When Canada declared war on Italy on June 10, 1940, the government used the War Measures Act to label all Italian Canadians who received citizenship after 1922 as enemy aliens. Immediately the RCMP starting arresting men, young and old, and a few women. They were taken from their homes, offices or social clubs without warning. In all, about 600 people were sent to internment camps. None of them were ever charged with anything. Eventually they were all released, but the stigma of internment lived on for decades. It wasn't until the adminstration of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney that the Canadian government issued an apology for it's actions.