaddedweightwhenconsidered
in thelightof the
findingsof MichaelProudfoot.In hisimportantstudyof worldrefugeemovements,
Proudfootemploysinternationalstatistics
to estimatethatin the periodbetween
•933 and the outbreakof war, Canadaadmitted6ooorefugeesof all classes
of whom
•5oowereSudetenGermans.It isnot unreasonable
thento assumeapproximately
4oooof'theremainingrefugeeswereJews.m, BlairtoJ.F.Pouliot,•6July t94o,file
67393•/•; CanadaYearBook,• 94o, •5•; • 94• , • •4; LouisRosenberg,
TkeJewish
Population
ofCanada,CanadianJewishPopulationStudiesno a. (Montreal•947);
MichaelJ.Proudfoot,European
Refugees,
•939-5• (Londont95a), a7
to Proudfoot,European
Refugees;
Simpson,
TheRefugee
Problem,
54-63; A. Tartakower
and K.R. Grossman,
TheJewish
Refugee
(NewYork •944), a63-4, 3 •8-a7
182 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
That Jewswerenot welcomein Canadaduring the 193osis not
surprising;
nooneelsewaseither.Witha thirdofitspeopleoutof work
Canadawasunderstandably
not receptiveto the notionof accepting
morejob-hungry
immigrants.
Thattheeconomic
consequences
of the
depression
throttledimmigration
cannotbedenied.Whatshouldbe
stressed,
however,is that the depression
alsoafforded the dramatic
opportunity
for Canadian
officials
tocomplete
a process
of restriction
begunin theboomyearsof the 192os.
Canadian
immigration
policyhadalways
beenasethnically
selective
asit waseconomically
self-serving.
Wheneconomicnecessity
dictated
the admissionof non-British and non-Americanimmigrants it was
always
in descending
orderofethnicpreference.
Following
Britishand
Americanimmigrants,
pret•rencewasgivennorthernEuropeans
and
thencentralEuropeans.
At the l.•ottomweretheJews,Orientals,and
blacks.
TM
Those'non-preferredimmigrants'wereacceptable
aslongas
theywereoutofsight,riskinglifeandliml)in thenqines
andsmelters
of
the Westand North, holedup in lumbercampsdeep in the fbrest,or
farmingthemoremarginalareasof thewestern
wheatfi'ontier.Those
whoescaped
thislife for perhapstheevenworseonein Canada's
urban
centresto conqpete
for •jobswith nativeor British-bornartisanswere
lessacceptable.
Andtoimmigrationofficials
theworstculpritswerethe
Jews.Jews,accordingto Blair, were 'city people.'To almostevery
requestto admitJewish[•trmersor agriculturalworkers,Blair had the
sameresponse:
it wasimpossible
to keepthemon the farm or in the
bush.Everyattemptto clost)had failed..Jewish
workers,he claimed,
couldnot 'eat Gentilefood' and so took the 'earliestopportunity'to
leavefor the city'whichis aboutthe only place[they] canfind [their]
fellowcountrymen.'
•z
With the dispositionof lessdesirableinqnqigrants
to drift towards
citiesand the gradualdeclinein demandfor unskilledlabour,by the
mid-•9,,osthe Canadiangovernrnentbeganto restricttheimmigration
of thoseonthebottomrungsof theethnicpreferenceladder.When,in
• 9•8, the deputyministerof inqmigration,
W.J.Egan,orderedthat the
admission
of EasternEuropeanimmigrantsbe cut backby two-thirds,
he explainedthat thoughthe economywasdoing well, these'nonpreferredcountryimmigrantshad drifted into non-agriculturalwork
almostimmediatelyupon arrival ... and [were] filling positionsthat
mighthavebeenfilledby immigrantsDom the Mother Country.'•a
• x See,for example,CanadaYearBooh,
•939, x58
x• m, Blairto MrsI. Grenovsky,
5 Dec. x938,file 64445•;vac, ManionPapers,Blairto
R.A. Bell,privatesecretaryto Manion,•9 Feb. x938
•3 Canadian.AnnualReview,
•9•8-9, x53-9
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 183
The onsetof thedepressiongavethe governmentthe opportunityto
complete
drawingthe restrictionist
circlearoundCanada.In •9:3oan
order-in-council
(PC1957) wasintroducedallowingin onlythoseimmigrants
withenoughcapitalto establish
andmaintainthemselves
on
farms.In the followingyear anotherorder-in-council(Pc659) effectivelybannedall non-agricultural
immigrants
whowereof non-British
or non-Americanstock.For all intentsand purposes,
just at the time
when she was most needed, Canada shut herselfofffrom the rest of the
world.And for the remainder of the decade- and indeedbeyond- a
determined Canadian government fought every attempt by the
wretchedEuropeanrefugeesto breachthisprotectivewallof ordersin-council.
The personentrustedwith the taskof ensuringthat therewasno
breachwas FrederickCharlesBlair. As directorof the Immigration
Branchof the Departmentof Minesand Resources
duringtheseyears
Blair made almost all of the decisions - no matter how small - concern-
ingwhogot into Canada.And from the pointof viewof European
Jewrythiswasmostunfortunate.
Justwhentheymostneededa fi-iend
at the gate, they had an enemy; insteadof the philo-Semitethey
required,theyhadan anti-Semite;
insteadof the humanitarian,
they
gota narrow-minded
bureaucrat.Accordingto thosewhoknewhim,
Blairwasa toughadministratorwho'stuckto therules'- whichisnot so
surprising
sincehedrafi:edmostof themhimself.
TM
Born in Carlisle,Ontario, in 1874, of Scottishparents,Blair.joined
theDepartmentof Agriculturein •9o 1, and twoyearslatex'becamean
immigrationofficer. In •9•4 he was appointedthe assistantdeputy
ministerof immigrationand in •936 he becamedirectorof thebranch
withfull deputy-minister
status.He wasa religiousman,an elderof the
Baptistchurch,anda dedicatedcivilservant.Indeed,sodevotedwashe
to hisjob that when he finally retired in 1944, four yearsbeyond
normalretirementage,he had accumulated
abouttwo years'worthof
sick leave. • •
As the man responsible
fbr Canadianimmigrationpolicy,Blair had
someseeminglypeculiarideas.Accordingto oneobserverhe 'tookthe
standthat peopleshouldbe kept out of Canadainsteadof'beinglet
in.'• Yet thesenotionshardlyseemedto botherthe Canadiangovernmentwhichkepthim in hissensitive
positionaslongasit could.He was,
asJamesGibson,an external affairs official,recalls,'the singlemost
difficultindividualI had to deal with the wholetime I wasa public
•4 •'^c,HistoricalPersonnelFiles,vol. 4•o, file on F.C. Blair
•5 Ibid.
•6 Ibid.;AustinCrossin TheFamilyHeraldandWeekly
Star,•6 June •943
184 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
servant.He wasa holyterror!'•7Perhapsthiswaswhyhe stavedin his
.job[brsolong;hewasprecisely
themantheKinggovernment
wanted
in thisposition.His inflexibility,fetishfk)rregulations,
and unchallengedcontroloverimmigrationmatterswerea convenience
to an
administration
whichhad no intentionof allowingin Jewishrefugees
butwishedto avoidthe calumnyof not doingso.Thoughostensibly
ThomasGrerarwasthe ministerresponsiblefbr immigration,in fact
Blairmadepolicyandimplemented
it. Crerarknewlittleof theworkingsof theimmigration
branch,andcaredevenless.He reliedalmost
totallyonitsdirectorfor advice.
'•
To Blair the term refugee was a code word for Jew. Unless
'safeguards'
wereadopted,hewarnedGrerar,Canadawasin dangerof
being'floodedwithJewishpeople.
't• Histask,ashe sawit, wasto make
surethat the 'safeguards'
did not fail. Indeed, he wasinordinately
proudof hissuccess
in keepingoutJews.Ashe put:it: 'Pressure
onthe
partofJewishpeopleto getintoGanadahasneverbeengreaterthanit
isnov•'and I am gladto be ableto add, after 35 yearsexperiencehere,
thatit wasneversowellcontrolled.
'"'øBlairexpressed
a strongpersonal
distaste
forJewsandespecially
for'certainof theirhabits.'He sawthem
asunassimilable,
aspeopleapart'whocanorganize[their]affairsbetter
thanother people'and thereforeaccomplish
more.'"•He complained
bitterlythatJewswere'utterlyselfishin theirattemptsto forcethrough
a permitfor theaclmission
of relatives
or friends.''They donotbelieve,'
headded,that'No'meansmorethan'Perhaps...'•Furthermore,
Jews,
he lamented,'makeany kind ol?promiseto get the door open but ...
neverceasetheiragitationuntiltheygetin thewholelot.' Behindthese
Jewishattemptsto somehowgettheir co-religionists
into the country,
Blairsawa conspiracy
'to bringimmigrationregulationsinto disrepute
andcreateanatmosphere
favourableto thosewhocannotcomplywith
the law.' As he commiseratedto the traffic managerof the Canadian
PacificRailway:'If thereisanysurerwayto closethe door in their own
face, I do not know of it. '•
17 InterviewwithJamesGibson,Vineland,Ontario,e6June t 978
•8 SeeGeraldDirks,Canada
• Rq•tgee
Policy:
[ndiJJ•rence
orOpportunism
?(Montreal
1977),44-97; RobertDomanski,
'WhileSixMillionCried:Canadaandthe Refugee
Question•9•8-4t' (unpublishedthesis,Instituteof CanadianStudies,Carleton
University,1975), •4-•6.
19 IR,Blairto Crerar, • Oct. •938, file5478•/5
•o m,BlairtoF•N.Sclanders,
commissioner
of SaintJohnBoardof Trade, •3 Sept.
•938, file 5478•/5
• • m, Blairto Crerar,•8 March •938,file5478•/5
• m, Blairto H.R.L. Henry, 3oJan.•939, file644452
•3 m, Blairto W. Baird,4 May x938,file 5478•/5
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 185
It seemsthat Blair'scontemptfi)r theJewswasboundless.
Only a
shorttime arier the oulbreakof hostilitiesin Europein t939 Blair
confidedto his immigrationcommissionerin London: 'Someonehas
facetiously
saidthat numbersof our Jewishrefugeeslustfullysing
"OnwardChristian
Soldiers"
butareverycontentto stayhereandgrab
up all opportunities.
'24In a revealingletterto a strongopponent
of
Jewish
immigration
Blairwrote:
I suggested
recentlyto threejewish gentlemenwithwhomI am wellac-
quainted,
thatit mightbea verygoodthingif theywouldcalla conference
and
havea dayof humiliationand prayerwhichmightprofitablybeextendedfor a
weekor morewheretheywouldhonestly
try toanswerthequestion
ofwhythey
arest)unpopularahnosteverywhere
.... I oftenthinkthatinsteadof persecutionit wouldbefar betterif wemoreoftentoldthemfi'anklywhymanyof them
areunpopular.If' •hevwoulddivestthemselves
of certainof theirhabitsI am
suretheycouldbe.justaspopular in Canadaasour Scandinavians
...Just
because
Jewishpeople would not understandthe fi'ank kind of statementsI
havemadein thisletter to you, I havemarked it confidential.
•'•
Though it wasBlair whogavethe final interpretationof government
regulations
and whoactedasthe de factojudge andjury on individual
requests
for admission,
to blamehim alonefor Canada'sresponse
to
the refugeecrisiswouldbe both overlysimplisticand incorrect;after
all,hewasonlya civilservant,albeita powerf•tlone.Asa functionaryhe
simplyreflectedthe wishesof his superiors;it was they who were
ultimatelyresponsiblefor govermnentpolicy.Not to acceptrefugees
wasa politicaldecision,not a bureaucraticone.It wasMackenzieKing
andhiscabinetwhich,in the final analysis,mustshoulderthe responsibility.
OnceCanadianJewsrealizedthat attemptingto dealwith immigrationofficialswashopeless,
theybeganflexingtheirpoliticalmuscle.
Only
whenit wastoolatedid they discoverhowflabbyit was.Takingcharge
of the pressurecampaignwas the organizationthat was generally
recognizedasthe representative
voiceof'the communityon socialand
politicalmatters,theCanadianJewishCongress.
Foundedin •9 • 9, by
themid-•9•os the congress
wasa weakand disorganized
body.It was
underfinanced- wealthyJewssawit as a tool of more recentand
less-monied
immigrants,and unrepresentative
- both the far left and
theconservative
elementsof thecommunityremainedoutside.Onlyin
•4 m, Blair to W.A. Little, •4 Oct. •939, file 5478•/6
•5 m, Blairto Sclanders,•3 Sept. •938, file 5478•/5
186 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
the latter part of •938,• when the wealthyindustrialistSamuel
Bronfmanbecameactive- he waselectedpresidentin January • 939-
did the congress
becomea credibleand weightyvehiclefor Jewish
interests.
Indeed,until thenit wastheJewishImmigrantAid Society
[I•^S],an organization
foundedby the congress
in June x9=o,which
actedasthevoiceof the communityon mattersaffectingimmigration
andwhichdid muchto helpindividualimmigrants?
By default,therefore,the taskof puttingforth theJewishposition
fellontheshoulders
ofJew..!sh
!nerobets
of parliament.In theLiberal
sweep
in the t 935electionthreeJewshadwonseats'twoLiberals,Sam
Jacobs
fromMonti'eal,
thecongress
president,
andSamFactor
fi'om
Toronto, and one CCFer,A.A. Heaps fi'om Winnipeg. The Jewish
community
sawthe,•935Liberalvictoryasa harbingerof betterthings.
After all, it wasthe Bennettgovernmentwhich had introducedthe
restrictiveorders-in-council
and whichsnubbedvariousJewishdele-
gations
atternpting
tohavetheseordersmoderated.
'2•
Thesehopes,however,weredashedahnostimmediatelyfollowing
the elections.
In a meetingwith Crerar,Jacobsand BenjaminRobinson,president
of.Ij.a•,s
weretoldthattherewouldbe0..0....e..x.
gepti9._n
n!a_c_l.e
for GermanJew.s.Unlessthey met the requirementsnecessaryfor
immigration- that is, unlesstheyhad sufficientcapitalto establish
a
successful
farm - they would not be allowed in under any circumstances.
2aAnd Crerar kept his promise.For the next two years
almostnoJewishrefugeesarrivedin Canada.And thosefew whodid
manage
tocomeenteredunder(specific
orders-in-council,
exempting
them
fromtheusual
immigration
requirements)Most
ofthese
were
relativesof Canadianjews. Some orders-in-council,however, were
grantedas'favours'to prominentgovernmentsupporters- including
SamJacobs- to distributeto a fbrtunatefew in the Jewishcommunity.z'aIt wasa cynicalactivity,butit worked.Forthe mostpartCanadian
Jews,thoughrestive,remainedloyalto the Liberalgovernment.They
hadlittlechoice.Makingupjust.over •. per centof the population,
CanadianJewsknewtheydid not havethe powerto changegovern'26 SimonBelkin,Through
NarrowGates:
A Review
q]Jewish
Immigration,
Colonization
and
Immigrant
Aidin Canada(Montreal•966), •69-7o;JosephKage,WithFaithand
Thank.•'giving
(Montreal •96•), 66-9
'27 Belkin,Through
NarrowGates,• 70-3
'28 m, Memorandum
for file, Blair,'2oJan.1936,file5478'2/4
'29 ¾•voInstitute,NewYork,JewishHistoricalCollection,
HebrewImmigrantAid
Society[v•c•], files,Reportofj•^s Montreal,•8 Feb. •937; interview,SaulHayes,
Montreal,'2oJune• 978.SeealsoLeoHeaps,TheRebel
intheHorn'e:
TheLifeandTimes
ofA.A.Heaps,M.P. (London197o),•55
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 187
mentpolicy.And untiltheydid, theywouldacceptwhatcrumbswere
throwntheir way.Aftel-all, savinga fewliveswasbetterthansaving
none.
Thecongress
didestablish
a refugee
committe.e
in •.9_•7,
butitsmain
function
wasto workwithrailwaycolonization
officials,to helpin the
settlement
of thehandfulofJewis_
h farmersabletobreakthroughinto
Canada.
However,eventhisactivitywasshort-lived
for in ._A.
p3.'_i.!_l•fi,.•8
,
atthebehest
of Blair'{vho
didnotbelieve
thatJewscouldbefarmers,
railwaycolonizationagentsin Europe were told to allowin as few
Jewish
'agriculturali.sts'
aspossible?
Thus,whena German
Jew,Hans
Heinemann,appliedto entel'Canadaasa farmerhe wastoldby an
overenthusiastic
agenlof the CanadianPacificRailwayin Hamburg
thatJewswere no longer being allowedinto Canada?• It seemed,
therefore,
thatby •...9•8
theCanadiangovernment
wastakingstepsto
closethe loopholesthrough which someJewswere still entering
Canada.As the generalsecretaryof the CanadianJewishCongress,
H.M. Caiserman,grimly informed RabbiStephenWiseof theAmericanJewishCongress,
khe possibilities
of an increased
Jewishimmigrationto Canadaat presentare nil?'
In March •958, just when Canadawasfurther restrictingJewish
immigration,Hitler marched into Austria and several hundred
thousand
moreJewsbecamerefugees- some,thosewhohadescaped
fi-omGermany,for the secondtime.As a response
to this,andtoquiet
the storm of protest raised by more liberal elementsin the United
States,PresidentFranklin Roosevelttook the bold stepof issuingan
invitationto mostof the nationsof the worldto meettogethertodiscuss
possible
solutionsto the refugee proble•n.What no one at the time
knew- but somesuspected,the real purposeof the confkrencewas,
according
to the authorof the plan,secretaryof stateCordellHull, to
givethe United Statesthe initiative'to get out in •¾ontand attemptto
guidethe pressure,primarilywith a viewtowardforestailingattempts
tohaveimmigrationlawsliberalized?•
Had Canadian officials been awm'e of the Americans' real motives,
theywould have been relieved.They were not, however,and thus
when the f•rmal
invitation
to attend
this conference
arrived
in late
3ø •, Memorandumfor file, Blair, 19April •938, file 5478a/5
3• CanadianJewishCongress
[cjc], c•,R,Hamburg,to H. Heinemann,Breslau,8 May
• 938.Heinemannsenta copyof thistelegramto thecongress
witha pleafor the
congress
to helphim savehisfamil-yfrom the Nazis.
3• cjc, Caisermanto Wise,4 Feb. •938
33 NationalArchives,Washington,StateDepartmentRecords,Memorandumon Refugees,•938, files9oo-•/a; 84o-8
188
THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
March,theyweredecidedlyuncomfortable.Even thoughthe Americanshad assuredCanadathat no countrywouldbe expectedto 'receive
a greaternumberof emigrants
thanispermittedbyitsexistinglegislation' and that private organizationswoulctbe expectedto fund this
emigration,
a4the Canadiansfelt Rooseveltwasbaitinga trap. Once
committedto attendingthe conference,the Canadianswould be expectedto do somethingto alleviatethe refugee problem. And this,
ß
•
'
'
"3 •
K•nz dreaded, meant adxmtt•n• numbers oflews."
'
H•s fears were
reinfbrced
bySkelton
whowarned
thatth•'"•ublicity
generated
bythe
conference
wouldlikelyresultin strong'domesticpressure'in Canada
to/clo
something
fortheJews.
'a•
<,Theprimeministerof Canadawasobsessed
•viththe notionthatthe
admission
ofJewish
refugees
m,ght
destroy
h•s
country.•s
heconfided
to hisdiary:'We must... seekto keepthispart of the Continentfree
from um'estandfrotn toogreatan intermixtureof foreignstrainsof
blood...'Nothingwastobegained,hebelieved,
'bycreatingf4n
internal
problem
in aneffortto meetan internatkmal
one.,Allowing
Jewish
refugeesinto Canada,he told hiscabinet,mightcauseriotsand would
surelyexacerbate
relationsbetweenthe federalgovernmentand the
provinces.
In effect,anyactionpermittingan appreciable
numberof
Jews
tosettle
inCanada
would,
inKing's
mind,
the nation. This was no time for Canada to act on 'humanitarian
grounds.'
Rather,saidtheprimeminister,
Canadamustbeguidedby
'realities'and politicalconsiderations.
az
The realities
Kinghadin mindweretheattitucle.
s towards
refugees
in generalandJewsin particular
within.'Quebec.
;Hewasabsolutely
conviced
thatthatprovincewould_•:eacLv.
i.01e..n_t}.y.to
the admission
of
Jewish
refugees.
Andwith'reason.
