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During World War II , more than 22,000 Japanese Canadian s were forcibly interned in Canada . INTERNMENT AND CONFISCATIONS Following the Canadian Pacific Railway fired all the Japanese workers, and most other Canadian companies did the same. Japanese fish boats were first confined to port, and eventually, the Canadian Navy seized 1,200 of these vessels. officer questions Japanese-Canadian fishermen while confiscating their boat.]]
Most people of the 22,000 Japanese descent who lived in British Columbia were naturalized or native-born citizens. Those unwilling to live in internment camps or relocation centres faced the possibility of deportation to Japan. On February 24 , 1942 an Order-in-Council passed under the War Measures Act giving the federal government the power to intern all "persons of Japanese racial origin." Wild Daisies in the Sand: Life in a Canadian Internment Camp , Tsuneharu Gonnami, Pacific Affairs, Winter 2003/2004.
CAMP CONDITIONS The living conditions in the camps were so poor that the citizens of wartime Japan even sent supplemental food shipments through the Red Cross . Japanese Canadian Internment , University of Washington Libraries During the period of detention, the Canadian government spent one-third the per capita amount expended by the U.S. on Japanese American evacuees. The BC Government refused to fund education for young Japanese Canadians. Then the Federal Government stepped in and helped out the Japanese and arranged classes from grades 1-10. With the help of the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and the United Church high school became a reality so grades 11-12 came into effect as well. The first place to get a school up and running was in Lemon Creek. Leadership positions within the camps were only offered to the Nisei , or Canadian-born, Japanese, not the Issei , the older generation. Canada sold all of the Canadian born internees' worldly possessions. In 1943 the Canadian "Custodian of Aliens" liquidated these worldly possessions without the owners' permission. The Custodian of Aliens held auctions for these items. These items would range from farms and to houses, to people's clothing. They were sold quickly at prices below market value. The money that was raised from these auctions went to the realtors and the auctioneers; then it went to paying for storage and the handling charges. While under the Geneva Convention Prisoners Of War (POW) didn't have to pay for their camps. POST-WAR After the victory over Japan, the federal government moved to evacuate Japanese Canadians from British Columbia all together. Evacuees were given the choice between deportation to Japan or transfer to areas east of the Rocky Mountains. The majority opted to remain in Canada, and moved to Ontario, Québec and the Prairie provinces. Following public protest, the order-in-council that authorized the forced deportation was challenged on the basis that the forced deportation of the Japanese was a crime against humanity and that a citizen could not be deported from their own country. The Prime Minister Referred the matter to the Supreme Court in what was to be the first case heard in the newly constructed building housing the Court. In a five to two Decision , the Court held that the law was valid. Three of the five found that the order was entirely valid. The other two found that the provision including both women and children as threats to national security was invalid. In 1947 the deportation order was repealed, after 4,000 Japanese Canadians had already left the country. On April 1 , 1949 , Japanese Canadians regained their freedom to live anywhere in Canada. LEGACY On September 22 , 1988 , Prime Minister Brian Mulroney gave a long-awaited formal apology and the Canadian government began a significant compensation package, one month after President Ronald Reagan made similar gestures in the United States. The package for interned Japanese Canadians included $21,000 to all surviving internees, and the re-instatement of Canadian citizenship to those who were deported to Japan. Apology and compensation , CBC Archives The Nikkei Memorial Internment Centre in New Denver , British Columbia , is an interpretive centre that honors the history of interned Japanese Canadians, many of whom were interned in the New Denver area. IN LITERATURE The novel '' Obasan '' (1981) by Joy Kogawa centres on one family's hardships during the Japanese internment period in Canada. In the novel, Kogawa draws upon her own experiences in describing how families were often split up, had their property taken, and suffered racism from Canadian citizens and the federal government. Kogawa explores similar territory in ''Naomi's Road'' (1986), a novel for young adults with illustrations by Matt Gould. Set in the 1970s, the novel ''The Electric Field'' (1988) by Kerri Sakamoto deals with the stigmatization of internment. The autobiography of Masajiro Miyazaki , ''My Sixty Years in Canada'' recounts the circumstances of life in the Lillooet-area relocation centres and also concerning the non-Japanese there, as well as documents the osteopath's enlistment as wartime coroner in that town. Ken Adachi 's book ''The Enemy That Never Was'', a history of the Japanese Canadian community from 1877 to 1975, includes substantial coverage of the internments. SEE ALSO
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