Between friends: Censorship of Canada's media in World War II

Abstract

On paper, Canada's World War II censorship system was among the toughest of those imposed by any Allied countries. In reality, it was a very Canadian endeavor. The censorship system usually respected the liberty of the media. It was, however, inconsistent in the application of media control rules laid out in the Defence of Canada Regulations of the War Measures Act, which was the censorship system's enabling legislation. This was partly because of the vague regulations; partly, especially in the early years of the war, because of ineffective management and inconsistent decisions at the national and local level. It is difficult to know whether press censorship was an effective counter-intelligence apparatus, which was the main justification for the system, or whether censorship was an important tool for maintaining morale. In Quebec, it appears to have failed on both counts. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's government was reticent to further antagonize the nationalist press by stifling coverage of anti-participationist dissent and reporting of naval action in the St. Lawrence River. The value of censorship was, in fact, unclear to some of the managers of the system. The censors, however, did their work system with a surprising level of deference to the needs of the press. They also played an important role in information dissemination and even protected a Japanese-Canadian newspaper from suppression. In the end, the Canadian public was well-served by the very small group of former journalists who worked as press censors during the war.