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December 7th, 1941, hours after the Pearl Harbor attack approximately forty families; first and second generation immigrants in Vancouver, B.C. were broken up; Mounties appeared on their front door step for the men of the family, over the age of 16.
- Before the creation of the Oriental Council in October of 1940, 2000 men over the age of 16 were sent to road camps, while 1800 were sent away to reestablishment camps which were often in secluded locations without communication to their families
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Under the War Time Measures Act the government was legally able to imprison any suspects without trial or clear evidence; making arrest possible at any moment.
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February 26, 1942, Ottawa announced 21 000 Japanese-Canadians will be interned, the only exception to deny internment was if their significant other was a Caucasian Canadian. Japanese of a military age, 18-45, were the first to be relocated to roadcamps between February and March, 1942.
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The Japanese-Canadians had one request; to remain together with their family, by mass evacuation, however the government opposed and did whatever they felt was most convenient.
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April 1942, beet farmers were desperate to meet demands for their crop and in turn were willing to accept Japanese workers; Japanese workers were willing to accept minimum wage work in order to keep their families together. By 1942, 3000 Japanese-Canadians were working on beet farms.
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Japanese-Canadians who were not sent to internment camps in British Columbia or Ontario were deported to Japan over the entirety of the war.
Part C – Evaluation of Sources (Word Count: 338)
1. Takata, Toyo. Nikkei Legacy the Story of Japanese Canadians from settlement to Today. (Toronto: NC Press Limited, 1983)
Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today was written by Toyo Takata. He experienced the appalling conditions of Japanese internment camps firsthand as a child. After two years in a camp located in British Columbia, he relocated to Toronto and became the English editor of The New Canadian. He became an icon for the Japanese-Canadian community for creating the Japanese Canadian Centennial in 1977. It was published in 1983 in Toronto by NC Press Limited. Takata’s purpose for writing this monograph is to break the silence of many Japanese internees’ and to expose the abuse and human rights violation they endured. This secondary source is valuable to the investigation because it involves the extensive research of primary sources conducted by the author in order to capture all opinions into one source. It is organized into many chapters, which easily enables the reader to comprehend each concept. The limitation of the source is it does not allow the reader to get a quick overview of Japanese internment camps because of the detail given on each event.
2. . The article “Memories of Internment: Narrating Japanese Canadian Women's Life Stories” was written by Pamela Sugiman, a historian who earned her PhD in Sociology at the University of Toronto. She published many articles in a variety of Canadian journals, and is a professor at McMaster and Ryerson University. The article was published in 2004, in the Canadian Journal of Sociology; Vol.29, No. 3. The purpose of this article is to offer a primary viewpoint of internment camps and how women felt about the circumstances. This article is considered valuable in the investigation because it offers the experience of those who were directly impacted. The limitation of this document is that the recollections of the events from the time it occurred to when the recollection occurred and is biased based on the perspective of the eyewitness the recollection may be fraud because of their raw emotions the individual felt whilst communicating the experience, like Sugiman says the perspective is linked to her, “implicit feminist approach.”
Part D – Analysis (Word Count: 747)
Prior to the attack at Pearl Harbour on December 7th, 1941, there had been growing hostility between the Caucasian population and the Japanese population, dating back to the anti-Asian riot of 1907. Hours after the attack on Pearl Habour, Mounties appeared on the front steps of Japanese homes and took the men of the household; this caused internal stress within daughters, sisters and wives were separated from their fathers and brothers without any knowledge of their whereabouts. The stress of the distance between family members negatively impacted the mental stability of these individuals to question when they would be reunited with one another or if they would ever be reunited.
Historians such as Pamela Sugimen state that the internment of the Japanese was “a form of cultural genocide, and erosion of human dignity, and especially disrupted personal lives and family relationships.” This statement is reflective based on the conditions these internees dealt with, such as Japanese school closure. The Japanese school closure impacted the students negatively by withdrawing them from the opportunity to learn about their cultural values and to remove their ability to easily enable themselves to learn their language to pass it on the next generation. The closure of Japanese language schools also meant that students must attend public schools of which resulted in Japanese children having to attend with students of parents who were at the time more vividly discriminating those of Japanese origin. In addition, Japanese language newspapers were ordered to be discontinued during the time frame of the war causing Japanese Canadians to withdraw from their communities as they become secluded from their communities without knowledge of what has developed in their surroundings. The removals of one of the major methods of communication; the newspaper, secluded families from their communities making them feel more alone then they ever have. Then to further amplify the harsh realities of government’s actions, they implemented Order in Council PC 469. The creation of the Order in Council 469 allowed government officials to sell off internees’ property, without the permission of the owner. The Canadian government then in turn took advantage from this Order in Council and sold off all belongings of Japanese internees over the years of the war, whilst these individuals worked hard to earn each possession they owned, and had them stripped away from them within an hour, once they were raided by Mounties and police officers.
In opposition, an editorial column in the Globe and Mail from May 1st, 1941, expressed that, “civilian internment seem to have definite merits and to be worthy of serious consideration.” The editor of this column appears very ignorant of the issues as they state that it has “definite merit” of which it is not, because of the amount of human rights violations it perpetrates. The War Times Measures Act at the time applied from the ongoing war, allowed all those in government positions to hold the authority to remove Japanese Canadians from cities and repossess their belongings without reason. With regards to the War Times Measures Act it is unjust. Although there was no distinct evidence for the traitorous behaviour from the Japanese, the government was still legally able to withhold the Japanese Canadians before proving their guilt. Documents revealed that within the entire seven years of the entire seven years of exile, Japanese Canadians have not left a trace of evidence which holds themselves guilty for any type of traitorous activity nor behaviour. In addition, Japanese Canadians were only able to reside in boundaries the government approved. The requirement to ask for approval in order to go anywhere, is the basis foundation of freedom, however, the Japanese Canadians were stripped of this freedom. In spite of what the dominant Caucasian population thought at the time the denial of an individual’s human rights is not a point of “merit” but “demerit.”
