Historian Joyce Pillarella's latest book is called "Remembering The Internment Italian Canadians During World War 2."

One-third of those men were from Montreal, and many were always ashamed of what happened to them.

"The families i have been speaking to, the children of the internees, they've also kept silence on this issue," said Pillarella.

Well-placed business people, doctors, all Canadian citizens, rounded up and taken away because of their ethnic background or country of origin.

"It brought a shame and even though they were very integrated into Canadian society that shame played out in many different ways so you had discrimination. You had people having difficulty finding a job, people being thrown out of jobs."

A statue to commemorate the event will be unveiled Wednesday night at the Casa D'Italia, and 10,000 copies of Pillarella's book will be distributed.