PM SAYS APOLOGY WILL `RIGHT WRONGS' TO ITALIAN-CANADIANS

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will issue a formal apology next month for the treatment of Italian-Canadians during the Second World War. An estimated 600 Italian-Canadian men were interned in camps in Canada after Italy allied with Germany and joined the war in 1940. Some 31,000 other Italian-Canadians were declared enemy aliens. Trudeau told the House of Commons Wednesday that his government “will right these wrongs” by issuing an apology in May. In 1988, Canada formally apologized and offered $300 million in compensation to Japanese-Canadians, 22,000 of whom were interned during the Second World War. Trudeau did not say whether there will be compensation for Italian-Canadians. He announced plans for the apology in response to a question Wednesday from Liberal MP Angelo Iacono. “They were interned for the simple reason that they were of Italian origin,” Iacono told the Commons. “Lives and careers, businesses and reputations were interrupted and ruined and yet no one was held accountable.”