Internees: group photograph

Double row of 14 internees in light spring/summer wear posing for photograph; 6 are seated in front row. An identification card reading "A18" is positioned on the ground in front of the internee seated at the far right. This image was likely taken at the same time as DICEA2011.0001.0005.

The third individual standing from the far left is Nello Trasciatti; it appears he was the last Italian Canadian released from camp on July 6, 1945.

Photograph is dated in blue ink to 1943. As a result, this picture would have been taken in Fredericton Internment Camp, where the remaining Italian Canadian internees were transferred in July 1942. The identification card used suggests it was a formal picture taken by a government official.

This photograph belongs to a collection preserved by Italian Canadian internee Osvaldo Giacomelli. Previous to his death, he had spoken on the record about his internment to journalists and academics. Some suggestion has been made that Giacomelli was a fascist supporter and Mussolini-adherent. He was one of the longest-serving of the Italian Canadian internees, released on May 29, 1945. Giacomelli himself felt that he was wrongfully interned, and sued the Government of Canada in 2005. When Giacomelli died in March of 2006, his case was still unresolved.