Student Tasks

Which factors most influenced the Government of Canada’s unjust decision to intern Japanese Canadians?

Historical Context for Teachers

Please note: A past version of this resource prompted students to consider whether the internment of Japanese Canadians during the 1940s was justified. This question has been removed and replaced for the historical evidence makes it clear that the internment was not justified. Perhaps more importantly, debating whether racism, discrimination, and human rights violations can ever be justified is unethical. Instead, students can decide which factors most influential in the government’s decision to intern Japanese Canadians during this time period.

History of Discrimination Against Japanese Canadians

• In 1877 the first known Japanese settler arrived in Canada. Waves of immigrants arrived afterwards, the majority of them males in search of adventure, wealth and, independence. By 1901 nearly 5 000 Japanese immigrants were living in Canada, however, unlike Chinese immigrants, a head tax was not imposed on immigrants from  Japan.
• In 1905 and 1906 over 11 000 immigrants from Japan arrived in Canada, and by 1907 there were over 18 000 people with Japanese ancestry in Canada. Most of the early immigrants found employment in logging and lumber mills, mining, fishing, or farming; however, there were others who started businesses or were well educated members of the aristocratic class.
• Anti-Asian sentiment quickly grew within white communities. On September 7, 1907 the Asiatic Exclusion League (A.E.L.) organized anti-Asian immigration protests in Vancouver that turned into a riot. A large angry mob rioted through Chinatown shattering windows, breaking into stores, attacking citizens, and destroying Chinese-owned homes and businesses. The mob then moved towards an area of Vancouver that was home to many Japanese immigrants. Violence against the Japanese community continued for two days.
• The 1907 riots were just one instance of discrimination and prejudice experienced by Japanese Canadians during the late 19th and early 20^th century.
  • In 1895 the government of B.C. denied Japanese citizens the right to vote even if they were born in Canada. This would not change until Japanese Canadian World War I veterans were given the vote in 1931.
  • In 1908 one year after the Anti-Asian Riots, the governments of Japan and Canada negotiated the Hayashi-Lemieux “Gentlemen’s Agreement” that restricted Japanese immigration to 400 male immigrants and domestic servants per year.
  • In 1928 the number of male immigrants allowed per year was reduced to 150.
  • Japanese citizens could attend university but because they could not vote they were not allowed to enter professions such as law, education, pharmacy and accounting and they could not work for the provincial or federal government.
  • Without the right to vote, Japanese Canadians were considered “second class” citizens although the majority were Canadian born or naturalized Canadians (received citizenship after living in Canada).
  • Japanese citizens were not eligible for social assistance and often had their forestry and fishing licenses and permits restricted.
• Despite facing widespread prejudice and racism, 196 Japanese Canadians volunteered to fight for Canada in World War I, of which 54 were killed, 93 were wounded and only 49 returned to Canada safely.
• White Canadians’ fear of Japan’s aggression and expansionism increased in 1931 after Japan invaded Manchuria (a province of China) and then attacked the rest of mainland China in 1937. The atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers throughout their invasion of China (e.g., the Rape of Nanking) and other parts of Asia were widely publicized.