AlmosteveryFrench-language
newspaper
had warnedthe government
againstopeningCanada's
doorsto European
Jews.AsLe Devoirput it: 'Why allowin Jewish
refugees?
... TheJewishshopkeeper
on St.LawrenceBoulevard
does
nothingto increaseour natural resources? And this statementwas
mildcompared
withvicious
anti-Semitic
utterances
appearing
regularlyin suchpapersasLa Nation,L'Action
Catholique,
and L'Action
Nationale.
Aswell,manyFrench-Canadian
politicians
spokeout- both
withinandwithouttheconfines
of parliament
- against
Jewishimmi34 JohnMunro,ed.,Documents
onCanadian
ExternalRelations.
w: •936-39(Ottawa
x97=)
[•)c•z•
w],Memorandum
fromtheUnitedStates
Delegation,
=5Marchx938,79o-•
35 KingDiary,u9March x938
36 KingPapers,
Skelton
to King,u5March•938,½•uu6u
•
37 KingDiary,u9March•938
38 Quoted
inDavid
Rome,
'AHistory
ofAnti-Semitism
inCanada,'
unpublished
manuscript,Montreal•978,unpaginated
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 189
gration.
TheseLiberal
members,
in particular
Wilfi-id
Lacroix,
C.H.
Leclerc,
and H.E. Brunelle,led the anti-refugeeonslaught.Indeed,in
aspeech
in theCommons
several
months
later,Brunelle
denounced
Jews
ashavingcaused
'greatdifficulties'
wherever
theylived?In
addition,both the prime minister and the Immigration Branchre-
ceivedmanylettersfi'om suchQuebecorganizations
asthe StJean
Baptiste
Society,the councilsof variouscounties,
severalcaisses
populaires,
andtheprovincial
Knights
of Columbus
protesting
against
anypossible
government
backsliding
onthere•geeissue.
4øIn •hct,not
longafterwards
Lacroixdelivered
totheHouseofCommons
a petition
signed
by nearly•8,ooo members
of the StJeanBaptiste
Society
opposing
'allimmigration
andespecially
Jewish
immigration.
'4•
The prime minister,but more especiallyhis Quebeclieutenant,
ErnestLapoime,werealsoawareof the gy•ew)us
situationin whichthe
provin•Cs
Liberal
pa•yibunditself.
Thrown
out•0foffice
in"•936
theUnion
Natipnal.e,under
MauriceDuplessis,
theQuebek
Liberalparty
was
badly,sp!it
andin a stateof disarray.
Anythingwhichmightfurther
weakenit, King and Lapointe felt, would haveto be avoided- no
matter the cost. Thus, on Lapointe'srecommendationthe federal
cabinet swallowed hard and refused to disallow the heinous Padlock
Act.
Todootherwise
would,
according
toLapointe,
have
been
'disas-
trous
forthe
Quebec
Liberrol
party.4•llowing
inJewish
refugees,
wouldalso,at leastin Lapointes mind,playintothehandsof Duplessis
nationalist
forces
and
further
weaken
Liberalism
inQuebec•hatever
Lapointe'spersonalfeelingswere on this matter- and fhere is no
evidencethat he favouredJewishimmigration- for politicalreasons
alonehefeltjustifiedin takinga hard line againstallowingin refugees.
And King believedthat 'if the Liberal party wasto remain a national
party'he had no alternativebut to acceptthe viewsof Lapointeand his
French-Ganadian
colleagues
in the House.4aThe prime ministersin-
39 See,t•n'example,Brunelle'sspeechin House,Canada,Houseof Commons,
Debate.•,
•939, •, 3o5 ß
4o See,fin'example,m, lile •65•7=.
4 x Debates,
• 939, •, 4u8. Fora surveyof anti-Semitism
in Quebec,seeDavidRome,Clouds
intheThirties:OnAnti-Semitism
in Canada,• 9• 9-• 939, 3 vols.(Montreal • 977);Lita
RoseBetcherman,TheSwastiNi
andtheMapleLee•'(Toronto• 975); W.D. Kernaghan,
'Freedom
of Religionin theProvinceof Quebec'(vu• thesis,
DukeUniversity,
•966).
4= KingDiary,5 and 6July x938
43 H. BlairNeatby,WilliamLyonMackenzie
King.m: ThePri•m(( Uni(v(Toronto•976),
=68.CanadianJewishleaderswerenot unawareof thepositionof cabinetministers
fi'omQuebec.Followingthe provincialLiberalparty'sdefeatin Quebec,thepresidentof theJewishImmigrantAid Societyin Montrealreportedto hisboard'thathe
hadit ongoodauthoritythattheFrenchCanadianelementin theFederalCabinetis
strongly
opposedto theadmission
ofJewsto Canada.'jIas,EasternRegion(Montreal),Minutesof theBoardof Directors,9 Dec. x936
190 THE CANADIAN
HISTORICAI,
REVIEW
cerelvbelievedthatilliberalpolicieswereacceptable
solongasthebasic
Liberal
objective
- national
unity- wasmaimained.
44
Largelybecause
of thishostilityin Quebec,Kingwasrelu.
ctantt0
attend the conferenceon ref•gees. For the better part of the next
month,whilealmostall the nati(msof the world were replyingpositivelyto Roosevelt's
invitation,and despitethe anxiousinquMesof the
Americans,Canadadid not responct.
No onein govermnentcircleswas
enthusiastic
aboutattending,leastof all thepri•neminister.Whoknew
what evil w(mlclemanate from this conference?A c(mntry - and a
prime minister
- wDtcl
d-.•he
clo•p'i•e o[ no comm•l'2p_?t
s could
hardlyrelishthe thoughtof a conferencein whichsomesortof Canadiancomtnitmentwouldbe expected.
AsKingandhiscabinetdallied,Blairwasincreasingly
active.At the
behest(ff Ske]tonhe drafteela responserqjectingthe invitation.At-
tendingthis meeting,Blair sai(l,might inwfive'l'headmission
to
Canadaof manywhobytrainingand mannero['lii• are not fitted[br
thedevelopment
ofanyof'ourprimaryindustries,
butwouldaddtothe
congestion
andcompetition
o[ourc•tms.
q'Moretothepoint,it wasnot
'•asible,' he said,'to encouragethe influx of immigranlsof one race
and not of others.'He privatelytolclSkeltonthat it wasunf•fir'to let
downtheimmigration
barriersfor thebenefitof anyparticularraceor
class.
'4• Personally,Blair did not feel thin the problemwasall that
serious.
Asheputit' '_•oprobleme•a}.•xc•p•EXh.•wish Pe92).%
and the refugeesimati(m,he added,wasmuch worseimmediately
followingthe Great War.4' He warnedthat the government's
first
prioritymustnowbeto decide'whetherCanadacanaffbrdtoopenthe
doorto moreJewishpeoplethanwe are nowreceiving'since'thereis
goingto bea generalJewishdrive[i)r admissions
to othercountries.'
Littlegoodfor Canada,he predicted,wouldcomeouto[ attendance
at
theconference.
Canadianpolicy,he stated,should})enotto changeits
restrictive
immigrationpractice,butsimplyto announceat themeeting
that the governmentwould'showsympathetic
consideration
where
possible
to prospective
refugeeimmigrants.
'48
WhatapparentlymostdisturbedBlairwasthe possibility
of a successful conference.'If the nationsnow askedto cooperateto savetheJews
of Germanyand Austria,manageby sacrificeto accomplish
thispurposeit willplease
theGermans
whowanttogetrid of thisgroup...and
44 King Diary,6July 1938
45 m, Blairdraft, 19April 1938,file 644452
46 KingPapers,Blairto Skelton,•4 April •938, c • 22627
47 m, Memorandumfor file, Blair, •9 April •938, file 644452
48 m, Blairto Crerar, 28 March •938, file 644452
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 191
it willencourage
othernationsto do likewiseandthisis probablythe
greatest
danger.Canimmigration
countries
affordtoencourage
such
aneventualit?It isakin in a senseto the payingof ransomto Chinese
bandits.
'4"Clearlythe real threat to Blair wasthat the EasternEuropeancountries
suchasPoland,Hungary,andRoumania
wouldlearn
from the German precedentand attempt to deport their unwanted
Jews,
In addition,Blair hadjust beenadvisedthat the Germangovernmenthad officiallyannouncedthat it wouldno longerallowJewish
emigrantsfrom Germanybackinto the country.At onceBlair in-
formed
Skelton
thatCanada
has'n•'•
alternative
but'torefuse
the
admission
ofGerman
nationals
.w.
ithQ•t.
p.•e•.e•nta•.i9.n•_•f
passpor.t•...g.ndorsed
asv•djdfi,)r
.r.
eturn
to(;•r•n...;•t.•y.•His
argument
was
asingenious
asit wascold-blooded:
If' weaccept.
peoplefromGermanyonone-way
traveldoctunents,we have no excusefor refusinga like classfrmn
other countries,and we will soonreach the placewhere the only
persons
wecandeportwill beBritishsubjects
andu.s.citizens
... I wish
the immigrationcountrieswould take united actionin refusingto
admitnationalsof countrieswho will not allow return by deportation? ø
It wasnot until the latter part of April that King finallymadehis
decision.
In fact,Canadaprobablyhad no choice.As Skeltonwarned
theprimeminister:'It wouldnot looktoowellto be the onlycountry,
exceptFascistItaly, decliningeven to sit on a Committee?• On •6
April the Canadian governmentofficiallyannouncedthat it would
attend the conference which was to be held in the small French resort
townof Evianon the Swissborder.(Switzerlandhad alreadyrejected
thehon•uur'
t•)holding
themeeting
onherterritory.)
Atthesame
time
KinginformedtheAmericansthat he thoughtit wrongto encourage
countriessuchas Germanywhich were trying 'to throw upon other
countriesthe taskof solvingtheir internaldifficulties.
'sz
The newsof theEvianConferenceactivatedtheleadershipof CanadianJewry.They felt the timewasopportunefor someserious,
though
necessarily
secret,lobbying.The Jewishcommunitywasin an apprehensive
mood.Yet the congress
executivefelt that discussions
with
governmentofficialswere'a matterof extremedelicacy.'AsGaiserman
warnedCongressofficersin WesternCanada:'I have in mind that we
refrainfrom massmeetings,publicityandnoise,because
suchmethods
49 •R,Memorandumfor file,Blair, 19April 1938,file 64445e
5ø m, Blair to Skelton,8 April • 938, file 64445e
5 i KingPapers,Skeltonto King,e • April •938, clee re4
5e •C•R V•, King to Simmons,e6 April 1938,793-4
192 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
wouldnullifywhatwehavein naind.
