Japanese Internment

S. ToddCHC 2DI

Treatment of Japanese Canadians

Prejudice-an anfavourable attitude formed without fairly examining the facts

Discrimination-an unfair difference in the treatment of people

Why was there so much discrimination against Japanese Canadians?

1. Skin Colour2. CustomsEg. Cremation, picture brides3. War situationEg. Invasion of Manchuria, attack on Pearl Harbour, fear of spies on the West Coast4. Jealousy-many Japanese were excluded from higher-paying jobs before the war, so they went on to become successful business people in farming and fishing

The Plight of Japanese Canadians

• December 16, 1941: all Japanese (even Canadian-born) had to register with the RCMP

• January 1942: Japanese were not allowed to operate or own fishing boats (why??)

• January 1942: had to turn in all cameras, radios, vehicles, weapons

• February 1942: Japanese-Canadians deported from 100 mile wide “protected area” along BC coast (why??)

Sent to poorly-built internment camps or beet farmsGovernment justified the measure under the Wartime

Measures Act

The Plight of Japanese Canadians

• They had to turn in all of their belongings to the Canadian government for “safe-keeping”

• Instead, the government sold their possessions and their homes (sometimes for as little as $50)

• Performed farming or labour jobs• Men who resisted were sent to POW camps

The Plight of Japanese Canadians

August 4, 1944: “It is a fact that no person of Japanese race born in Canada has been charged with any act of sabotage or disloyalty during the war” – Prime Minister Mackenzie King

The Bad News

• Despite King’s statement, the federal government passed a law that gave Japanese Canadians a choice:

1. Go back to JapanOR2. Resettle east of the Rockies The government still wanted them away from the coast

The Result?

• The Canadian public put enormous pressure on the government to stop deporting its own citizens

• On January 24, 1947, the law was revoked but the damage was already done

Apology

• September 1988: Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced that the government would partially re-pay Japanese Canadian survivors for their losses

• The terms were:

Terms

1. A public apology for past injustices against Japanese Canadians2. $21 000 for each surviving JapaneseCanadian born before 19493. $24 million to establish a Race Relations Foundation4. $12 million to the Japanese Canadian Association for low-cost housing for elderly Japanese Canadians

Clips

• Japanese Internment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljpb21QDPqc (10:13)

• David Suzuki: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMk_RRO5ZUw

• CBC Apology to Japanese Canadians: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxVZtQULIMQ