On this day in 1918, Canada declared the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), along with 13 other organizations, to be unlawful while the state was engaged in war. Penalty for membership was set at 5 years in an interment camp.

The same government order also banned meetings conducted in the language of any enemy country (German, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Turkish, etc.) or in Russian, Ukrainian or Finnish (except for religious services).

An organization in Western Canada called the One Big Union (OBU) was formed in 1919, and its philosophy of industrial unionism was closely aligned with that of the IWW.