In recent years, various groups have made victimization by the state their central political concern. A particular sore point has been the Canadian government's treatment of minorities in wartime. Following the central redress campaign legitimately waged by Japanese Canadians, a number of ethnic organizations came forward to press their claims, providing a striking example of the "Auschwitz competition" - a macabre contest in which groups annex a holocaust to their past in order to bolster contemporary claims to national status. In the campaign organized by the National Congress of Italian Canadians to gain redress for compatriots interned during the Second World War, leaders argued that the Canadian state had waged a "war on ethnicity". The editors have assembled scholars who, while having diverse views, seek to stimulate informed debate. "Enemies Within" is the first study of its kind to examine not only the making and uneven implementation of internment policy, but the social and gender history of internment. Masculinity, sexuality, Communist women's release politics, and female internees are some of the little-studied subjects that receive attention.
This richly illustrated book contains photographs never before seen. A general introduction and four section introductions provide valuabe background to the issues discussed.