Frederick Charles Blair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In charge of the Immigration Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources for the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Blair is considered the point man who held back Jewish Immigration during the war years. Between 1933-1945 only 4,000 to 5,000 Jews were allowed into Canada, in comparison to over 150,000 into the United States, and over 15,000 into Mexico. And during the war years of 1939-1945 the number was less than 500.
In September of 1938, in a letter to the Prime Minister, when Jews are extremely desperate to leave Nazi Germany and escape the violent escalation there he writes, "Pressure by Jewish people to get into Canada has never been greater than it is now, and I am glad to be able to add that after 35 years of experience here, that it has never been so carefully controlled".
Some believe that it was him who, After World War II, when asked how many Jews could come to Canada, he answered infamously "None is too many". Unfortuantely, there is too much speculation to the fact that it was William Lyon Mackenzie King and not Blair neither of which can be proven.
Frederick C. Blair was a government civil servant, and despite his German-Canadian origins probably had little personal impact on the policy of the government. His actions were a direct reflection of the elected government of the time, which unfortunately reflected the reality of Canada of the time.
[edit] External links
CBC Video http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-1579-10644/conflict_war/echoes_of_auschwitz/
 |
This Canadian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This article is uncategorized.
Please help improve this article by adding it to one or more categories, so it may be associated with related articles (how?). Please remove this tag after categorizing, but not before. |