"•aWhatcongress
officialsfeared
naost
ofallwas
tha•(•emonstrations
nai•ht
both
alienate
thegovernment
andcreate
ananti-Semitic
backlash/Xhroughout
thecountry.
As
Caisernaan
stated:'ExperienceconcerningIhe refugeesituationhas
convinced
usthattoonauchpublicityhasalwaysprovendetrinaental
to
anyrequestfor the wideningof the doors[•)r the entryof our co-
religionists
toCanada...
In Quebec
anypublicagitation
fortheentryof
jewswouldbringwithit ...a floodofcounter
agitation.
"•4Thecongress
rolewasnot to naobilize
Jewishopinionbut to naonitorit - to guard
against
anyoutburst,
spontaneous
or otherwise,
whichnaight
rebound
against
theconanaunitv
at large.Againit wastheJewishaPswhowere
the naostactive.They lobbiedunceasinglyto get the government
togoto Evian.TheymetwithCrerarin a vainattemptto havetheim-
migrationregulations
modilied.Finally,with their colleagues
.].S.
Woodsworthand ColonelA. Vien they met with King and argued
vigourously
for a moresynapathetic
approachto the re["ugee
ques-
tion?I..•i..½g
offered
hissynapathy
butlittleelse.Heagreed,
however,
to
setup a specialcommitteeor_cabinet
to look at the problem.This
provedto be a hollowgesturesince,of the live nainisters
appointed,
two, Lapointeand FernandRin['ret,were openlyhostileto Jewish
immigration?Indeed,whenthiscomnaittee
met withtheJewishMPS,
Lapointepointedlyrefusedto attend.Jacobs,Factor,and Heapsmet
privatelywiththe two F•œench-Canadian
cabinetnainisters
and vainly
pleadeel
withthemtobelessinflexible.Evenpronaises
bytheJewishMPS
thatnoJewishrefugeeswouldbepermittedtosettlein Quebecfailedto
budgethena.Rinfret,andnaoresignificantly
Lapointe,were•n_v•ie•[d•i
•ng
in their determination
notto allowJewishrefugeesinto Canada.•z The
cabinetconamitteenaet several naore tinaes,achieved nothing, and
disbanded.
Congress
leadersfelt betrayed.They had kept the lid on theJewish
coronaunity,
had beendiscreetin their negotiationswith the government,andhad,for theirpains,receivednothingin return.'• And their
demandshad been minimal.As the presidentof jt^s informed his
58 v^c,WesternCanadian.Jewish
HistoricalSocietyPapers[wqjH],Caisermanto M.A.
Averbach,•5 April •988, w)l. •Ol
54 cjc, Caiserman
to O.B.Roger,•5 April •988
55 qc, HeapstoN.A.Gray,• 5 May•988;Benjamin
Robinson
(president
ofj•^s)toO.B.
Roger,•8 May 1988
56 King Papers,CabinetMemorandum,•8 May •988, • 14•9•
57 KingPapers,Pickeringto King,•June •988, • •4•98; cjc, Heapsto Caiserman,•8
May •988
58 cjc, N.A. Grayto Caiserman,•6 May •988
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 193
counterparts
in Europe:'Our negotiations
are directedfor theadmissionof a limitednumberof refugeesovera periodof four years.
'•'•The
congress
wasaskingfor theadmission
of a fewhundredfamilies
for
whomit wouldacceptfull financialresponsibility.
Yet eventhisproved
to be too much for the Jewishm,s to pry out of the government.
Thoughit had not yet lostall hopethat Ottawawouldcomethrough
withsomeconcessions,
the congress
nowbeganthinkingseriously
of
alternative forms of action.
Meanwhile,without much enthusiasm,the Canadiangovernment
beganpreparingfor the EvianConference.
AsCanaddsrepresentatives,Kingappointedthe Canadiandelegateto theLeagueof Nations,
HumeWrong, and the COlnmissioner
of immigrationin London,William R. Little. Wrong'sinstructionswere succinct:listen,makenotes,
sayaslittleaspossible,
andundernocircumstances
madeanyprolnises
o/commitments.
•øC,anadawasparticipating
at theconference,
the
primeministeradded,only [br 'information,'
- and for no other
reason.In any case,King relnindedWrong that sincethe Leagueof
Nationswasshortlyto discussthe universalproblemof refugees,'it
wouldbeneitherpracticalnorjustto discriminate
in favourof refugees
from Austria or Germany.'
Silnilarty,in hisinstructionsto Little, Blair suggested
that he go on
the offensiveand point out to the other delegatesthat Canadahad
donemuchillore than wasrequiredto help solvetheJewishrefugee
problem.Fully =5 per centof all specialorders-in-council
had been
giventoJews,he said.In an attemptto halt theJewishexodusfrom
Germanyin its entirety,Blair suggestedthat sinceJewswerebeing
robbedof both their assetsand their citizenship,'the twoessentials
of
immigration,'
Littleshouldapproachthe otherdelegates
to persuade
theirgovernments
to take a unitedstandagainstacceptingthe immigrants'withouteithercapitalor recognized
citizenship.'
And in case
Littlemissedthe point,in a personalletter twodayslater,Blair emphasizedthat there was'not muchenthusiasm
in manyquartershere
foranyincrease
in ourJewishimmigration.'•
To makecertainthat whateverconcession
whichmightbeforcedon
Canadaat Evian waskept at a minimum,the creativedirectorof
immigration
founda methodwhichwassimpleandclever.He delayed
the admissionof the handful of Jewishrefugeeswith substantial
amounts
of capitalwhoseapplications
hadalreadybeenapprovedby
hisdepartmentbutwhosenameshadnotyetbeenforwardedtocabinet
59 cjc, B. Robinsonto HICEM,Paris,=june 1998
60 DC•.aw, King to Wrong, •x June x938,8ox-5
6• m, Blairto Little,4and 6June •938, file 64445•
194 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
for the necessary
order-in-council.
If Canadawereforcedto makea
gesture,
onlythenwouldthenamesto be sentforward.Until then,
however,
thesehelpless
Jewswouldhaveto wait.62
Asdelegates
to theconferencebeganarriving,Wrongsmelleda rat.
The meeting,he predicted,was'goingto be a mostunpleasantaffair'
andhisparticipation
in it was'anunwelcome
duty.'The proceedings,
he feared,'lookveryamateurish,'and the entire conceptclearlywas
'nottheproductof anywellthought-out
scheme'
but simply'oneof Mr.
Roosevelt's
suddengenerousimpulses.'If the Americanswere seri-
ouslyconcerned
withhelpingrefugees,
hewondered,
whywouldthey
sendastheir'delegatesMyronTaylor, 'a steeltycoon,'and two minor
foreignserviceofficers,one of whomwas'a capableauthorityon the
administration
of'thequotalaw.'Thoughherealizedthattherewasnot
muchsupportfk)rthe admission
of refugeesinto Canada,he begged
theprimeministernot t() makehisinstructions
'entirelynegative.
'•a
KingignoredWrong'splea.Rather,in a stronglywordedletter'he
remindedthe Canadiandelegatethat Canadawasat Evianonly to
'exchange
infbrmation.'Furthermore,Wrongwasput on noticethatif
theAmericansmadeconcreteproposalsto solvethe refugeeproblem
he shouldopposethemwhiletryingneither'to 'leadin thisopposition'
nor'tobe'obstructionist?
4Andto forestallanyAmericanaction,King
forcefullyinfbrmedWashingtonthat Canadawouldneithersupport
nor be a memberof any committeewhichwould formulateand carry
out a long-rangeprogrammeto solvethe refugeecrisis.Canada,he
remindedthe Americans,couldmake no commitmentsto acceptany
refugeesasthiswould'raisereal difficultiesfix)m the point of viewof
the CanadianImmigrationService.
'•'• Though King wasconcerned
withthe plightof GermanyJewry,he seemedevenmoreconcerned
overtheadministrative
problemsof CanadianImmigrationofficers.
The primeminister'had ah'eadybeeninformedby Blair that fi'om
the point of'viewof the hnmigrationBranchacceptingGermanJews
wouldonlyexacerbate
the situation.AsBlair told Skelton:'The Jewsof
Canadawill notbe satisfiedunlessthe door'iskept openin somewayto
all the Jewsfrom other countries.'CanadianJews,he added, were
largelyfi'omEasternEuropeandwouldapplyunremittingpressureto
admitfellowJewsfrom thisarea? As well,he remindedCrerar thatin
19•3 Jews had tricked immigration authoritiesinto allowing into
Canadamore RumanianJewsthan had beenagreedto. 'Runningtrue
62 IR,BlairtoJollife,•3June 1938,file64445•
63 DGER
VI, Wrongto Skelton,• 1June 1938,8o6- 7
64 KingPapers,Kingto Wrong,3oJune•938, •3o86
65 nc•Rw, Kingto Simmons,•8 June • 938, 8o7- • o
66 •R,Blairto Skelton,•3June •938; Blairmemorandum,x3June•938, file 64445•
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 195
toform,'he added,theywouldnowlikelyuseeveryloopholetobringin
theirco-religionists
fi'omPoland,Rumania,Russia,and Hungary.'We
willnot,' he warned,'satisfyGanadianJewryby a specialeffort limited
totheJewsof GermanyandAustria.
'ø7
As soon as the conferencebegan, Wrong realized that Canadian
worrieshad beengroundless.The Americandelegate,MyronTaylor,
wasthe first speaker.Instead of the magnanimousgestureall the
representatives
expected
- andfeared- thecontribution
oftheUnited
Statesgovernmentto solvingthe refugeecrisis,Taylor announced,
would be to fill its entire German-Austrian quota of 27,730. The
delegates
satstunnedfollowingTaylor'sspeech.The nationsof the
worldhad beenmobilizedfor this?The collectivesighof relieffrom the
assembled
representatives
wasalmostaudibleasTaylor satdown.For
theJewsof Europe,Taylor'sspeech
wats
a cruelletdown;fbr everyone
elseat Evianit wasa godsend.It wasclearthattheAmericanssawEvian
asan exercisein public relations;the,/had no concreteproposalsto
solve- or evenalleviate- the crisis.If the Americansweregoingto do
nothing,it washardlylikelythatanyoneelsewoulddoanythingeither.
