Japanese Canadian Internment
After the attacks on Pearl Harbour and Hong Kong, anti-Japanese resentment surged throughout Canada. In the early months of 1942, Japanese Canadians were labelled as a “menace to national security” and were detained and sent to internment camps. The Canadian Government forcibly displaced more than 90% of the Japanese Canadian population in Canada. The incarceration of Japanese Canadians remains as a dark chapter in Canadian history.
Tensions
During the Second World War a large population of Japanese Canadians resided in British Columbia (BC). Unfortunately, Japanese Canadians had faced racism since they began immigrating to Canada decades before. Considering them as “undesirable,” many white Canadians excluded them from society – laws were enacted that prevented the outsiders from voting in elections and from working on provincially funded projects. Although the RCMP and Canadian military officials argued that Japanese Canadians posed minimal threat, government officials in BC disagreed. Following the attack on Pearl Harbour and Hong Kong (both on the morning of December 7th, 1941), a wave of fear about a Japanese invasion spread rapidly. Government officials in BC swiftly seized Japanese Canadian owned fishing boats, cameras, and short-wave radios. Japanese schools and newspapers were shut down and a curfew was imposed upon Japanese Canadians.
Confinement
As anti-Japanese sentiment grew and BC government officials increasingly demanded action from the federal government, politicians in Ottawa eventually ordered all Japanese Canadian men, between ages 18 to 45, to be expelled from their residences and sent to road labour work camps. Inspired by the Americans, Prime Minister Mackenzie King ordered (via P.C. 1486, on February 25th, 1942), the removal of all Japanese Canadians from coastal areas – he had essentially declared that Japanese Canadians were no longer permitted to reside within 160 km (100 miles) of the west coast. To justify these actions, the federal government invoked the War Measures Act, which permitted the temporary suspension of basic rights and freedoms during times of crisis.
Japanese Canadians loaded into a back of a truck to be relocated to internment camps. (Credit: Archives Canada via Caroline Ishii)
Initially, many were taken to a temporary holding and transit centre at the Hastings Park Exhibition Grounds in Vancouver, BC, before being transferred to internment camps in the BC mainland. To fund these internment camps, all property owned by Japanese Canadians was confiscated and sold. As a result, 23,000 Japanese Canadians were displaced, even though 75% of them were Canadian-born or naturalized citizens. Approximately 12,000 of them were forcibly relocated to the internment camps where the men were separated from their families and forced to do hard physical labour. Another 4,000 Japanese Canadians were sent to Alberta and Manitoba to work on sugar beet farms. Additionally, 700 Japanese Canadian men were sent to Prisoner of War (POW) camps located in Ontario.
Mary Kitagawa and Lena Hayakawa were two of many young Japanese Canadian girls who were sent to a sugar beet farm along with their families.
After the War
Once the war ended, 10,000 Japanese Canadians were ordered to be deported, but due to public pressure only 4,000 of them were destined for that fate. Almost two decades would pass before a Prime Minister (Lester B. Pearson) admitted that government’s actions were a “black mark” on Canada’s history, and although there were eventually redress payments to many of the survivors, the amounts received provided little solace for those who had all of their property confiscated and sold by the government, before spending some of the most productive years of their lives in an internment camp.
Lemon Creek Internment Camp (Credit: Diana Domai via Michael Kluckner)
Apology
Japanese Canadians rallied on June 29th, 1984, for an official apology from the federal government. However, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau argued that the current-day federal government should not need to apologize for an event they did not partake in. This stance caused serious backlash: various communities all over Canada sought an apology from the government for its past hurtful and discriminatory policies.
PM Brian Mulroney signing the official apology. (Credit: Mike Binder via Japanese Canadians BC)
On September 22nd, 1988, in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney issued an official apology on behalf of the federal government for its mistreatment of Japanese Canadians. The apology included compensation to individuals and contributions to community funds. One of the lasting achievements of the Japanese Canadians campaign was the repeal of the War Measures Act.
Main photo: A Japanese Canadian family in a BC internment camp. (Credit: Columbia Valley Pioneer)
Sources
“Japanese Canadian Internment: Prisoners in Their Own Country.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, February 23, 2012. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/japanese-internment-banished-and-beyond-tears-feature
CMHR. “Japanese Canadian Internment and the Struggle for Redress | CMHR,” n.d. https://humanrights.ca/story/japanese-canadian-internment-and-struggle-redress
“Internment of Japanese Canadians.” n.d. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/internment-of-japanese-canadians.
Library and Archives Canada. 2024. “Collection Search – Canada Gazette, 1867-1946 (Dominion of Canada), Vol. 75, No. 212, Extra, February 27, 1942.” July 4, 2024. https://recherche-collection-search.bac lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=cangaz&IdNumber=7380&q=Order-in-Council%20P.C.%201486,%201942&ecopy=cgc_p1-2_v075_n212_t002_000_19420227_p00001_z00001.
“Order of Council PC 1486.” n.d. https://redress.causevox.com/blog/order-of-council-pc-1486.