Japanese Canadians And Japanese Canadian Americans

If you could live anywhere in Canada, where would you live? Some citizens would say Banff or St.Andrews because they are both very beautiful towns. Mobility rights allow you to live anywhere in Canada that you wish. If Canada didn’t have Mobility Rights, Canada would have a lot more homeless people on the streets and of course, Canadian citizens don’t want that. Canada’s Mobility rights allow Canadian citizens the right to take up residency in any province. In 1941, the Canadian government had been detaining and dispossessing any citizens, in British Columbia, of Japanese descent. They were being interned from the year of 1941 until 1949 many years after the conclusion of the war. During which time their homes and

The core of the Japanese experience in Canada lies in the shameful and almost undemocratic suspension of human rights that the Canadian government committed during World War II. As a result, thousands of Japanese were uprooted to be imprisoned in internment camps miles away from their homes. While only a small percentage of the Japanese living in Canada were actually nationals of Japan, those who were Canadian born were, without any concrete evidence, continuously being associated with a country that was nothing but foreign to them. Branded as “enemy aliens”, the Japanese Canadians soon came to the realization that their beloved nation harboured so much hate and anti-Asian sentiments that Canada was becoming just as foreign to them as

Economically, those who failed to prove they are Canadian lose their jobs because it is a security risk according to the War Measures Act. Moreover, they did not just lose their jobs, but also their homes and self-ran businesses. All of their homes and businesses are destroyed before they are sent to the internment camps. The government of Canada took all of the belongings of the Japanese and Italians whilst sending them to camps. In 1946, the government of Canada institutes the Japanese Property Claims Commission. This commission allows the Japanese to speak out their thoughts of being treated unfairly. Nor was it until 1988 when the government gave $20k as an apology to each living survivor. As a result, after all the hard effort the Japanese and Italians put into own homes and shops, the privilege of living and working where they want is taken away due to being forced to live in internment

Japanese internment camps from 1942 to 1946 were an exemplification of discrimination, many Japanese Americans were no longer accepted in their communities after the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. They were perceived as traitors and faced humiliation due to anti-Japanese sentiment causing them to be forced to endure several hardships such as leaving behind their properties to go an imprisoned state, facing inadequate housing conditions, and encountering destitute institutions. The Bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941 (Why I Love a Country that Once Betrayed Me). This led president Roosevelt to sign the executive order 9066, which authorized the army to remove any individual that seemed as a potential threat to the nation (“Executive Order 9066”) This order allowed the military to exclude “‘any or all persons from designated areas, including the California coast.”’ (Fremon 31). Many Japanese opposed to leave the Pacific Coast on their own free will (Fremon 24) . Japanese Americans would not be accepted in other areas if they moved either.Idaho’s governor stated, Japanese would be welcomed “only if they were in concentration camps under guard”(Fremon 35). The camps were located in Arizona, Arkansas, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and California where thousands of Japanese Americans eventually relocated. (“Japanese Americans at Manzanar”) The internment lasted for 3 years and the last camp did not close until 1946. (Lessons Learned: Japanese Internment During WW2)

December 7th, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army successfully pulled of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. After this attack the government of Canada used the war measures act to remove all Japanese Canadian citizens that live 160km from the Pacific Coast and put them in internment camps until 1949, four years after WW2. Fast Forward to 1988 and the Canadian government gives an apology to the Japanese, however the apology was for more than just Japanese Internment it was for the pain and suffering, discrimination, and for leaving Japanese citizens with nothing.

Before the war, when Canada was giving away free land, Canada decided they did not want people from certain countries coming to Canada. This was called closed door policy. Canada placed restrictions on most diverse countries. China, Japan, Africa, and India had a fee of 200-500$ per head (Thomkinson, February 10th 2016). Very few people had this money when they came to Canada, so they were sent back to where they came from. We did not want people from these countries coming to Canada because we thought they were bizarre. We did not let these people into our country simply because we did not like their race, or their language, or their culture. This was discriminatory of Canada. During the war, anyone who immigrated to Canada during the early 1900’s, and/or is directly related to a person from a (now) enemy country, was given the title “enemy alien”. Enemy Aliens were forced to register, and given papers saying that they were an enemy alien. They had to carry these papers with them all the time. If an enemy alien was caught without their papers, they would be thrown into a prison called an internment camp. Immigrants from Austria-Hungary, Germany and the other central powers were rounded up and locked away in the internment camps. When placed in an internment camp, people are forced to work. There was 26 internment camps across Canada

