Worthy of Canadian Citizenship
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| "Once a German - Always a German." A British anti-German propaganda poster in the collection of the Canadian War Museum, c1940. Source |
John's Naturalization Application
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| John's Oath of Allegiance to King George the 6th, July 12, 1937. Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). |
Immediately after the outbreak of the Second World War, John Erdmann Albrecht, a German immigrant, disappeared into Saskatchewan's far north. He had been granted a certificate of naturalization by the Government of Canada on September 9, 1937, but unfortunately it did not reach him. The certificate had been mailed to him at Wollaston Lake via Brochet, Manitoba at the north end of Reindeer Lake. A letter from Canada's Naturalization Branch to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police dated October 27, 1941 states that the certificate had been returned to the department by the Post Office.
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| Letter to John at Wollaston Lake enclosing his naturalization certificate, Sept. 9, 1937. This letter never reached him. Source: IRCC. |
I do not know when John received his naturalization papers. Without the necessary papers, however,
John - considered an "enemy alien" during the Second World War years - had little recourse but to keep out of sight from 1939 to 1945 in the Selwyn Lake area north of Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan. He had spent over two years in a British prisoner-of-war camp during the First World War and he feared being imprisoned again. "I will never go behind barbed wire again," he had told P. G. Downes in 1939.(Read story HERE)
In order to apply for citizenship in the 1930s, a person had to have lived in Canada for five years. Under the Naturalization Act of 1914, aliens could petition for naturalization. If successful, they would swear allegiance to the British sovereign and would be granted the rights of someone born within the British Empire. Source
John first applied for Canadian citizenship in 1934 - five years after his arrival from Germany. At that time, he was trapping out of Dore River in the Big River region. By the time of his naturalization hearing at the Prince Albert District Court in the summer of 1937, he had moved to the Wollaston Lake area of Saskatchewan; he gave his address as Brochet, Manitoba.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) conducted an investigation of Albrecht in 1937 as part of his naturalization process. They noted that because John had spent the past several years trapping in the north, he was not very well known. The RCMP interviewed three people as character witnesses for John's application: Thomas Thibeault, liquor store vendor at Big River; Ivor Newton, trapper in the Big River area; and Jim Cumines, Game Guardian at Brochet. Each witness declared that John had resided in Canada continually for a period of five years and that he had conducted himself in such a manner to be worthy of Canadian citizenship. The RCMP concluded that John was "not in any way connected with the Communistic movement or with any other radical organization." [Source: IRCC.]
"Enemy Alien"
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| Anti-German sentiment was widespread in Saskatchewan during the Second World War. Source: Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, May 15, 1940. |
With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, German immigrants who had arrived in Canada after 1922 were forced to register with the authorities. 16,000 registered but I have found no evidence that Albrecht did.
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| Source: Regina Leader-Post, May 25, 1940. |
The Canadian government also invoked the War Measures Act on August 25, 1939, giving the Minister of Justice the power to detain both enemy nationals and Canadian citizens suspected of spying and subversion. Internment camps were established in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick. Source Although I have found no evidence that he was a Nazi sympathizer, and I doubt very much that he was, John Albrecht kept out of sight at his remote cabin at Selwyn Lake until the war was over.
NEXT: John Discovers a Uranium Deposit, 1948 Click HERE
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©Joan Champ, 2021. All rights reserved.
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