The internment of Japanese Canadians in Canada during the Second World War, stripped many Canadians of their basic Civil right

The War Measures Act of 1914 was the only justification for internment. Politically, Canada did have the legal right to intern Japanese Canadians under the War Measures Act. The Act gave cabinet the right to do virtually anything that seemed necessary to maintain the welfare of Canada; therefore the internment of the enemy aliens did not violate any laws. The Attack on Pearl Harbor was the perfect excuse for Canada to exercise the powers given by the War Measures Act since defenses along the Pacific Coast were dangerously inadequate. If there were to be an attack, the results would be disastrous. Many believed that “blood is thicker than water,” meaning that citizenship meant nothing. Fear ran high among Canadian citizens after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Due to propaganda, Anti-Japanese Riots were becoming more and more violent towards the Nisei. In his Diary, Prime Minister King wrote that he was afraid that riots occurring on the west coast would cause reprisal towards Canadian prisoners of war in Japan. King believed that “once that [rioting] occurs, there will be repercussions in the Far East against our own prisoners,” and the only way to prevent this was to put those threatened by riots in to detention camps where they would be safe so to “replace the possibility of evil by an act of greater evil.” It is also apparent that despite the poor standards in Camps, the living conditions and privileges given to Japanese Canadians were much better than those given to Canadians in Japan. A family could have as much as 1 000 pounds of baggage. However, there was no justification for the internment of Japanese Canadians in the first place. The Canadian Government could not present any solid evidence that proved Japanese to be spies or loyal to Japan. Lieutenant General Ken Chief of General Staff of the Canadian army stated “I cannot see that they constitute the slightest menace to national security.” Most of the ideas for internment were the results of Propaganda through newspapers and racist government officials including Ian Mackenzie. Racist government officials used propaganda to create fear in citizens towards the Japanese. In a private conversation, a British Columbian member of parliament admitted that war with Japan had been a “heaven-sent opportunity” to rid the province of the Japanese economic menace forever, “national security” was not mentioned. Many Japanese fisherman even tried to show their loyalty as Canadian citizen by offering themselves “for any service which Canada may desire of us.” Other Japanese Canadians also tried to show their patriotism by purchasing Victory Bonds, and attempting to enter the Canadian Army. Instead, their fishing boats were impounded, and they were interned into the interior for treason and siding with Japan when no evidence supported this belief.

The internment was a nightmare and created a lot of hardship for many Japanese Canadians. On December 7th 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor, by Japanese naval planes quickly separated Japanese Canadians from the rest of their community. Just a day after Pearl Harbor, 1,200 Japanese Canadian fishing boats were impounded. Japanese language newspapers and schools were closed. Racism and Prejudice ran high, as racist government officials including A.W. Neill, Thomas Reid, Ian Mackenzie, and associations including the “Pacific Coast Security League” persuaded the country that the Japanese were “treacherous”, and “untrustworthy” spies. On February 24th 1942, the first Order-in-Council forced all male Japanese Canadian citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 ordered to be removed from 100-mile-wide zone, known as the “protected area” along the coast of British Columbia. On March 4th mass evacuation of Japanese Canadians begins with the turn over of property and belongings to the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property as a “protective measure only”. These items were promised to be returned after the internment. On March 16th, 2 500 people, mainly fisherman living on Vancouver Island and Prince Rupert, including some who were given only 24 hours notice were moved into Hastings Park Exhibition Grounds in Vancouver. Cars, cameras and radios confiscated for "protective of measures". The Department of National Defense used Hastings Park as a “clearing station” where evacuees were housed in former stables and cattle stalls of the Live stock building until they were redirected into to the interior of Canada. Within the same month, the security Commission was planning the evacuation of the rest of the “defense area,” moving males to road camps and volunteer families to sugar beet farms on the prairies and other locations including ghost towns for women, children, and elderly. The separation of the men and the rest of their families created a lot of unrest, and was an infringement on their civil rights, but they had no choice but to obey the law.