Sureenough,for thenext fewdaysdelegateafter delegatearoseand
announcedthat theix'respectivenationswere doingall theycouldto
solvethe crisisand that stringentimmigrationlawsprohibitedthem
fromdoingmore? In a shortspeech
Wrongechoedthesesentiments,
announcedthat Canadahad muchsympathyfor the impossible
situation in whichthe refugeesfound themselves
but that it coulddo no
morethanit wasalreadydoing- whichwasa greatdeal.'Certainclasses
of agriculturalists,'
he said,were welcome;everyoneelsewasout of
luck. os
Fox'tendays,from6 to • 5July,thethirty-twonationsrepresented
at
Evianwentthroughthemotionsof tryingtosolvetherefugeeproblem
withoutone - with the exceptionof the DominicanRepublic- committingitselftoacceptmorethana merehandful.Thustheconference
concluded with a unanimous resolution that the nations of the world
were'not willingto undertakeany obligations
towardfinancinginvoluntaryimmigration.'Almostasan afterthoughtthe delegates
also
approvedthe creationof an Intergovernmental
Committeeon Refugeesto further studythe problem.
Evianhad clearlyshownthatno onewantedJews.The worldhad
67 m, Blair to Crerar, •4June •938, file 64445•
68 D.A.Wyman,PaperWalls;America
andtheRefugee
Crisk,• 938-•94• (Boston
•968),
43-5 •. SeealsoH.L. Feingold,ThePolitics
ofRescue:
TheRoosevelt
Administration
and
theHolocaust,
•93 8-•945 (New Brunswick,sj • 97o).
69 P^c,ExternalAffairsRecords[•.^],WrongSpeech
to EvianConference,
box187o,
file3•7-•
196 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
beenoffered them and had declinedwith thanks.The Jewswere now
solelyGermany's
problemanti,havingturnedtheir backs,the nations
of the worldcouldhardly in conscience
objectto the solution.In the
eyesof theNazis,theworldhadgiventhemcarteblanchetosolvetheir
.Jewish
problem- their way.Asa Nazi newspaper
put it: 'The Evian
Conference
servestojustify Germany'spolicyagainstJewry.'7øSo,as
theJewsuspected
but neverreallybelieveduntil Evian,he wason his
own.
The tragicfailureof Evianexposed
theimpotence
of worldJewryin
generalandCanadian
Jewryin particular.Not onlydid thelatterhave
noinputin itsowngovernment's
policy,it wasnot eventoldwhatthis
policywas.Indeed,only daysbeforethe conferencebegan,a J•^S
officialin Montrealcomplainedto his colleagues
in Paris:'It is quite
possible
thatmorewill be foundaboutthe intentionsof our Governmeritin Francethan we learn on this side.'?• CanadianJewshad not
expectedmuch froln their government,but even they were disappointedin howlittletheyreceived.Asthe president()f,p^slamented:
'It isquiteobvious
thatthe mostthatcanbeexpectedof (Janariaistobe
morelenientin itsapplication
of the presentregulations.
'7'"But even
thiswasa falsehope.
,Justonemonthafter Evian,on e6 August,Crerar met withBlair and
other ranking immigration authoritiesto review the government's
positionon refugees.ClearlyCrerar had been movedby the talesof
horroremanatingfrom Germanyand wasanxiousto do somethingto
aid the refugees.The ministertold hisofficialsthat, whilehe thought
'greatcareshouldbe taken, we probablyshouldadmit more of these
unfortunatepeopleon humanitariangrounds.
'•:•The well-meaning
but naYveCrerar wasno matchfor' Blair and his'experts.'By the time
the meetingwasover the thoroughlyconfusedCrerar had agreedin
fact to tightenrestrictions
evenfurther. Apparentlyunawareof the
regulations,Crerar agreedto raisethe necessary
capitalrequirement
of'prospective
Jewishimmigrantsfrom $ l o,oooto $ t S,OOO.
Canada's
officialresponse
to Evian,then,wasto makeit almostimpossible
for
anyJewto immigrate;therewerenot manyrefugeeswith$ t 5,000.
WhatwasperhapsmostappallingaboutBlair'smachinations
washis
admission
to an Anglicanclergymannot longaflerwardsthat for some
time he had beenconvincedthat the destructionof EuropeanJewry
7ø Danzinger
Vorposter,
quotedin PeggyMann, 'Whenthe World Passed
by the Other
Side,'TheGuardian,7 May 1978, 18
71 qc, M.A. Salkinto •icv_•, Paris,•June 19•8
7'• cjc, Robinson
toOscarCohen,x4july •91•8
7• •R,Blairmemorandum
on meetingwithCrerar,•6 Aug. x91•8,file5478e/5
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 197
wasat hand. In an all-too-prophetic
letter to CanonW.W. Judd of
Toronto, Blair statedthat he feared that Jewswere facingvirtual
'extinction'in Europe. Allowing more of them into Canada,he informedJudd,wouldnotsolvetheproblem.
TM
ForA.A. Heaps,whohad for sometimecounselled
Canadian
Jewry
to remainsilentand to trust itsleaders,the government's
response
to
Evianwasthe laststraw.Screwingup hiscourage,he wrotea passionate,bitter letter to hisfriend MackenzieKingstatingthat he had been
betrayedby a duplicitousgovernmentwhose'off repeatedpromise'of
allowinga reasonablenumber of refugeesto cometo Canadahad
proved
tobea hoax.ThoughEvianhadbeentraumatic
forHeaps,he
feltthatone lastdesperateappealto King, pointingout the iniquitous
behaviourof his government,might shamethe prime ministerinto
someaction.As he put it: 'The existingregulationsare probablythe
moststringentto be found anywherein the wholeworld.If refugees
haveno moneytheyare barredbecause
theyare poor,andif theyhave
fairlysubstantialsums,they are often refusedadmittanceon the most
flimsypretext.All I sayof existingregulations
isthattheyareinhuman
andanti-(;hristian... Practicallyeverynationin the worldisallowinga
limited number to enter their countries ... The lack of action by the
Canadiangovermnentisleavingan unfortunateimpression
... I regret
to state that the sentiment is gaining ground that anti-Semitic
influences
are responsible
for the govermnent's
refusalto allowrefugeesto cometo Canada...' King shuntedthe letter off to Crerarand
Blairfor their consideration.
Heapsdid not geta reply.7'5Hiswasthe
lastseriousattemptby atJewishuP to influencethe government.Seriouslyweakenedby the death of SamJacobsin late September,the
contingentof Jewish•vs wasno longera factorin the battlefor the
admission
of refugees.As theexecutivedirectorofj•^s sadlyinformed
Jewishofficialsin France: 'The remainingtwo Jewishmembersof
Parliamentwere finallycompelledto giveup their efforts... [as]they
findthemselves
unableto be of anymaterialassistance?
Embitteredand fi-ustrated,Jewishcommunityleadersbegangiving
seriousconsiderationto organizinga nondenominational,
anti-Nazi
groupwhichmight more effectivelylobbyon behalfof the refugees.
Perhapsa wider coalitionof forcesin whichJewswouldbe lessconspicuous
- thoughno lessactive- and for whomrefugeeswouldbe
seenas a humanitarianrather than a Jewishcause,mightsucceed
74 m, Blair to W.W.Judd, Oct. •938, file 5478•/5
75 KingPapers,Heapsto King,9 Sept.•938, • •4•95; H.R.L. HenrytoHeaps,•5 Sept.
•938, •4•97
76 cjc, SalkintoJamesBernstein,Paris,3 Oct. •938
198 THE CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
whereJewish
groups
hadnot.At itsannualconvention
in October
the
congress
endorsed
the creationof a nonsectarian
bodywhichcould
'approach
theGovernment
andappealtothemdirectlyforfavourable
consideration
on purely humanitarianground.'77 Fortuitously,
at
exactlythismoment,
a respected
non-sectarian
organization
haddecided,on itsown,to undertakepreciselythiscourseof action.
Forsometimethe CanadianLeagueof NationsSocietyhadbeenin a
stateof despondency
andhadbecome
ahnost
moribund.Astheworld
seemedhell-benton anotherwar, the organizationhad seemingly
becomeasirrelevantasthe leagueitself.Mostof its membershipwere
deeplydisturbed
by the apparentinhumanity
of the Canadiangovernment's
refugeepolicy.In a sense,
theJewish
refugeeissue
provedto
bea boontothesociety;
it gaveit newlife,andnewsources
of membershipandfunds.It seemed
tobethelastgreatmoralcrusade
of a dismal
decade.
In earlyOctoberthesociety
announced
thatit.would'placethe
strengthof [its]entireorganization
behinda moveto aid theJewish
refugees
...byrequesting
theCanadian
government
totakeimmediate
action.'The society's
president,the indefatigable
SenatorCairineWilson,a closefriend and politicalally of the prime minister,statedthat
theorganization
wasalreadybeginningto mobilizefor suchan effort.
Aspartof thateffortthe Canadian
JewishCongress
covertlypromised
tofinancethecampaign,
butfearfulthatthesocietymightbetarredasa
'Jewishfront,'it wasagreedthat 'Jewishrepresentation
shouldbe
Withina fewweeksit hardlyseemedto matter.Time hadrun outfor
GermanJewry.On 9 and •o Novemberoccurredtheworstpogromin
modernworldhistoryto that time.Kri•'tallnacht
(literallycrystalnight,
becauseof the brokenglassfrom Jewishhomesand businesses
that
litteredthe streetsin every city, town, anclvillagein Germanyand
Austria)wasincitedby thegovernmenttoterrorizetheJews.Countless
synagogues,
Jewishstoresandhomeswereplunderedandrazed.Men,
women, and children were wrenched fi'om their homes, beaten, shot,
or draggedoff to concentration
camps.Scoreswere killed,hundreds
injured,thousands
arrested.
Thesetragiceventsfinallytouchedthe prime ministerof Canada.
'The sorrows
whichtheJewshaveto bearat thistime,'he wrotein his
diary,'arealmostbeyondcomprehension.'
'Something,'
headded,'will
haveto be doneby our country...,7,0
Coincidentally,
on the following
77 cjc, Proceedings
of t958 Convention
78 e^c,Leagueof NationsSocietyof CanadaPapers,ExecutiveMinutes,t 5 Oct. •988;
interview,Constance
Haywood,Toronto,8 May t 978; Western
Jewish
News,Winnipeg,6 Oct. •988; wcjx4,OscarCohento B. Sheps,•ioOct.