Part E – Conclusion (Word Count: 90)
Throughout the development of Canada’s political system there have been many negative influences on certain ethnicities based on international impacts such as imperialism. The Japanese were treated irrationally and unjust, dramatically crippled the culture of Japanese-Canadians by their separation from family, possessions and their familiar surroundings. Withdrawal from family influences causes an individual to lose connections with direct ties to ones culture and moralistic outlooks. Furthermore without the presence of these possessions, and direct family members, the alienation overcomes the individual and ruined the cultural values and family lives of a large number of Japanese citizens.
Part F – Works Cited
Broadfoot, Barry. Years of Sorrow. Years of Shame: The Story of the Japanese Canadians in 1234World War II. Canada: The Bryant Press Limited, 1977
Griffen, Kevin. “Line of duty led ex-Mountie to comraderie amid internees: CAMP DAYS: Ex-officer questions the fairness.” Vancouver Sun 27 February 1992. 1234<http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.biblioottawalibrary.ca>
Hashimoto, Jennifer. “Japanese Internment.” Globe and Mail 11 January 1991. 1234<http://www.globeandmail.com>.
Kobayashi. Addie. Exiles in Our Own Country. Canada: Nikkei Network of Niagara, 1998
“Light on Internment.” Globe and Mail 02 May 141. <http://www.globeandmail.com>.
LaViolette, Forrest E. “Japanese Evacuation In Canada.” Far East Survey Vol. 11, No. 15 Jul. 27, 12341942. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/3021723>
McIntosh, Dave. Hell on Earth. Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 1997
Robinson, Judith. “Japan Exports Culture.” Globe and Mail 12 January 1938. 1234<http://www.globeandmail.com>.
Sugiman, Pamela. “Memories of Internment: Narrating Japanese Canadian Women's Life Stories.” Canadian Journal of Socialogy Vol. 29, No. 3 (Summer, 2004). 1234<http://www.jstor.org/stable/3654672>
Sunohara, Ann Gomer. The Politics of Racism the Uprooting of the Japanese Canadians During the Second World War. 05 December 1981. 1234<http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.biblioottawalibrary.ca>.
Takata, Toyo. Nikkei Legacy the Story of Japanese Canadians from settlement to Today. 1234Toronto: NC Press Limited, 1983
Taylor, Mary. A Black Mark. Canada: Oberon Press, 2004
Toyo Takata, Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today (Toronto, NC Press Limited, 1983), 110
Addie Kobayashi, Exiles in Our Own Country (Canada, Nikkei Network of Niagara, 1998), 7.
Forrest E LaViolette, “Japanese Evacuation In Canada.” Far East Survey Vol. 11, No. 15 Jul. 27, 1942.<http://jstor.org/stable/3021723> 165
Pamela Sugiman, “Memories of Internment: Narrating Japanese Canadian Women's Life Stories.” The Canadian Journal of Sociology Vol. 29, No. 3 (Summer, 2004), 361
Toyo Takata, Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today (Toronto, NC Press Limited, 1983), 115
Mary Taylor, A Black Mark The Japanese-Canadians in World War II (Canada, Oberon Press, 2004), 59
Forrest E LaViolette, “Japanese Evacuation In Canada.” Far East Survey Vol. 11, No. 15 Jul. 27, 1942.<http://jstor.org/stable/3021723> 165
Pamela Sugiman, “Memories of Internment: Narrating Japanese Canadian Women's Life Stories.” The Canadian Journal of Sociology Vol. 29, No. 3 (Summer, 2004), 360
Toyo Takata, Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today (Toronto, NC Press Limited, 1983), 110
Mary Taylor, A Black Mark The Japanese-Canadians in World War II (Canada, Oberon Press, 2004), 44
Toyo Takata, Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today (Toronto, NC Press Limited, 1983), 115-116
Mary Taylor, A Black Mark The Japanese-Canadians in World War II (Canada, Oberon Press, 2004), 45
Toyo Takata, Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today (Toronto, NC Press Limited, 1983), 125
Mary Taylor, A Black Mark The Japanese-Canadians in World War II (Canada, Oberon Press, 2004), 68
Kevin Griffin, “Line of Duty Led ex-Mountie to Comraderie Amid Internees: CAMP DAYS: Ex-Officer Questions the Fairness,” the Vancouver Sun, Feb. 27, 1992 <http://proquest.umi.com.ezprozy.biblioottawalibrary.ca>
Pamela Sugiman, “Memories of Internment: Narrating Japanese Canadian Women's Life Stories.” The Canadian Journal of Sociology Vol. 29, No. 3 (Summer, 2004), 372
Toyo Takata, Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today (Toronto, NC Press Limited, 1983), 111
Toyo Takata, Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today (Toronto, NC Press Limited, 1983), 110
Pamela Sugiman, “Memories of Internment: Narrating Japanese Canadian Women's Life Stories.” The Canadian Journal of Sociology Vol. 29, No. 3 (Summer, 2004), 369
Forrest E LaViolette, “Japanese Evacuation In Canada.” Far East Survey Vol. 11, No. 15 Jul. 27, 1942.<http://jstor.org/stable/3021723> 165
“Light on Internment.” Globe and Mail 02 May 141. <http://www.globeandmail.com>.
Mary Taylor, A Black Mark The Japanese-Canadians in World War II (Canada, Oberon Press, 2004), 44