The New Brunswick Internment Camp Museum had its genesis as an education project by Minto teacher Ed Caissie. The goal was to construct a scale model of the 58 acre/28 hectares Internment camp and all 52 original buildings. The purpose was to educate local students about WWII history, especially the intolerance and racism that led to the Holocaust. The internment camp scale model was to serve as a
reminder to this and future generations of the fragility of civil liberties. In 1996 the museum, located in Minto, opened its doors to continue the efforts to remind the country about the importance of tolerance and understanding. It now houses nearly 600 artifacts related to the camp-all on display-in the 2000 square foot facility. Through photographs, artifacts, oral histories, and interactive exhibits, museum visitors experience life through the eyes of the internees that were confined here during WWII. There is even a discovery box where children can dig for artifacts. The museum also provides an overview of the programs of enforced wartime relocation and confinement of these individuals. The museum is managed by the New Brunswick Internment Camp Heritage Committee Inc., formed in 1997. The Committee also provides leadership for the protection and interpretation of the original site of the camp in nearby Ripples, New Brunswick. We hope to preserve the stories of these internees for present and future generations. Special emphasis is given to the experience of incarceration, constitutional issues, violations of civil liberties and civil rights, and the broader issues of race and social justice in Canada. Our goal is to stimulate dialog and a greater understanding of civil rights, democracy, and freedom through ongoing education and awareness of the consequences of a government's wartime restrictions on its citizenβs civil liberties. Camp History
The New Brunswick Internment Camp opened in August 1942 and imprisoned more than 14,000 people during its 5 year existence. Although one of twenty-six Canadian internment camps, Ripples was the only camp built in the Maritime Provinces. The camp began Phase One operations in August of 1940 and ended in June, 1941. During this time 711 German and Austrian Jewish men, some merely teenagers, were incarcerated here. Phase Two lasted from July 1941 until the last internees left the camp in September, 1945.