79 KingDiary, • Nov. t988
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES199
day,hepersonally
sharedinJewish
griefasheattended
thefuneralof
MrsHeaps.Again,hewasoverwhehned
bythebreadthof thetragedy
whichwasaboutto enveloptheJews.Writingin hisdiarythatnighthe
notedthat it wouldbe 'difficultpolitically,'and his cabinetmight
oppose
him,buthewasgoingto'fight'fortheadmission
ofsome
Jewish
refugees
sinceit was'rightandjust,andChristian?ø
The following week while he was in Washingtonfor talks with
Roosevelt
concerningthe upcomingvisitof the Royalfamily,the conversation
turnedto theghastlylotofJewishrefugees.Whilethepresident,MyronTaylor, and CordellHull discussed
whatcouldbedone,
Kingremainedsilent.In hisownwords,he •justlistened.'Yet during
the conversation he '•blt more than ever' that since countries with 'more
crowded areas,' such as Great Britain and the United States, were
accepting
refugees,Canadamus!open her doors.On his return to
Ottawahe told the governor general, Lord Tweedsmuir, that on
humanitariangroundsalone Canadashouldallowin somerefugees
andwarnedthat 'if wetried to keepour countryto ourselves,
wewould
loseit altogethersomeday.' It seemedat long last that Canadawas
preparedto do something
for thedesperate
Jewsof Germany?
•
It waspreciselyat thistime that theJewsof Canadamobilizedfbr one
lastdramaticeItbrt to help saveGermanyJewry. Kri•s'tallnacht
had
driven the community into a state of Denzied activity.On •4
November,at a specialemergencymeeting,theexecutivecouncilof the
Canadian
JewishCongressdecidedto proclaimSunday,=oNovember,
'a dayof mourning'at whichmemorialmeetingswouldbe heldacross
the country.It instructedits local organizationsto ensurethat these
meetingswere 'non-sectarian,'that non•Jewishcommunityleaders
playa 'prominentrole,'and that mostof thespeakers
beGentile.These
meetings
wereto 'capitalizeon the sympathy'felt towardsthehelpless
victimsof Nazi brutalityand to 'impress'the governmentthat public
opinionwasin favour of admittingsomeof'them to Canada.In addition,eachcommunitywassenta draft:of a protestresolutionwhich
shouldbe adoptedat thesemeetingsand forwardedto Ottawa?'"
Surprisingly,with only five daysto organize,the congress
achieved
dramaticresults.AcrossCanadafrom GlaceBay,Nova Scotia,to Victoria,BritishColumbia,massmeetingswereheldandresolutions
passedpleadingwith the governmentto openits heart and, moreespecially,itsgate.And at almosteveryoneof thesemeetingsthefeatured
speakerwasa non-Jew.Mayors,judges,•Ps, and businessmen
took
their place on the platform in support of the refugees.Twenty
80 Ibid., •3 Nov. •938
81 Ibid., 17and•o Nov. 1938
8• cjc,Memorandum
fromH. Caiserman,
15Nov.1938
200 THE CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
thousandparticipated
in Toronto,fk)urthousandin Winnipeg,six
hundredin QuebecCity,twohundredin Vegreville,Alberta,eight
hundredin NiagaraFalls,twelvehundredin Kingston,threehundred
in Humboldt, Saskatchewan.
Telegrams, resolutions,petitions,and
letterspouredintothe officesof the primeministerandvariousmembersof parlia•nent.The demonstrations
were, in the wordsof the
Toronto Globeand Mail, an example of the 'brotherhood of man
asserting
itself'.'
Scores
of newspapers
across
the nation,withthesingularexception
of theFrenchpressin Quebec,calledfor a moregenerouspolicytowards
refugees?To capitalize
on thisvastoutpouring
of
publicsupport,
a high-powered
delegation
o['(;anadian
Jewsarrivedin
Ottawaon • Novemberto meelwith the prime ministerto pleadthe
casefbr Jewishretixgees.
Unfortunately,
it seemed
theyhadcometoolate,fbr onthedaythey
arrivedin O•tawathe cabineltook up the refugeequestion.Despite
King'surging to make some'provision'[br re•'ugees,the Quebec
ministers,
ledbyLapointe,weresolidlyopposed.Ratherthan pressthe
issueand riskalienatingQuebec,King announcedto the pressthatthe
wholequestionneededfurther study.• This decisionpromptedthe
first serioussignsof dissension
within the Jewishcommunity.The
Hebrew
Journalof Torontocastigated
thecongress
leadershipfor being
too timid for too long. It calledfor more militant actionagainsta
governmentwhich had humiliated the Jewish community by
'shamelessly'
makingdecisions
concerningrefugeesthe day beforea
delegationof Jewishleaderswas to meet with lhe prime ministerto
makeitsrepresentation.
8'•
It wasa shakengroupof Jewswhowereusheredinto King'sofficeon
=3 November.It includedbothJewish•vs and the leadersof all the
importantcommunityorganizations,
includingthe congress,.p^s,
and
the ZionistOrganizationof Canada. They pleaded with King and
Crerar to open up Canada'sdoors by a crack and to admit xo,ooo
refugeeswhomthe communitywould guaranteewould not become
publiccharges.They were politelyrebuffed. King pointedout that
unemployment
in Canadawasstillhighand that hisfirstduty was'the
avoidanceof strife ... maintainingthe unity of the country,'and
fighting'theforcesof separatism.'
He sympathizedwith the refugees,
he said, but he had 'to consider the constituenciesand the views of those
supporting
theGovernment.'
Creraraddedthat thereweregreatad83 cjc, Regionalreportson eoNov.meetings;
clippingfile, Nov. 1938,withexcerpts
from thirty-fivenewspapers
andweeklies;
TorontoGlobe
andMail, • Nov. 1938
84 KingDiary,ee Nov. 1938;Toronto
Star,e3 Nov. 1938
85 Hebrew
Journal(Yiddish),e3 Nov. 1938
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES201
ministrative
problemsinvolvedand in anycaseCanadahadalready
accepted
three hundred refugeesover the pastyear. With that the
delegation
wasexcused?
On the followingday King againmet hiscabinetand, ashe recorded
inhisdiary,he oncemoreaskedthemto adopta 'liberalattitude,'to act
asthe'conscience
of the nation'eventhoughit mightnotbe'politically
mostexpedient,'andoffer someaid toJewishrefugees.There wasno
response
to hisappeal.The cabinet,accordingto the primeminister,
feared'the politicalconsequences
of anyhelpto theJews.'Whatit was
prepared
todo,aftersomediscussion,
wastohelpfinda homeibr these
Jews'in some[other]land.'Kingthendroppedtheissueashe'did not
wishto pressthe matterany further.'•
For CanadianJewsthe cabinetdecisionwasa shock;to theirleadersit
wasdevastating.Followinga weekof massorganization,demonstration, and protest,a week in which almostevery English-language
newspaper
in thenationhad condemnedthegovernmentfor itstimidity,a weekin whichthousands
hadsignedpetitionsdemandinga more
generous
policytowardsthe reIhgees,it wasgenerallyassumed
thatthe
cabinetresponsewouldbe positive.EspeciallymortifiedwereJewish
leaderswhohad cometo the primeministerwithwhattheyconsidered
a minimalpackagethat wouldcostthe governmentnothing- allowing
in a mere •o,ooo re[•gees over a five-year period who the Jewish
communitywould guaranteewould neverbeco•ne'burdenson Canadiansociety.'The prime •ninisterhad rqjectedeveryproposaland had
toldtheJewsthat if they wanteda changein governmentpolicythey
shouldgo out and 'arousepublicopinion.'This the congress
setout to
do at once?
Immediatelyfollowingthe fruitlessconfrontationwith King, congressleadersmetwithSenatorCairineWilsonof theLeagueof Nations
Societyof Canada.Together theybeganplanninga vastlobbyingand
educational
campaignto be undertakenby the society's
newlycreated
CanadianNational Committeeon Refugees[C•CR]to point out to
Canadiansthe advantagesto be gainedby accepting
Jewishrefugees.
Theseactivitieswouldbe largelyfundedby the CanadianJewishCongress?
On • December,it seemedasif theJewishcommunityhad wonover
its mostimportantconvert.On that day during a cabinetmeeting
86 KingDiary,=3 Nov. •988; King Papers,A d. Freiman(presidentof theZionist
Organizationof Canada)toKing, =3 Nov. •938, =•3348
87 KingDiary, •4 Nov. •938
88 cjc, Caisermanto Sheps,•8 Nov. •938; Toronto
Star,•5 Nov. •938
89 cjc, OscarCohentoSheps,•9 Nov. •938
202 THE CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
ThomasCrerar, obviouslytroubledby his government'sbehaviour,
announcedto hisstunnedcolleaguesthat he waspreparedto recom-
mendtheadmission
of •o,ooorefugees.
The cabinet
wouldnotbudge.
Disassociating
himselffrom the haplessimmigrationminister,whose
proposal
hethoughtwasmade'withoutconsicteration'
of theproblems
involved,Kingfounda convenientsolution.He suggested
to hiscolleagues
thattheymakeuseof theBN^Acttojustifytheirinaction.He
wouldpubliclyannounce
thatnothingcouldbedonefk)rGermanJews
until the provinces
wereconsulted,
sinceimmigrationlegislation
was
concurrent. At the same time he chided Crerar, told him to do his
homework,and to preparea statementwhichthe cabinetwoulddiscuss?ø
Crerar'sdefectionclearlytroubled King. Eversmore bothersome,
however,wasthe announcementon the sameday by the Australian
government
thatit wasnowpreparedto admit •5,ooorefugeesover
the next threeyears.At onceCrerar warned the prime ministerthat
Canadawouldbeput under'agooddealof'pressure'
to Followsuit.:• As
well, King receiveda trenchantletter [5'omA.A. Heapsthat the Australian decision had made him 'ashamed' as a Canadian
and that the
government's
policywas'inhumane'and'lackingprinciple?z
On •3 December,the cabinettookup the ref'ugeeissueonceagain.
Awarethathe hadno supporteitherfrom hiscabinetcolleagues
or his
departmentalo•ficials,Crerarreada statement,draftedbyBlair,which
saidnothingaboutthe admission
of •o,oooref'ugees
but whichsimply
recommended
the easing,eves-soslightly,of the presentimmigration
regulations.