The first evacuees went to detention camps including Greenwood, New Denver, and Slocan, of eastern British Columbia, and other provinces including Manitoba, northern Ontario, and Alberta. These internment camps had poor living conditions where two families would live in a 28-feet by 14-feet Cabin. Many internees were often redirected to other regions in Canada. Due to the lack of laborers for sugar beet farms in Alberta and northern Ontario, the government permitted Japanese families to sugar beet farms as a family unit. Many internees opted for the farms but found the conditions extremely harsh and primitive. Others worked on road construction projects in road camps. Those who showed the slightest resistance to internment were sent to prisoner of war camps in Petawawa and Angler, Ontario. While the Japanese Canadians were interned, the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property, without the owners’ consent disposed of their property including boats and equipment. Differences in rights based on race and ethnicity still existed after the Japanese surrendered on September 2nd 1945. It was not until April 1st, 1949, that Japanese Canadians were allowed back into BC.

There was very little possibility for Japan to attack the Pacific Coast to begin with. Geographically, it would be much more difficult for Japan to attack the Pacific Coast compared to Pearl Harbor. When compared to Pearl Harbor, the population of Japanese in Hawaii only constituted about 2.7% of the population, where as in Canada, approximately 38% of the population were Japanese. Military officers in Hawaii did not consider internment necessary even when most of the Japanese residents in Hawaii made up most of the labor forces in naval yards and military depots before and after Pearl Harbor. The Japanese community tried all methods to prove their loyalty to Canada, but propaganda of Japanese Canadians as spies strongly influenced the perception of most Canadians. Racist politicians including Ian Mackenzie demanded internment because the Pacific Coast’s defenses were weak. However, on June 6th 1942, the Battle of Midway eliminated all possibilities of an attack on the Coast. Before the Battle of midway, the Japanese naval forces possessed naval superiority over United States. After Midway however, the United States soon acquired naval superiority, thus forcing the Japanese into a defensive position.

The internment caused Japanese Canadians to lose most of their basic Civil Rights as Canadian Citizens. They did not have a voice in the community as all Japanese schools and newspapers were disallowed, allowing propaganda to flourish. Under the War Measures Act, enemy aliens did not have the right to “Habeas Corpus,” meaning that any Japanese Canadian could be arrested without evidence or a trial. This made internment of Japanese Canadians without evidence legal. Due to the poor living conditions, many complained that they were “herded together like a bunch of cattle.”Family members were forced to split up and scattered throughout Canada without consent. When they were interned, the RCMP controlled traffic into and out of the camps. “Security” regulations and registrations were enforced on internees once they reached 16. This included a serial number, thumbprint, and photograph. Permits were needed to travel more than 50 miles in British Columbia from place of residence or for a period of 30 days or more. These permits were returned to the RCMP office at the end of the trip so that the government had complete records of the location of every Japanese. On July 19th 1943, Federal cabinet violated the basics rights of internees by granting the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property the right to dispose of Japanese Canadians' property without owners' consent. The Custodian of Enemy Alien Property sold their property including 1,100 boats and $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 worth of equipment that were slowly rotting away. Even after the surrender of Japan, the Japanese were forced to repatriate either to Canada by residing only in eastern Canada, or by “deporting” back to Japan. Approximately 4000 “uprooted” Japanese Canadians chose to return to Japan because of the prejudice and injustice experienced in Canada. The Japanese were initially restricted from British Columbia because of “security purposes,” however British Columbia was restricted to the majority of Japanese Canadians until 1949; which is four years after the war.

The Internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War was horrific and shameful to Canada’s democratic reputation. It did not reflect democracy as many freedom rights were taken from Canadians solely based on race and ethnicity. Many members of parliament including Ian Mackenzie were racists who persuaded Prime Minister King to intern Japanese Canadians. The internment reflects corruption, propaganda, and injustice among the Canadian people. The internment of nearly 22 000 Japanese Canadians was unjustified in that there was no such reason or evidence to believe that Japanese Canadians were a threat to the Pacific Coast.

Bibliography

1. Patricia E. Roy, J.L. Granatstein, Masako Lino, Hiroko Takamura, Mutual Hostage,   University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1990
2. Ken Adachi, The Enemy That Never Was, McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, 1976
3. Toyo Takata, Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today, New Canada Publications, Toronto, 1983