None Is Too Many

First published in 1983 by Lester & Orpen Dennys, and reissued in 2012 by University of Toronto Press, the book documents the history of the Canadian response to Jewish refugees from 1933, with the rise of the Nazi government in Germany, until 1948. The authors argue that while many nations were complicit in the Holocaust for their refusal to admit Jewish refugees during the Nazi era, the Canadian government did less than other Western countries to help Jewish refugees between 1933 and 1948. The most infamous example of Canada's immigration policy was the refusal to admit the MS St. Louis, a German ocean liner carrying refugees.[2] Only 5,000 Jewish refugees entered Canada from 1933 until 1945, which the book argues was the worst of any refugee receiving nation in the world.[2] This response was possible in part because of Canada's history of Antisemitism.

The authors identify Frederick Blair, the head of immigration in William Lyon Mackenzie King's government, as a top official who opposed and limited Jewish immigration. They say that Blair's policy had the full support of Mackenzie King, who was prime minister 1935–48, Vincent Massey, the high commissioner to Britain,[3] and both Anglophone and Francophone elites in general.

The title is based on an incident recounted in the book. Early in 1939 an unidentified immigration agent was asked how many Jews would be allowed in Canada after the war. He replied, "None is too many". The phrase has since entered common parlance in Canada.[4] In 2011, a monument, referred to in the media as the "none is too many" memorial, was displayed in Halifax's Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 to commemorate the MS St. Louis.[5] In 2015, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was criticized by some Jewish groups after he used the phrase to criticize the Conservative government's immigration policy for Muslims.[6][7]

The book is periodically referenced in debates on immigration policy in Canada. Co-author Irving Abella writes that "it has become an ethical yardstick against which contemporaneous government policies are gauged".[8] In 1979, Canada's deputy minister of immigration reportedly handed a copy of the book to immigration minister Ron Atkey, saying "this should not be you". Atkey then advocate for the admission of more Vietnamese refugees to Canada. "He drew the parallels to our attention, was moved by it himself and we all were", prime minister Joe Clark recalled.[9]

• 1983: National Jewish Book Award in the Holocaust category[10]
• 1983: Sir John A. Macdonald Award (now the CHA Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize)[11]

• Évian Conference
• Cairine Wilson
• FAST – Fighting Antisemitism Together
• The Traitor and the Jew
• Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military, and World War II

• Review of the book by Michael R. Angel for the Manitoba Historical Society
• None is too many – 1982 CBC Archives clip
• Canadian Jewish Studies - Études juives canadiennes, vol 24, 2016, p 79 squ.: Justin Comartin, Opening Closed Doors: Revisiting the Canadian Immigration Record (1933-1945). Criticism of the book.
• ibid., 24, 2016, p 169 squ.: Canadian Jewish Studies - Études juives canadiennes, Janice Rosen, Archives Director, Alex Dworkin, Canadian Jewish Archives: Once Is Not Enough: The "Canadian Jewish Archives" and other Montreal Collections. Reconsidered after "None Is Too Many".