The Japanese living in Canada during World War II (WWII) faced one of the harshest and inhumane living conditions in Canadian history. One unidentified woman remembers, “it was terrible, unbelievable. They kept us in the stalls where they put the cattle and horses.” Before WWII, the Japanese were targeted for their culture. An example is the Anti-Asiatic League that was created to limit the number of Japanese men that could immigrate to Canada. Canadians did not want the potential competitors in farming and fishing. 22,000 Japanese Canadians were interned during WWII, even though 14,000 had been Canadian born citizens. This was because the Japanese had bombed Canada’s ally, the United States. With this in mind, the Canadians viewed the

A perfect example of the dangerous implications can be seen in the Supreme Court Case, Reference Re Person of Japanese Race. Immediately following the deadly attacks on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, Canada declared war on the Empire of Japan and thus became increasingly nervous of Japanese sympathizers living in Canada and especially on the west coast where the possibility for attack was perceived to be greater. In the name of protection of Canadian citizens the War Measures Act and the subsequent National Emergency Transitional Powers Act was enacted and the Governor General adopted three new Orders in Council that were to be taken into effect immediately. They called for the arrest, detainment, deportation, as well as the seizing of property of Japanese individuals including legally landed immigrants and those with full Canadian citizenship in the name of safety to the country of

Secondly, he after effects from the Japanese internment camps changed the views of the Japanese Canadians in regards to minority rights in Canada. This is because they realized that they couldn't just let the discrimination of the Japanese Canadians go and they demanded justice. After the Japanese Canadians were released from internment camps they were lost. Their house and possessions were sold off by the Canadian government without their permission, they had virtually nothing. On top of that the Japanese Canadians were given the choice to either relocate East of the Rockies or deport back to Japan. Soon after the Japanese Canadians had no choice and were forced exiles to Japan began. However things started to turn up in 1947 when the federal cabinets canceled the deportation policy, but the Japanese Canadians still wanted justice. The Japanese Canadians believed that it wasn't fair that they were treated so badly because they were from Japan origin. Even though they were a minority group they were still Canadian citizens and should be treated like Canadians. The Japanese Canadians were determine for

When Pearl Harbor was hit they removed 5,000 Japanese-Americans from the U.S. army on December, 19412. They army took away Japanese-American rights as citizens, by not allowing them to be apart of the United States Army. The selective services renamed them “enemy aliens” and stopped the draft of Japanese-American citizens. Military officials denied Japanese-Americans citizenships. December 7th, 19412, FBI arrested selected Japanese-American nationals on the West coast, they never returned home. They never got to say goodbye to their family until after six years, when the war was over.

Argument 1: Once the Canadian government rounded up Japanese citizens, they faced pain and suffering through out their time in internment camps.

During the World War 2 Japanese-Canadian Internment camps, Canadian citizens from so called “enemy countries”, were torn away from the lives they had built for themselves. They were taken away from their homes and families to live and work in internment camps sanctioned by the Canadian government because of their ethnic background. Of the 22,000 Japanese Canadians living in BC at the time, nearly ¾ of them were born in Canada or naturalized citizens, yet they were still prosecuted like criminals. Muriel Kitigawa, a young Japanese descendant, wrote to her brother back in Japan telling him about the hatred of other Canadians against the Japanese. Signs were posted on the highways “JAPS KEEP OUT”, and the persecution was more and more intense

The Japanese-American placement in internment camps was wrong and unconstitutional. The Japanese-American people had been living in the United States without question until the uprise of racial prejudice brought on by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many Japanese-Americans had been born in America and lived an American life, integrated into American schools, speaking with American accents, and enjoying American culture. But, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Japanese were suddenly seen as threats that needed to be controlled. Without any consent, these Japanese-Americans were placed in internment camps with poor conditions and treated as if they were ticking time bombs themselves.

The Psychological impacts put upon the Japanese-Canadians, weren’t just the horrible experiences, or the separation of family and friends. Rather the impact due to the discrimination of the Japanese-Canadians by the government and the rest of society had a deeper impact. The hatred of the Japanese-Canadians by the Government and the people had an Enormous impact on the people’s well being, and the way they viewed themselves. The government after the relocation sold most of the properties and confiscated possessions of the Japanese-Canadians. They also took out all of the Japanese Newspapers, restricted Telephone and mail Services, thus Preventing Communication. Furthermore, the media was full of “Anti-Japanese-Canadian Rhetoric.” Finally the Greatest hatred against came from not the media, nor the government, but the people around them. Sent to remote and deserted areas, or work/concentration camps,

After the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, life in the U.S. had changed. It was the first time in a long time that America was attacked on its homeland. This national security threat was a big shock to the people. The Japanese had to suffer the consequences of their attack. Just as the Germans developed concentration camps for the Jewish during World War II, the Americans set up "relocation" programs better known as internment camps to keep all the Japanese. The reason the Japanese were moved into these camps was because they were suspected of being spies. They were forced to live there for up to four years and were not able to continue with their own lives as they were before while they were living in these camps.