A joint project between Brandon University (BU) and Assiniboine Community College (ACC) will give people a first-hand look at what is was like in a Canadian internment camp during the First World War. 

The project has received a grant of nearly $30,000 from the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund (CFWWIRF) and will present users with a virtual reality exploration of the Wheat City Arena camp in Brandon. 

"It's an interesting component of Brandon's history and it's something the local officials at the time really fought to get," Brandon University associate professor Rhonda Hinther said. "The story of these camps is not really well-known, in fact a lot of students who come to my class don't even know that there was a camp in Brandon." 

Canadian internment camps during the First World War exploited captive labour from so-called "enemy aliens", who were immigrants from countries fighting against the British empire, including Germany, Ukraine and Poland, according to Hinther.

The Brandon camp was open from 1914 to 1916. 

Hinther says it was similar to what Japanese, Italian and German-Canadians went through during the Second World War. 

"It's a pretty awful episode in our history," Hinther said. "Looking back, there's a lot of ways the Canadian state has dealt with what they felt were undesirable bodies and there's a lot of injustice behind that. These were folks that didn't commit any crimes, but they were incarcerated indefinitely without any charges or hearings." 

Hinther says the VR experience will take people through a scenario in which they are a prisoner at the camp. They will be able to walk around and interact with other prisoners who will share their stories and will also be able to pick up and examine objects that have a significant meaning to the camp and the time period. It will also give people the option to experience what it was like for families left behind in the wake of their loved ones being taken away. 

CFWWIRF program manager Andrea Malysh says the Canadian Government destroyed all records of these camps in the 1950's, which is a main reason why a good chunk of the population is largely unaware they existed. 

She says this project is unique and their hope is it will reach young Canadians. 

"We're really looking for something that will excite those younger demographics," Malysh said. "Virtual reality is something that younger generations are into and I think it's going to be an exciting way for them to learn that a lot of these camps were operating in Canada. This will bring this topic to people who may not be aware of this part of our history." 

Students and graduates with BU and ACC will work together to create the project. Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Aaron Floresco is in the process of writing a full script. 

Hinther says work has already begun, and they are hoping to officially launch the project in about a year.