Discrimination and Racism During the 1940s

• Several civic leaders and members of the press discussed the ties between Japanese Canadians and the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces. Some people believed that Japanese Canadians would sabotage Canadian military installations along the west coast at the first sign of an attack by Japan.
• From March to August 1941, six months before Canada went to war with Japan, all Japanese Canadians aged 16 and older were forced to register with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (R.C.M.P.) and always carry an identification card.
• After Japan’s successful attack on Pearl Harbor and many other locations in the Pacific on December 7, 1941, Canadian newspapers discussed the possibility of Japan invading Canada’s west coast. Prime Minister Mackenzie King questioned the loyalty of the Japanese Canadians during a radio broadcast seven hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• When war was declared with Japan on December 8, 1941, there were 23 224 Japanese Canadians. Of these, 14 119 were Nisei (second-generation Canadian born), 3 159 were naturalized as Canadian citizens, and 6 000 were still Japanese citizens. A small number of Japanese-Canadians were able to join the Canadian army before war was declared with Japan.
• At the beginning of World War II, the Canadian government passed the War Measures Act. This Act gave the government the power to arrest and detain people suspected of being enemies of the state, including people described as “enemy aliens” (citizens of a country in a state of war with the country they are living in).
• Shortly after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, some 22 000 men, women and children of Japanese heritage were branded "enemy aliens." Politicians, newspapers, and veterans’ groups began calling for all Japanese people to be moved away from the coast where they could not support a potential invasion by Japan.
• From December 8, 1941-January 12, 1942, the government took action against Japanese Canadians including:
  • Japanese Canadians were forbidden from fishing for the duration of the war.       
  • 1 200 boats owned by Japanese Canadians were confiscated and later sold at auction for rock-bottom prices.
  • Japanese-language newspapers and schools were shut down and all cameras and shortwave radios were confiscated and vehicles were impounded.
• As the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces continued to conquer territory after territory in the Pacific throughout 1942 and stories emerged about the mistreatment of Canadian soldiers in Japan’s prisoner-of-war (P.O.W.) camps following their capture in the Battle for Hong Kong, anti-Japanese feelings in Canada grew stronger.

Internment of Japanese Canadians Begins

• In January 1942, a 161 km strip along British Columbia’s west coast was designated a protected area.
• On March 4, 1942, the B.C. Security Commission was established to carry out the "systematic expulsion of the Japanese from the area within 100 miles of the BC coast.” As a “protective measure” all individuals of Japanese heritage were ordered by the RCMP to leave the protected area within 24-48 hours and turn over their property and belongings to the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property who was authorized to hold all land and property in trust.
• Each person was allowed one suitcase each, and 150 pounds of clothing, bedding and cooking utensils (kids were allowed 75 pounds). A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on all Japanese Canadians and the RCMP had the authority to enter homes at will without a warrant.
• Thousands of Japanese Canadians from the 161 km exclusion zone were sent to "clearing sites" such as the Pacific National Exhibition (P.N.E.) grounds at Hastings Park where they were held in livestock buildings until internment camps were prepared.
• Any men who showed the slightest resistance were imprisoned and sent to P.O.W. camps located at Petawawa and Angler, Ontario. Some men remained there for the duration of the war.
• Between March and June 1942, 2 000 men were forced to work at various road camps throughout the interior of B.C. on road construction projects. By October 1942 many were allowed to join their families in the interior internment camps.
• The vast majority of Japanese Canadians (over 12 000), were sent to isolated camp locations in the B.C. interior and housed in tents until the hastily built shacks and buildings, or abandoned hotels in “ghost” towns, were ready. Many of these abandoned mining towns were not equipped to house families, especially during the cold winter.
• With the shortage of labourers during the war, sugar beet growers in Southern Alberta and Manitoba made arrangements to move Japanese families to go to sugar beet farms as a family unit. About 4 000 Japanese Canadians worked on such farms.
• A small group of internees took part in “self-supporting projects” where they had to pay for their transportation, housing materials, and living expenses in return for allowing families to stay together.

End of Internment

• In the spring of 1945, before the end of the war, the Japanese Canadians were given the option of “dispersal” to towns east of the Rockies, or to be “repatriated” back to Japan. Initially, 10 000 Japanese Canadians chose repatriation, however, after growing opposition from many Canadian groups the government withdrew the deportation policy. By 1947, 4 000 Japanese Canadians were deported from Canada, 2 000 of whom were Canadian born.
• The government attempted to justify the dispersal policy by stating that it was in the best interest of Japanese Canadians “to distribute their numbers as widely as possible throughout the country where they will not create feelings of racial hostility.” The wording used by the government incorrectly suggested that Japanese Canadians were responsible for creating racism.
• In 1947 the National Japanese-Canadian Citizens’ Association (NJCCA) was formed to fight for the Japanese Canadian right to vote. On April 1, 1949, four years after the war ended, the last of the wartime restrictions were lifted allowing Japanese Canadians to travel freely and return to the West Coast. A year earlier Japanese Canadians were able to apply for citizenship and gain the right to vote.

Japanese-Canadian Internment Camps in British Columbia

Courtesy of the National Association of Japanese-Canadians