List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Canada


There were 40 known prisoner-of-war camps across Canada during World War II, although this number also includes camps that held Canadians of German and Japanese descent. Several reliable sources indicate that there were only 25 or 26 camps holding exclusively prisoners from foreign countries, nearly all from Germany.
The camps were identified by letters at first, then by numbers. In addition to the main camps there were branch camps and labour camps. The prisoners were given various tasks; many worked in the forests as logging crews or on nearby farms; they were paid a nominal amount for their labour. Approximately 11,000 were thus employed by 1945.
The largest number of military prisoners of war was recorded as 33,798 by several sources. In addition to POWs, some civilian internees were held in the camps and some estimates include such prisoners.
All POWs were protected by the conditions of the Geneva Convention. There are claims that conditions in the Canadian camps tended to be better than average, and many times better than the conditions of the barracks that Canadian troops were kept in. They were guarded by the Veterans Guard of Canada, mostly men who had been soldiers during WW I. It is believed by some that the lenient treatment foiled many escape attempts before they even started. Notably, it is told that a group of German prisoners returned to Ozada camp after escaping because of encountering a grizzly bear. Starting in 1945, all POWs were released and returned to their home countries. None were allowed to remain in Canada, but some later returned as immigrants.

CampPlaceProvinceLocationPeriod
10ChathamOntario260 km southwest of Toronto1944
1945-1946
10FingalOntario40 km south of London1945-1946
20 GravenhurstOntario170 km north of Toronto1940-1946
21 EspanolaOntario330 km NNW of Toronto1940-1943
22 MimicoOntario15 km west of Toronto1940-1944
23 Monteith Ontario700 km north of Toronto1940-1946
30BowmanvilleOntario65 km ENE of Toronto1941-1945
31 KingstonOntario145 km SSW of Ottawa1940-1943
32 HullQuebec10 km north of Ottawa1941-1947
33 PetawawaOntario130 km WNW of Ottawa1942-1946
40 FarnhamQuebec50 km ESE of Montreal1940-1941
1942-1943
1944-1946
42 Newington Quebec130 km east of Montreal1942-1946
43Ile Ste Helene, MontrealQuebec1940-1943
44Feller College / Grande LigneQuebec275 km northeast of Montreal1943-1946
45SorelQuebec65 km NNE of Montreal1945-1946
70 Fredericton New Brunswick20 km east of Fredericton1941-1945
100 NeysOntario1100 km northwest of Toronto1944-1943
1944-1946
101 AnglerOntario800 km northwest of Toronto1941-1946
130SeebeAlberta100 km west of Calgary1939-1946
132Medicine HatAlberta260 km ESE of Calgary1943-1945
133OzadaAlberta130 km west of Calgary1942
133LethbridgeAlberta160 km southeast of Calgary1942-1946
?ChisholmAlberta180 km N of Edmonton?
135WainwrightAlberta190 km ESE of Edmonton1945-1946
Red RockOntarioLake Superior1940-1941
?WhitewaterManitobaRiding Mountain National Park1943-1945
N/AWainfleetOntarioClose to Port Colborne1943-1945