1. A group of 135 Polish children was recently sent to Canada under the auspices of the International Refugee Organization. The children had been in a refugee camp in Tanganyika and their transfer to Canada for placement in private families was arranged by the Canadian Catholic Conference. The Immigration Branch was approached by a representative of Archbishop Charbonmeau of Montreal and, hav­ing been satisfied that arrangements for the care and maintenance of the children would be made, the Director of Immigration authorized their admission. It was understood at that time that all the children were orphans.

2. During the course of the children's movement to Canada through East Africa, across Europe via Rome and Bremen, the Polish authorities made a number of strenuous protests urging that the children should be repatriated to Poland. They protested, for example, to the local I.R.O. office in Rome and again in Bremen. They also protested on August 11th&dgger; to the United States and Canadian missions in Germany, urging that the children be not embarked in Bremerhaven on a ship bound for Canada. On September 10th† immediately after the after the arrival of the first 123 children in Canada, the Polish Minister in Ottawa sent a formal note to the Secretary of State for External Affairs, asking whether the Canadian Government was aware that the children had been brought to Canada without the consent and against the will of their lawful guardians and secondly, what steps the Canadian Government was prepared to take to return the children to Poland. In his note, the Polish Minister claimed that some of the children had parents living in Poland, that others had close relatives there and that the remainder should be considered as wards of the Polish State.

3. Almost half of the children have passed their 17th† birthday; they are consid­ered by the I.R.O. to be no longer children and to be capable therefore of making up their own minds on whether they wish to be repatriated to Poland. Children under 17 who are orphans are covered by the I.R.O. Constitution. Annex I, Part I, Paragraph 4 of the Constitution states: "The term `refugee' also applies to unac­companied children who are war orphans or whose parents have disappeared and who are outside their countries of origin". Almost all the children come within one or other of these two classes, and a good case could be made in support of the I.R.O. action in sending them to Canada.

4. It is possible, however, that of the children under seventeen, eleven are not orphans but have one or both parents living in Poland and six have parents living outside Poland and that the parents in Poland would probably wish their children to be reunited with them in Poland. It would appear that the I.R.O. should not have sent these children to Canada until it had satisfied itself either that the parents did not exist or that they wished their children to come to Canada.

Recommendations:

5. It is recommended¹⁰ that the reply to the Polish Minister's note should state that the Canadian Government authorized the admission of the group of Polish chil­dren in good faith in the belief that all the children were orphans and were therefore properly within the mandate of the I.R.O., and that if, in the opinion of the Polish Government, certain children should not have been included in the movement, they should address their representations to the I.R.O.

[BROOKE CLAXTON]

¹⁰Ni le ministre, ni le ministre par intérim Emit présent lorsque cette note fur présentée au Cabinet.
Le nom et le tire de Claxton sont rayés de cette copie. Elle fur présentΘe par le premier ministre. Le Cabinet approuvé les recommandations le 13 octobre 1949.
Neither the Minister nor the Acting Minister was present when this memorandum was presented to Cabinet. Claxton's name and title are crossed out on this copy. It was introduced by the Prime Minister. Cabinet approved the recommendations on October 13, 1949.