•a After strayingsomewhat,Crerar had againstbeen
broughtbackintoline.A relievedcabinetacceptedthenewpositionnot
to changetheregulations
butto interpretthem'asliberallyaspossible.'
Whatthismeantin practice,accordingto the prime minister,wasthat
Jewsalreadylandedin Canadaastouristswouldbe allowedto remain.
However,nomoreJewishrefugeeswouldbeadmittedtoCanada'lestit
mightfomentananti-Semitic
problem...and[create]a newproblem?
•
Thus,after monthsof'wrestlingwith the questionof Jewishrefugees,
the cabinethadatlonglastfoundan answer:keepthemout.
Ironically,at the samemeetingat whichit wasdecidednot to allow
inJews,the cabinetagreedto permit the entry of Czechsand Sudeten
9ø King Diary, • Dec. •938
9 x KingPapers,Crerarto King,• Dec. •938, cxs,s,66x
9• Ibid., Heapsto King, • Dec. x938,•x4x98
93 m, DraftStatement
... regardingRefugees,x• Dec.x938;KingPapers,Pickersgill
to
King, x3 Dec. x938,file 64445•
94 King Diary, • x Dec. x938
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 203
Germanssincetheywere underwrittenby a $500,000gift fi'omthe
British,
French,andCzechoslovakian
governments
andsince,
in King's
words,they'hadbeensacrificed
fi)r the sakeof theworld'speaceof
which[Canadians]were beneficiaries?5
There were, however, several additional reasons for the choice of
CzechoverJew.The Britishgovernmentwasapplyingheavypressure
on the dominionsto admit Sudetenrefugees.Indeed, immediately
followingthe Munichagreement,MalcolmMacDonald,thedominions
andcolonialsecretary,calledtogetherall the high commissioners
and
informed them that 'all those concerned with the recent settlement in
Czechoslovakia
hada greaterresponsibility
in thematterthanfell upon
them,for example,in respectof theJewishrefugeesin Germanyand
Austria.
'" As well, the Canadianhigh commissioner
in Londonwas
usingwhat.influencehe had to make sure that restrictions
on Jews
enteringCanadaremained.
ForJewishrefugeesanxiousto cometo Canadait wasunfortunate
thatthe Canadianrepresentativein Londonwas,to saythe least,no
partisan
of Jewishimmigration.VincentMassey,
the prominentscion
of thewealthyMasseyfamily, had in factbecomea •¾ingememberof
the aristocratic,largely pro-German and anti-SemiticClivedenset
centredaround Lord and Lady Astor.'•?Though he wasmuch too
'Anglophilic'to havethe confidenceor eventhe trust of Mackenzie
King- indeed,theprimeministerhadoncetoldMasseyto hisfacethat
hewas'quitewrongonhisviewsof mostthings'- hisrecommendations
stillhadweightwiththe government,especially
whentheywerein line
withpoliciesbeingconsideredby cabinet?
• And on the questionof
Jewishrefugees,their positionscoincided.
Massey
wasenthusiastic
aboutthe anti-NaziSudetens,
mostof whom
wereSocialDemocratsor Catholics.Many of them, he told the prime
minister,were skilledcraftsmen,professionals,
and farmers- exactly
the typeof settlersCanadacraved.And perhapsevenbetter,onlya
95 Ibid.Fordetailsseem, file9 • 6uo7,andB.A. Gow,'A Homefbr FreeGermansin the
Wildernessof Canada:The SudetenSettlersofTupper Creek,BritishColumbia,'
CanadianEthnicStudies,
x, • 978, 6=-74.
96 Quotedin Sherman,IslandRefuge,•4 •. Seealsonc•t vx,Masseyto King,•8 Oct.
•938, 8=8.
97 InterviewwithJamesGibson.SeealsoVincent Massey,What'sPastIs Prologue
(Toronto•963), • •4-•5; ChristopherSykes,TheLifeofLadyAstor
(London•97=),
364-4 • •; D.C. Watt,Personalities
andPolicies(London • 965), =6, • • 9, • 6 x.
98 J.L. Granatsteinand R. Bothwell,'A Self-EvidentNationalDuty: CanadianForeign
Policy• 935-9,'Journal
ofImperial
andCommonwealth
History,
nx,•975,=•4; King
Diary,5 Oct.• 935;LesterB. Pearson,
Mike:TheMemoirs
oftheRightHonourable
Lester
B. Pearson,
•: •r897-•948 (Toronto •97u), •o5-6
204 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
smallpercentage
of theinwereJews.He immediatelysawan oppof
tunitytoscore
somepublicrelations
pointsfor Canadaatminimalcost.
Wouldit notbea wonderfultactic,he suggested
to King,to accept'as
manyas possible
AryanSudetenGermans.'These,he stated,were
surely'moredesirable'
thanotherrefugees.
But moreto the point:'If
wecouldtakea substantialnumberof them it would put us in a much
strongerpositionin relationto later appealsfi'om and on behalfof
non-Aryans.'
He alsopleadedthat the governmentconsiderSudeten
Germans'quiteseparatelyfrom other refugees... asthey include...
manypersons
whowouldbemuchmoredesirable
asCanadian
settlers
and much more likely to succeedin our country than certainother
typesof refugees.':':'
And in casethe primeministermissed
thepoint,
Masseye,nphasizedthat 'theserefhgeesare of a superiortype to
certainothercategories
of,'efugees
whoareengagingourattention.'•øø
Suchcynicism
wasclearlynot unai)preciatedin ()ttawaand Skehon
wasquick to assureMasseythat his suggestions
were 'in line' with
proposals
ah'eadybeforecabinet.
•ø• It wasnot longafter the high
commissioner's
recom•nendationsarrived that the government decidedto keepout theJewsandlet in the SudetenGermans.Masseywas
delightedwith thisdecision.He congratulated
King and at the same
time informedhim that there were now atlarge number of Central
Europeans
'oftneansandeducation'
whowouldem'ichCanada'in both
the materialsenseand otherwise'who were finding Canadianimmigrationlaws'toowooetch.'
Canadawasntissing
a goldenopportunity,
he
toldKing,if it did notacceptthesepeople.Naturally,he added,he did
not havein mind Jews,but rather 'the numerousnon-Jewishpeople
whofind life quiteintolerableunder the Nazi regime.'In addition,he
urgedthe prime ministerto publiclyannouncethat Canadawaspreparedto admitan unspecified
numberof non-Jewish
Germanpolitical
refugees
fi'omtheSudeten.
By the onsetof •939 an unofficialunholy triumvirate had been
forgedin the ImmigrationService,the cabinet,and, to a muchlesser
degree,theDepartmentof ExternalAfIb_irs
againstrefugeesin general
andJewishrefugeesin particular.In Immigrationthe intransigent
and
morallyobtuseBlair gavevent to his anti-Semitismby placingevery
possible
bureaucratic
encumbrance
in the path of refugees.In cabinet
ErnestLapointescuttledanycabinetbacksliding-includingthatof the
99 ac•.• v•, Masseyto King, =9 Nov. t938; Masseyto Skelton,• Dec. •938, 837,844-5
•oo •, Masseyto King, = Dec. 1938,box •87o, file 3•7-•
•o• Ibid., Skeltonto Massey,= Dec. •938
•o= Ibid., Massey
to King, •3Jan. •939,box x87o,file 3=7-xn;King Papers,Masseyto
King,3 Feb. •939, =3x6o7-1o
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 205
primeminister- on the refugeeissue.In ExternalAffairsVincent
Massey
flirtedwiththearistocratic
crowdin London,whiledoingwhat
hecouldto keepJewsoutof Canada.Individually,eachhadsignificant
power;
collectively,
theyseemed
beyondchallenge.
Eachhadhisown
sphere
of influence
butontherefugeeissue
thesespheres
overlapped.
Thoughthereisnoevidence
thattheyconsulted
onthisissue-and
they
likelydid not - whatunited them wasa commonconviction:
Canada
didnotneedmoreJews.
Thoughthe prime ministerwasnot a prisonerof thisanti-Jewish
coterie,he couldnot help but be influencedby it. Whenthe foremost
immigrationauthority,the leadingFrench-Canadian
politicianin the
country,and the nation'sseniorforeign diplomatspoke,he listened,
especially
sincethey were all sayingthe samething. King himself
vacillated.
At timeshishumanitarianand religiousinstinctsled him to
arguethe refugeecase;yet alwayshispoliticalinstincts
overcame
these
arguments.
His sympathyfbr the refugeeswasgenuine.He sincerely
wantedto find them a home - anywherebut in Canada.Thus the
barrierswouldremain.Only a vastpublicoutcry,he told a delegation
fromthe once, couldoverturnthem.He urgedthedelegates
to goout
to the nation and provide it with a 'proper educationon this question.'•øaJust how much publicsupportwouldhaveto be generated
beforethe governmentwouldchangeitspolicy,King did notindicate.
He did not have to. The combinedforcesof Jewsand the cNc•, he
knew,couldhardlyovercomegovernmentpolicy.
Nor did he particularlywant them to. Above all else,King was
committedto keepingCanada united. Allowingin Jews,he feared,
woulddisrupt that unity, and not only in Quebec.•ø4Anti-Semitism,
perhaps most overt in that province, was prevalent throughout
English-speaking
Canada as well. Jewishquotasexistedin various
professions,
universities,medicalschools,and industries.Jewswere
restrictedDom buyingproperty in someareas,from holidayingat
someresorts,from .joiningmany privateclubsor usingtheir recreationalfacilities,and evenfrom sittingon the boardsof variouscharitable,educational,financial,and business
organizations.
•ø'•Anti-Jewish
sentimentswere beingvoicedregularly,and with impunity,throughout theseyearsby many respectablenewspapers,
politicians,businessmen,and churchmen,and by leading officialsof suchgroups
m3 v^c,CairineWilsonPapers,Minutesof CNCR
FoundingConvention,6 Dec.• 938,4
•o4 Neatby,King,m, 3o4-5
m5 ½jc,Fileson Anti-Semitismin Canada •93o-4 o. Thesecontainreportsto the
congress
fromJewsthroughoutCanadaon anti-Jewish
attitudesand behaviourin
their localities.
206 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
asthe CanadianCorpsAssociation,
the OrangeOrder, the Knightsof
Columbus,
and prominentfar•nand business
organizations.
