JAPANESE INTERNMENT IN
CANADA DURING WORLD WAR II
Key Concepts
 Pearl Harbour
 War Measures Act
 Japanese Internment (Canada)
 Brian Mulroney (Response on Internment)
Overview
 At the start of World War II, approximately
23,000 people of Japanese descent lived in
Canada, mostly in British Columbia.
 75% held Canadian citizenship and over 13,000
were Japanese-Canadians (they were born in
Canada).
 Most Japanese-Canadians were hard
workers, owned land, and paid taxes.
Pearl Harbour
 On December 7, 1941,
Japanese planes attacked
and destroyed the
American Pacific fleet at
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
 The damage was
extensive:
 19 naval vessels were
damaged or sunk
 188 American aircrafts
 2,300 soldiers killed
 1,109 are wounded
Canada Declares War on Japan
 Canada declared war on Japan in
December of 1941.
 On December 25, 1941 at the Battle
of Hong Kong, Japan surrenders.
 Canadian soldiers paid a heavy price.
 Total soldiers sent: 1,975
 550 were killed, or died in prison camps
 493 wounded
 Fears of a Japanese invasion
continued to spread along the Pacific
Coast.
The Japanese in Canada
 The Japanese had always
experienced racism in British
Columbia.
 White people enacted various
laws prohibiting Japanese
workers from working on
provincial projects.
 Many Japanese worked in the
fishing industry, causing
Canadians to express fear that
Japanese fishermen were
charting the coastline for the
Japanese navy.
 As a result, 1,200 Japanese
fishing boats were confiscated
by the Government of Canada.
The Canadian War Measures Act
 Bowing to public pressure, the
Government of Canada issued the
War Time Measures Act on
February 24, 1942, forcing
Japanese-Canadians and Japanese
in Canada into “protective areas”
(i.e., internment camps) for “their
own safety”.
 The act “gave the government
sweeping powers to ensure the
security, defence, peace, order,
and welfare of Canada.”
 All property that could not be
carried would be taken into
“protective custody.” These items
effectively became the property of
the Canadian government.
Japanese Internment Begins
 Families were separated. Men were usually
forced into one camp, while women and
children entered another camp many
kilometers away.
 Those unwilling to live in internment
camps or relocation centres faced the
possibility of deportation to Japan.
 The Japanese did not resist the internment.
Japanese Internment Begins
 There were ten internment camps in
Canada. The camps included:
 Three road camps
 Two Prisoner of War (POW) camps
 Five self- supporting camps scattered
throughout Canada
 Camp living conditions were poor.
 There was no electricity or running water
available.
Japanese Internment
Camps in Canada
Conditions of Japanese Internment
 Under the pretence of homeland protection, Japanese-
Canadians were:
(1) Denied their basic rights
(2) Issued special clothing
(3) Stripped of their personal belongings and
property
(4) Relocated into camps.
(5) Forced into manual labour
 As well, Japanese schools were closed, Japanese newspapers
were shut down and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed.
 On March 25, 1942, the British Columbia Security Commission
forced men into road camps and women and children into
“ghost town” detention camps.
 These actions were similar to the Nazi impoverishment and
relocation of Jews to ghettos prior to WWII.
Conditions in the Camps
 Two families minimum
lived together in small
areas equipped with
two bedrooms and a
kitchen.
 Hundreds of women
and children resided in
livestock buildings and
slept on straw covered
beds.
 Conditions were so
poor that the Red Cross
had to provide aid.
Overview of the Canadian
Japanese Internment Camps
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z88zRES6w
cw
World War II Ends
 In 1945, the Canadian
government forced the
Japanese Canadians to either
move back Japan, loosing
their Canadian citizenship, or
to move to Eastern Canada.
 Even though the war was over,
it was illegal for Japanese
Canadians to return to
Vancouver until 1949.
 Public protest would eventually
stop the deportations, but not
before 4000 Japanese left the
country.
Canada Acknowledges
Its Wrong Doings
 On September 22, 1988,
Canadian Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney offered a
formal apology from Canada
to the internees.
 The Canadian government
also provided compensation.
The package included:
 (1) $21,000 to all surviving
internees.
 (2) The re-instatement of
Canadian citizenship to those
who were deported to Japan.
Brian Mulroney Apologizes
CBC News: Apology to Japanese Canadians
 http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/second_w
orld_war/clips/1621/
Reflecting on the Camps Today Nikkei Internment Memorial
Centre

On July 31, 2010, Parks Canada honoured
the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre
located in New Denver, B.C.

This centre still features some of the huts
and shacks that were used for 1,500
Japanese-Canadians during the Second
World War.

This is important because interment camps
were a significant part of Canada’s history
and is something that should not be
forgotten.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20
100731/japanese-internment-camp100731#ixzz1eUHZUswj