Japanese Internment During Ww2

After 40 years of ignoring the issue, the Canadian Government has apologized to the Japanese Canadians for the discrimination they faced during World War Two at last.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the internment of Japanese Americans on the West coast of the United States. On going tension between the United States and Japan rose in the 1930’s due to Japan’s increasing power and because of this tension the bombing at Pearl Harbor occurred. This event then led the United States to join World War II. However it was the Executive Order of 9066 that officially led to the internment of Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans, some legal and illegal residents, were moved into internment camps between 1942-1946. The internment of Japanese Americans affected not only these citizens but the

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

The issues of Japanese-American internment camps is one of the most controversial, yet important time periods of American history. Many have asked: Why should we learn about this event? The event of Japanese-American internment camps has changed the way America and its citizens are looked upon. As Americans, this event is important to learn so that an injustice like this will never happen again in our history. This event has helped many people gain more rights and civil liberties. This event has also helped other groups fight for their rights and freedoms. Although this event had caused fear and pain, it had changed America and its treatment toward citizens of different descents and ethic backgrounds.

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.

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

In my humble opinion, it is plain and simple in my mind that Japanese Internment was a clear violation of the Fifth Amendment of US Constitution. Japanese Americans were unfairly denied their rights to due process even though the federal government seemed to be acting in the best interest of Americans during an active war. Although, it clear from the background reading of everything leading up to the internment and from the firsthand accounts of Japanese Americans that the was a tinge of racism to the Executive Orders which led to the exclusion and internment of Japanese Americans.

Starting in the late 19th century, Japanese immigrants began moving to British Columbia, looking for a better and more promising future for themselves and their families. However, less than a century later, their lives were changed forever after they received news that the Canadian government announced war on Japan on December 7, 1941 after the attacks on Pearl Harbor (Hickman and Fukawa 5). The attacks caused the government to begin fearing that Japanese Canadian citizens may eventually pose a threat to their nation. Due to pressures in the west, the government decided to take action. They began a 7 year long process of discrimination in 1942, by relocating thousands of Japanese Canadians in British Columbia to Internment Camps. While the

Imagine being trapped within a society that has no diversity and you are locked out from the real world. That is exactly what the government did to these innocent people. The innocent ones who are looked at as if they had done something wrong. The ones who are looked upon as criminals. The “luxurious” imprisonment enclosed the many innocent Japanese-Americans also known as the Japanese Internment. In 1891 Japanese immigrants arrived in the U.S. to work as agricultural laborers. December 7,1941 Japan bombed U.S. ships and planes at the pearl harbor military base in Hawaii. What caused it? The Executive Order 9066. Was the exclusion of Japanese-Americans, during World War two right or wrong? The Japanese-Internment was

During the Internment of Japanese Canadians, people were treated differently in society due to their ethnic background. Firstly, it is shown/demonstarted by the actions of Prime Minister William Lyon along with, Mackenzie King who had ordered to detain/take away people's young and innocent lives from their homes and take them to Hastings Park. Leaving, the Japanese Canadians clueless , with no explanation to what is being happened. As a result of that , the governments used the “War Measure Act” to be allowed to remove them from their “own property,farms, business” (Marsh, 2012)and also forced “more than 8,000” (Marsh, 2012) Japanese Canadians through Hastings Park “where women and children were housed in the Livestock Buildings”. On the

The Japanese in the Second World War were perceived as comical, but also dangerous. They were like children with knives, immature and rash but just as dangerous as grown men with knives. The propaganda encourages Canadians to work hard, they use the stereotypical hardworking trait in the Japanese and even threatened that if we could work just as hard we could beat them. When Japanese refugees arrived in Canada they were immediately segregated and discriminated against. With the overwhelming numbers of the Japanese pouring in, they were mistreated frequently. They were hated for their leader’s ideals and actions.

Japanese Canadians during World War 2 were deeply affected, all over the world but, received the harshest punishment in Canada. With families, having to leave their homes, and all their land and get shipped to interment camps, where they were treated poorly and not seen as individuals but seen as japanese, by the colour of their skin. I believe that many ethnic groups all over the world have received a form of discrimination or mistreatment that has abolished some of their heritage and identity. Apologies have been given out but, have have not been giving for the right reasons instead given for the sake of saying we have apologized. The author develops the idea that when a social group or ethnic group have experienced hardships and social scrutiny, this effect them deeply leading, to future hatred and searching for answers.

British Columbia at the time had a large population of Japanese-Canadians and feared that those of them who worked in the fishing industry were charting the coastlines for the Japanese navy; since British Columbia is on the coastline of the Pacific they felt vulnerable because they were easily susceptible to enemy attacks from Japan. It was common for countries at the time to question the loyalty of the citizens of a different ethnic origin, however Canada under King’s rule took the safety precautions to a whole other level. February 1942, Prime Minister Mackenzie King issued an evacuation of all Japanese-persons, and ordered that they be taken to internment camps where they were kept like animals in stalls and forced to do manual labour at cheated wages. 20, 881 Japanese, 13, 309 of which were born in Canada (so majority would have no reason to be loyal to Japan over Canada) were taken to internment camps, forced out of their homes, had their property sold at auctions, and were stripped of their rights. King interned these innocent Japanese-Canadians over a speculation that they were spies, without having any evidence to support his claims. Following the war, once it

The government had interfered with their legal rights and did not give them equal protection under the law. Simply, the decision of putting the Japanese Canadians into these camps where they were racially discriminated, which negatively impacted on the Japanese Canadians. The Japanese Canadians cannot simply change the color of their skin or who they are due to something others are responsible for, and not the responsibility of them individually. The discrimination that Japanese Canadians faced psychologically damaged the brains and had isolated them from the rest of the world because they were categorized as inadequate individuals. Japanese Canadians were being stereotyped as “enemy aliens” even though they had not done anything which would harm anyone. According to (Marsh, 2012), during 1943, Alberta needed workers, but refused to hire the Japanese, some of the Alberta farmers that did hire Japanese workers crowded them into small shacks, and cheated them of their wages. This negatively impacted the money of the Japanese Canadians earned for survival, and it also interfered with their well-being and health. According to the National Museum of American History in 1943 every resident in the internment camps were required to complete one of two questionnaires misleadingly entitled “Application for Leave Clearance” to distinguish whether they were “loyal” or “disloyal”. After Pearl Harbour all of the citizens of Japanese ancestry had been classified 4-C “enemy aliens”. This