On Oct. 20 the seventh video in a series called The Camps aired on YouTube and the Internment Canada website. The Camps focuses on all 24 concentration camps in Canada where over 8,500 people were wrongfully imprisoned from 1914-1920. The seventh video focuses on The Morrissey Internment camp, which closed 98 years ago last week.
“These prisoners were not military POW’s, they were civilians and they should not have been here,” said Archaeologist Sarah Beaulieu in the video.
Beaulieu tours the graves of four men that died during their time in the camp. Ground penetrating radar reveals that there are probably close to 20 graves in the area. The saddest case of all is that of Tom Ruzich who after being in the camp for three years died just 15 days shy of the camp closing down.
“To have been imprisoned for those three years and to pass away right before the camp closes is a sad story to me, said Beaulieu. “…This is giving a voice to these individuals who have been essentially forgotten about.
Beaulieu has been researching this site since 2013 and according to a press release this particular project has been made possible by a grant from the endowment council of The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.