1ø•There
wasevensomeviolenceasJewandanti-Semiteconfrontedoneanother
on the streetsof Toronto, Winnipeg, or other Canadiancities.•ø7Indeed,sogravedidthisproblemappearthatat itsfoundingconvention
thec•c• resolvedthat oneof itsmajor prioritiesmustbe to combatthe
anti-Semitism that seemed so rife in Canada. x0•
If' it is possible
to overemphasize
the extent of anti-Semitism
in
Canadaat thistime,it isnotpossible
toignoreit. It existedand Kingwas
wellawarethatit did. Any moveto admitJewishrefugees,he feared,
mightcosthim politicalsupport.Althoughsomeorganizations
alld
somehigh-placect
membersof somereligiousgroupssuchastheAnglican and United churchesactivelycampaigned()n behalf of Jewish
refugees,
mostCanadians
seemedindifferentt.ot.he sufferingof GermanJewsandhostilet.oadmittingsomeof them1.oCanada.Indeed,in
March of x939, the Rev. ClarisSilcox,the general secretaryof the
SocialServiceCouncilof Canadaand a leadingpro-refugeeadvocate,
deliveredwhathe calleda 'post-mt)rtem'
on Canada'srefugeepolicyto
a largeaudienceat the Universityor'Toronto. He listeda seriesof
reasonsfox'Canada'sf•tilurcto respondto the crisis.These ranged
fi'omtinaidleadershipand a bad economicsituationto the success
of
Nazi propagandists
and the xenophobiain Quebec. But the most
importantreason,heclaimed,was'theexistencethroughoutCanada...
of a latent anti-Semitism.
'•ø:•It was this anti-Semitism,he charged,
whichhad preventedCanadafrom carryingout its duty asa Christian
nationand whichallowedher govermnentto closeCanada'sdoorsto
Jewishrefugees.
Nevertheless,
despiteall the obstacles,
Jewishleaderspersevered;
theyhadno choice.In D_ecem•e•_2_.x•38
all the disparate
refugeeactivitieso[ theJewishcommunitywereunitedinto a singleorganization,
theCanadian
Commiu.ee
for .Jewish.
R.eflu.
gees_[•f21•]
headedby the
congresspresident,SamuelBronfman. Though it wasunderstaffed
and underfunded,it co-operatedwith variouslocal refugeecommitteesin organizinga seriesof'educational'cmnpaigns.In .Januaryx939,
m6 cjc, Fileson Anti-Semitism;Betcherman,TheSwastika
andtheMapleLeaf,99- •37;
Howard Palmer,'Nativismand EthnicTolerance in Alberta, •9eo-•97e' (v•r>
thesis,York University,•973)
•o7 See,for example,Toronto
Star,•7-x9 Aug. •933, for descriptions
ofthe infamous
Christie
Pits riots.
•o8 v^c,CairineWilsonPapers,Minutes,7
•o9 UnitedChurchArchives,
SilcoxPapers,Speeches,
'CanadianPost-Mortem
on Refugees,'Toronto,• • March • 939
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 207
forinstance,Silcoxwassent()titon a speakingtourof WesternCanada.
Officiallyn'avellingunder the bannerof the CNCR
to addresscommun-
itygroupsandservice
clubs,hewasactuallyfundedoutof Torontoby
the CqR. A gifted public speaker,Silcoxattractedboth wide media
coverageand editorialsupportfox'his cause.He alsomadehimself
available
to localJewishgroupsandhelpedorganizerefugeecommitteesthroughoutthe West. In addition, the localcommitteesworked
withthe CNCRto publicizethe successful
business
venturesbegunby
refugeeindustrialists
in Britainand the UnitedStatesandpointedout
theopportunitieswhichCanadawasmissingby keepingthesepeople
out.Similarargumentswerealsomaderespecting
the potentialwealth
of scholarlyand scientificmanpowerthat couldnow be Canada'sfor
theasking.••0
Buoyedby nmneroussupportingeditorialsand a gratifyingresponse
to publicspeakers,
.Jewish
leaderswereagainin Ottawain late
February.Convincedthat there wasnow a groundswellof popular
supportin EnglishGanada,theyfully expected'a definiteandlayoutabledecision.'As delegateswouldlater reportto theix'com•nunities:
'It
wasfelt that bv nowopinionhasbeencrystallized
and the government
isin a positionto tell theJewsof Canadawhatit intendsto do.'• And
indeedit was.Though politeand sympathetic,
it wasunyielding.Crefar and Blair congratulatedthe Jewishdelegateson their success
in
coalescing
somuchnationalsupportin soshorta timebutofferedthem
nothing.Indeed, atdisingenous
Blair told themthatwithrespectto the
Sudetenrefugees,there would be no discriminationagainstJews,'a
number
of whom would be included
in the allotment. '•" Two weeks
later (jrerar announcedin parliamentthat after a carefulstudyof
everyfamily, he couldassurethe Housethat 'probably95 percentof
thesepeopleare RomanCatholics.
'••aQuebeccouldhardlycomplain;
norcouldVincentMassey.
The meetingwith Crerar and Blair finallydisabused
Jewishleaders
of anynotiontheystillcherishedthat the governmentwouldchangeits
policy.King sawno need fox'anyshift.He felt that whateverpopular
supportthere wasfox'refugeesin EnglishCanadawasephemeral.As
well,with an electionin the offing,couldhe dare alienatehisbasein
Quebec?As he explainedto GeorgeWrong,who had writtenof his
agonyand fi'ustrationover Canaddsshamefulbehaviourtowardsthe
1IO WCJH,
OscarCohento Sheps,3ø Dec. • 938; SilcoxPapers,ClippingFile,Western
CanadaTour, Jan. • 939
• • • cjc, Reporton Interviewwith T.A. Crerarand F.C.Blair,•4 Feb.•939, •
•l= Ibid.,4
• •3 7'oronto
Star, •o March 1939
208 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
refugees,
the issuewas'the mostbafflingof'our internationalproblems.'He promisedto makea 'contribution
to itssolution'but feared
thatby doingsohe mightcreatea 'conditionwhichit maybe more
difficultto meetthanthe oneit isintendedto cure.'Allowingin Jewish
refugees,
he dreaded,wouldunderminethe Canadianunity he had
foughtsohardtomaintain.
•4
It wasnowalmosttoo muchfor CanadianJewsto bear. There wasno
longeranyhopeof convincing
the Kingadministration
to changeits
mind.Yetwithnewspapers
fullof horrorstories
of GermanJewsbeing
whippedthroughthe streets,
thrownoff rooEs,
and dehumanized
in
everypossible
way,CanadianJewrycouldnot possiblyadmit clefeat.
Failurewasunthinkableeven as the unthinkablewas beginningto
happenin Europe.Thusa newlyrevamped
Jewishrefugeecommittee
wasformedin March• 939undertheleadership
of anenergeticyoung
Montreallawyer,SaulHayes.tt.sThe creationof yetanothercommittee
wastoomuchfor oneprominent.Jew.
Mirroring the rantour thatwas
nowpervadingthe community,S.M. Shapiro,the publisherof the
Hebrew
Journal,complainedbitterly:'The policyof secretdiplomacy
pursueduntil nowhasnot broughtresults.The publicwasdulyimpressed
bythearguments
advanced
thatanyunduepublicitywaslikely
to do harm to the cause... For two yearsthe leadersof the Congress
soughtto assuage
any misgivings
on the part of the .Jewishpublicby
assuringit that they were negotiatingwith the authoritiesin Ottawa.
The impressionwasconveyedthat they were given somesecretcommitmentby the government.Yet ... it is becomingapparentthat the
secretnegotiations
accomplished
nothingand that our leadershad no
morepromisesfi'om the Ottawagovernmentthan if they had done
nothingat all in the matter.'•*•
Though hisjudgmentwasharsh,Shapirowasundoubtedlycorrect.
Jewishleadershiphad been led down a garden path by the King
administration.
And yet theywere stillanxiousto haveanothergo at
thegovernment,thistime withthe revitalizedrefugeecommittee.That
Hayesand his committeewould have succeededwhere others had
failed
isdoubtful.
Theydidnotevenge•'the
chance;
events
inEurope
weremovingtooquickly.Asthecommitteewasmakingpreparationsto
goto Ottawa,Hitler wasmakingpreparationsto go to Warsaw.
t 14 KingPapers,WrongtoKing, 17Feb.•939;KingtoWrong,e5 Feb.x939,e38576-8.
• •5 cjc, Caiserman
toSheps,•3 March•939.DuringthewaryearsHayeswasto prove
suchaneffective
advocate
forJewishrefugees
onthegovernment's
refugeeboard
thatBlaircomplained:
'To preventthemoregenerous
scaleof assistance
toJewish
cases...
I thinkthebestwaytodothiswouldbetogetrid of Sol[sic]Hayes...' m,Blair
to Byers,eoSept.x94•, file 694687
• •6 Hebrew
Journal,• May • 939
CANADA AND JEWISH REFUGEES 209
Hitler struckfirst.On • SeptemberGroTmany
marchedintoPoland.
Thefateof European
Jewrywassealed:,Blair,
Lapointe,Massey,
and
Kinghadstood
fastjustlongenough)The
Canadian
Jewish
community would soon turn its attention to savingthe remnantsof
Auschwitz.
The Canadiangovernment's
success
in withstanding
pressurefrom
pro-ref.ugee
groups,bothJewishand non-Jewish,
wasvirtuallycom-
plete,•he
Depression,
thegeneral
apathy
in English
Canada,
the
outrighihostilityof FrenchCanada,the unyieldingopposition
of certainkeyofficials,the prime minister'sconcernfor votes,andthe overlayof anti-Semitism
that dominatedofficialOttawathinkingon the
question
combinedto ensurethat:no more.thana merehandfulof
Jewish
refugees
would
finct
ahaven
inCanada..•nd
even
theoutbreak
ofhostilities
helditsownironyfor theret"ugees.
• EverwatchfullestJews
mightslippasthim, Blair did not seethe beginningof the warasan
excuseto let down his guard. With thousandsof Jewishrefugees
desperatelyscramblingto escapestill unoccupiedEurope, Blair
confidently
advisedSkeltonthat therewasno needto worry.The Jews
wouldnot get into Ganada.After all, mostof theserefugeeswere
Germannatk)nalsand, therefore,enemyaliens.Enemyalienswere
expresslyforbidden admissioninto Ganada.•? The line had been
drawn. It was not about to move.
117 IR, Blair to Skelton,16 Nov. 1939, file 64445'•