War Measures Act

The War Measures Act (5 George V, Chap. 2) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could thereby be taken.

The act was brought into force three times in Canadian history:

  • the First World War,
  • the Second World War, and
  • the 1970 October Crisis.

Read more about War Measures Act:  First World War, Second World War, The October Crisis, Civil Liberties, Replacement

Famous quotes containing the words war, measures and/or act:

    “Surely there is not a capitalist or well-informed person in this world today who believes that [World War I] is being fought to make the world safe for democracy. It is being fought to make the world safe for capital.”
    —Rose Porter Stokes (1879–1933)

    “Almost everywhere we find . . . the use of various coercive measures, to rid ourselves as quickly as possible of the child within us—i.e., the weak, helpless, dependent creature—in order to become an independent competent adult deserving of respect. When we reencounter this creature in our children, we persecute it with the same measures once used in ourselves.”
    —Alice Miller (20th century)

    “All’s pathos now. The body that was gross,
    Rank, ravenous, disgusting in the act or in repose,
    All fever, filth and sweat, its bestial strength
    And bestial decay, by pain and labour grows at length
    Fragile and luminous.”
    —Frank Templeton Prince (b. 1912)