In Term 3, we will focus on Japanese-Canadian internment during World War 2. We will also be reading novels that are on the topic of Residential Schools.
Week 4 (April 27-May 4) – Complete the three assignments about Pearl Harbour on Read Works.
Week 5 (May 4 – May 8) – Visit THIS website: https://centre.nikkeiplace.org/education/learning-at-home
What did you learn by visiting this site? (Make a video on Flip Grid and post on Teams)
Week 6 (May 11 – May 15) – Visit THIS website: http://hastingspark1942.ca/history/
What did you learn by visiting this site? (Make a video on Flip Grid and post on Teams)
Week 7 (May 19 – May 22) – Complete your model of a room in a Japanese Internment Camp.
This video will help you as you study this unit: https://youtu.be/ggNYkFg6AjA
You may also choose to create a model of an entire internment camp.
If you don’t have many supplies at home, please don’t worry. You can draw the room or camp on paper and take a photo. You can use technology to draw or create a model if you wish.
People of Japanese heritage have a long history in Canada. During the late 19th century and into the 20th century, many people came from Japan to work in industries such as fishing, mining, logging, and farming. Japanese communities existed in various places on the west coast of British Columbia and on Vancouver Island, with the largest community centred around Vancouver’s Powell Street on the east side of the city.
On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, in the United States. The United States declared war on Japan, and Canada followed suit. In Canada, concerns were raised that the Japanese Canadian population living near the coast would spy on or sabotage Canadian military and security measures for the Japanese. However, experts in the military and the RCMP did not believe that Japanese Canadians posed any threat to safety or security. Despite this, the Canadian government responded to the public’s racism, and ordered all “persons of Japanese racial origin” to be removed from the “restricted zone”, within 100 miles of the west coast of British Columbia.
Almost 22 000 people were affected by this order. Most of them were Canadian citizens, and more than half of them were born in Canada. Most of the Japanese nationals had been living in Canada for over twenty five years. Men, women, and children were forced to leave their homes, many with only two days’ notice or less to prepare. With severe restrictions on luggage, they left behind not only significant assets such as homes, cars, and boats, but also treasured heirlooms and many other precious possessions. These were later sold by the government without the owners’ consent.
The largest number of Japanese Canadians were sent to hastily built camps in the BC interior, where they lived in tiny, crowded shacks with no insulation. This is often called the internment. Men aged 18-45 were forced to leave their families to work in road camps, or, if they protested this, were sent to prisoner of war camps. Some families, in order to stay together, went to sugar beet farms on the prairies, where they worked very long hours and lived in poor conditions for almost no pay, or went to other provinces.
In 1945, Japan surrendered, and the second world war ended. But even though no one could argue they were still a security threat, Japanese Canadians were still not allowed to return to the coast. Instead, they were told to either move east of the Rocky Mountains (outside of BC) to show cooperation for the government’s policy of forced dispersal for Japanese Canadians, or go to Japan. Around 4000 people went to Japan, over half for the first time. The others still had to find a way to start their lives over again for the second time since 1942. It wasn’t until 1949 that Japanese Canadians were finally allowed to return to the coast, and given the same rights as other Canadian citizens, such as the right to vote.
In the 1980s, people in the Japanese Canadian community started to organize, and lobby the government to apologize for their actions against Japanese Canadians from 1942-1949. This movement is known as the fight for redress. On September 22, 1988, the Government of Canada signed an agreement with the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC). The government formally acknowledged their unjust treatment of the Japanese Canadian community in the 1940s, and as compensation, awarded $21,000 to every surviving Japanese Canadian who had been affected by the unjust policies of forced dispersal and dispossession, as well as a $12 million community fund to the NAJC. This money funded many initiatives, including the building of cultural centres and seniors’ homes, as well as supporting arts and culture projects across Canada.