May 30, 1940

Adrien Arcand, founder of the Parti National Social Chrétien (later known as the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party), and many of his followers are arrested and detained for the duration of the war when the party is banned under the War Measures Act.

June 10, 1940

a few minutes after 1:00 pm (EST)

Dr. Luigi Pancaro's office is attached to his home on Morris St. in Sudbury, Ontario. While talking to a patient and his wife, four uniformed police officers walk into his clinic. The elderly Italian couple leave quickly. Dr. Pancaro, the Secretary of the Sudbury Fascio, is ordered to unlock his filing cabinet and two police officers go through his patient records. Placed in the back of a police van, Dr. Pancaro is taken to the Sudbury jail on Elm St. He finds himself locked in a jail cell with some of his own patients.

June 10, 1940

1:10 pm (EST)

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), with the aid of the provincial and municipal police, begin a round up of suspected fifth columnists in Sydney, Copper Cliff, Sudbury, Toronto, and Montreal.

June 10, 1940

1:10 pm (EST)

Antoinetta Maria (Toni) Ciccarelli (née Bassano) is working at the Front Street Post Office in Toronto when two Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers approach and aske her to pack her things. She is taken to their office, fingerprinted and designated an enemy alien for her volunteer work in the kitchen of the Casa d'Italia. Later she is asked by one of her neighbours Mrs. Orlando to bring clothing and rosary beads to her two sons, both being held at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) grounds along with many other "boys" from the neighbourhood.

June 10, 1940

1:10 pm (EST)

Gerard Di Battista is working in the family store in Lachine, Quebec. Two police detectives enter and ask about the location of his father Luigi, a member of the fascio and Order Sons of Italy. The 15 year old agrees to look for his father who is not present. On returning to the store Luigi exchanges a few words with the police officers and tells his son to let his mother know that he is going with the officers to Montreal. Gerard's mother on learning what has happened reassures her son that the detectives probably want to ask his father a few questions and that he should be home for dinner.

June 10, 1940

1:10 pm (EST)

Nellie Cavell is working as a secretary/stenographer at the Italian Consulate in Vancouver, British Columbia. Dr. Brancucci, Vice Consul, arrives in the late morning (10:00 am PST) and annouces, "Siamo in guerra!" - "We are at war!." Along with other office staff, including Grace Fabri and Cleofe Forti, Nellie is ordered to gather office documents and burn them in the furnace located in the basement of the Marine Building. She watches them burn and is then told to go home. She does not see any Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or other police officers that day, but is later declared an enemy alien and required to report monthly. Dr. Brancucci is placed under house arrest and Grace Fabri's father is interned.

June 10, 1940

1:30 pm (EST)

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King reads over the resolution with a colleague. At the same time police officers begin rounding up Italian Canadians in Windsor. 

June 10, 1940

4:00 pm (EST)

Romano Scattolon, a miner in Dominion, Cape Breton, and founding member and treasurer of the Italian Community Club, returns home from work and finds two Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers waiting for him. He is not allowed to eat or change his clothes and is taken to a jail in Glace Bay where he spends the night. He has no idea what is happening. 

June 10, 1940

5:00 pm (EST)

Raids begin against Hamilton's Italian Canadian community.

June 10, 1940

6:00 pm (EST)

Santo Pasqualini, who had worked all night, is asleep when he is awoken by the police. They accuse Santo of being a fascist, as he is a member of the local Order Sons of Italy and the Circolo Giulio Giordani. Although he denies that he is a fascist, the police handcuff him and take him away. Santo's wife Alice is at work and hears from another woman that Santo has been taken by the police. She learns that Santo is in a prison near the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the Georgia St. bridge. From the bridge you can see the prison's windows. Alice and a friend go to the bridge and wave their hankies. No contact is allowed between Santo and his family or anyone else. After ten days he is transferred to the Kananaskis internment camp. The families of the internees are not notified about this transfer.

June 10, 1940

6:00 pm (EST)

The Frenza family has just finished dinner in Montreal, with Leonardo and Assunta heading across the street to visit with neighbours. Daughter Ninetta is playing when she notices two Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers approaching her home. She runs to tell her father and he returns home. The police search the house, seize material and take Leonardo, a shoemaker and volunteer secretary of the Order Sons of Italy, with them. The family does not know where he is going or when he will return.

June 10, 1940

between 10:30 and 11:00 pm (EST)

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King gives a radio address informing listeners that Canada has begun the formal process to declare war against Italy and that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have begun to take Italian Canadians suspected of subversive activities into custody.