The office of Custodian was originally created in 1916, during the First World War, deriving its authority from the War Measures Act and the Consolidated Orders Respecting Trading with the Enemy,[2] and its functions included the seizure and liquidation of enemy property.
This followed the adoption of the UK trading with the enemy restrictions enacted in 1914,[3][4] which had been incorporated into Canadian law in 1914 by order in council.
[9] With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Regulations respecting Trading with the Enemy, 1939 expanded the scope of the Office.
In the postwar period, the Custodian had the responsibility for resolving Canadian War Claims, and the resolution of outstanding wartime property issues.
This latter process was complicated by the implications of the large scale nationalization of property in Eastern Europe by the Communist regimes established in the post war period under Soviet auspices.