Although Canada was a bomb-free haven for eight thousand Britons during the war, its doors were all but closed to the Jews of Europe. While diplomats from Nazi-occupied countries and dignitaries such as the Dutch royal family were given shelter here, Canadian immigration policy ironically kept most European Jews out even though they had the most reason to flee from the Nazis.
During the war, some Jews managed to reach Spain or Portugal. This family arrived in MontrÄal from Portugal in 1944.
Courtesy: National Archives, Canadian Jewish Congress
