Honouring War Veterans Who Stood Up to Hitler

This Remembrance Day, as always, the veterans of the Mackenzie Papineau Battalion are not amongst those officially honoured here in Canada; unless they also fought in the First or Second World Wars, as many did.

Today, November 11, 2020, I went to the Mac-Pap memorial in Toronto on the grounds of the Ontario Legislature to honour them in my own small way. The memorial is a boulder from the battlefields near the town of Gandesa Spain; a place where the Mac-Paps fought and where many lost their lives.

The stone, with its attached plaque, is in a garden opposite the north west corner of the Ontario Legislature. It was placed there in 1995 under the auspices of Bob Rae’s NDP government, and is one of several memorials in Canada, including one in Victoria (also inaugurated under an NDP government), and a national memorial in Ottawa.

Toronto: Memorial to almost 1700 members of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion. Today, November 11, 2020, I placed flowers and the flag of the International Brigades beside it to honour their ideals, service and sacrifice. The rock was donated by the grateful people of Gandesa, Spain, where many Mac-Paps fought and died defending Spain’s democracy. The memorial was championed by veterans and citizens, and installed in 1995 when Bob Rae’s NDP government was in power, with the cooperation of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

My sister, Susan, and I attended the dedication of the Ottawa memorial in 2001.  Here is my account, excerpted from the Epilogue to Fighting for Democracy.

“Sudbury architect Jules Paivio, one of the last surviving Mac-Pap veterans, spearheaded the drive for a national memorial in Ottawa. Private monies were raised—my siblings and I each made contributions—and the Governor General of Canada, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, became involved.

“Designed by another Sudbury architect, Oryst Sawchuk, the memorial features a sixteen-foot-high rusted metal profile of a Promethean figure with his fist raised to the Spanish sun. The figure is mounted on a low stone wall inscribed with the names of most of the Canadian volunteers, including “Jimmy Higgins.”

“The clenched fist salute was used by Spanish Republicans. Today, it continues as a symbol of resistance.

Ottawa: Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion Memorial dedicated October 20, 2001. The small plaque in front was placed by the Spanish Embassy in 2011 to thank the Canadian volunteers for coming to Spain’s defence. After Franco died in 1975, the Spanish government offered Spanish citizenship to those who fought with the International Brigades. Photo by Shawn Micallef


“Madame Clarkson was responsible for securing the spot on Green Island, just west of the Prime Minister’s residence, where you will find the memorial. It was dedicated by her on October 20, 2001, a beautiful, sunny day. I was there with my sister, Susan, along with a few hundred others.

“My father was long dead by then, as were most Mac-Paps, but for me, Madame Clarkson’s speech gave them as much official validation, even vindication, as they have ever received, or perhaps ever will. She ended with, “Today we are giving members of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion a lasting memorial—here where it should be, in their own land.”

“I was surprised to find myself overcome by emotion. As I wept, I felt a strange release that my father was at peace. Finally, it was recognized, in a symbolically significant way, that he and his comrades had done the right thing.”*

Canada’s citizens never doubted that the Mac-Pap volunteers had done the right thing.  Early on, they supported them by raising money and sending care packages to Spain. When the Mac-Paps returned in early February 1939, ten thousand people turned up at Toronto’s Union Station to welcome them home. Afterwards, Canadians donated money for their rehabilitation.  

And it is thanks to veteran and citizen efforts, two provincial NDP governments, and one determined Governor-General, that any memorials even exist in Canada.

A small group of veterans, including Jim Higgins, went to Ottawa in 1980 to once again try to convince the Canadian Government to grant them some form of validation. Manuel Alvarez (the “boy” Jim saved in 1938), was there as well. Nothing came of it.

These brave Canadians saw the rise of fascism and decided to take action at a time when Prime Minister Mackenzie King still held great admiration for Hitler. Yes, the Mac-Paps broke the law—the hastily enacted Foreign Enlistment Act—but no one was ever prosecuted.

And the reason no one was prosecuted? On September 1, 1939, a scant five months after the Mac-Paps’ return from Spain, Mackenzie King and his ilk were in for a shock when Hitler invaded Poland, igniting the Second World War. It was a war against fascism that the Mac-Paps knew only too well, and many signed up to fight again.

The government knew that prosecuting the Mac-Paps would not go down well with the citizens of Canada who saw them, not as villains, but as the heroes they were.

Eighty years later, it’s still up to Canadian citizens who share their anti-fascist values, to give them the honour they deserve.

* Excerpt from Epilogue: Fighting for Democracy: The True Story of Jim Higgins (1907-1982), A Canadian Activist in Spain’s Civil War by Jim Higgins with Janette Higgins (2020)

© Janette Higgins

Fighting for Democracy: The True Story of Jim Higgins (1907-1982), A Canadian Activist in Spain’s Civil War can be ordered here.

Fighting for Democracy by Jim Higgins is the latest book about the Mac-Paps, Canadians in the Mackenzie Papineau Battalion, which was part of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Other books about Canadians in the Spanish Civil War include Not For King or Country by Tyler Wentzell , Mac-Pap by Ronald Liversedge with David Yorke and Renegades by Michael Petrou.