Japanese Canadians 1877-1946

1. INTRODUCING A READING-ECCU 200 Japanese Canadians 1877-1946 The Hoax of Pearl Harbour

2. BEFORE THE PEARL HARBOUR ATTACK • Living conditions in Japan had been dreadful for quite some time. There was starvation, poor living conditions, poverty, new laws and new taxation methods. • The emperor believed that if Japanese people travelled to countries they would gain new ideas and experience new cultures. As well as open up new trading possibilities. Then Japan would expand its horizons on the world stage, and impress other nations with the quality of Japanese People. • 1897-1901 there were 15,280 Japanese people immigrating into British Columbia. Nearly all single men became fisherman or worked in fisheries. • BUT in 1901 there were only 4,738 Japanese People in Canada. This was because they either came with saved money and returned to their homeland or used Canada as a stepping stone to the US.

3. The Journey to Canada • It took 1-3 months, there were no washing and laundry facilities. They ate poor quality or rancid foods, and the living conditions below decks were so bad they were like caged animals. • B.C Newspapers already prejudiced towards Chinese immigrants, they used the horrendous journey and physical mistreatment on the Japanese Immigrant ships as a weapon against them and created insulting stereotypes. • Very few B.C. Citizens and civic leaders made any distinction between Chinese and Japanese people. All the petitions, racist legislation, segregation laws, and prejudiced business and union practices in place to deal with the Chinese automatically applied to the Japanese. • The racist slur “yellow peril” applied to all!

4. AFTER THE PEARL HARBOUR ATTACK • The surprising attack made by the Japanese on Pearl Harbour caused serious turmoil and brought the United States into World War II. • It also tore into the lives of several thousands of Canadians! • Tsungo Mineoka was one of these Canadians who was affected. On the night of December 7th-hours after the Pearl Harbour attack, RCMP officials came to Tsungo’s home of six years and told him to pack his bags as he was in custody for a few days. • Tsungo had lived in Steveston British Columbia for six years, owned his own home, and made a good living as a fisherman. A member of the loyal Christian Church, and secretary of the Japanese Fisherman's Union- he was only given five minutes to pack and then was taken away.

5. He was taken to the Immigration Hall in Vancouver and then two months later along with 37 others of Japanese descent were taken to an imprisonment camp in Northern Ontario. • It was here that no family or friends were allowed to visit the prisoners. Meanwhile Mrs. Mineoka was taken to cattle barns at Vancouver’s Hasting Park. Where she was kept in penned captivity for several weeks, until moved to an old mining ghost town in Fraser Valley along with other refugees. • Their home, properties, and contents were sold without their permission by a Government agency for a measly $150.00. • Sadly there are many similar stories. From 1942 until 1946, every person of Japanese descent was harassed, forced to leave their homes, imprisoned or deported, and their property was left to rot, or be taken by looters. • 23,000 people suffered this. 5,924 were actual Japanese Nationals awaiting Canadian citizenship, and 3,159 people were naturalized Canadian citizens

6. Concentration Camps • These were located far from the west coast, in Northern Ontario. It was the Department of National Defense who established them as prisoner of war camps and ran them as such. • By the end of 1942, there were 758 Japanese Canadians imprisoned. • The camps were surrounded by 16 foot fences topped with barbed wire, constant role calls were terrorizing as guards sometimes fired live ammunition over their heads. • Prison wore roughly made red and white stripes uniforms, with a large red circle sewn on the back. Officials said it represented the Japanese flag, but prisoners said it was a target for the guards. • They were forced to do back breaking work to clear a new railway line. During this time the Red Cross was allowed to supply them with Prisoner of War relief packages.

7. Before the Second World War, British Columbia had been home to 99% of Japanese-Canadian People. • By 1946, only 33% lived in the province, and there were still people that felt this number was too high! • Three years after the war, Ross Thatcher of the C.C.F argued that restrictions which still existed on the movement of Japanese Canadians should be lifted. • MPs on both sides of the floor rose to shout down this suggestion, they dismissed his idea as unthinkable and predicted that every politician that who supported the lifting of restrictive laws would lose their seat in the next election • Although all pretence of national security was gone, and no one tried to argue that the actions against the Japanese Canadians had any other motive other than their racism, both the Federal and B.C Govn’t wanted no Japanese Canadians west of the Rockies.

8. Deportation • The problem of what to do with the refuges after the end of the war was of great concern to Ian MacKenzie and the white Canadians of BC – 64% of which wanted all refugees deported. • PM King found it difficult to enforce deportations of any Japanese Canadians who had not been disloyal or had not performed acts of sabotage. • He announced plans to arrange the deportation of any refugee who wished to return to Japan and the forced deportation of any considered to be disloyal. • The United Church, R.C., Baptist and Anglican Churches jointly denounced deportations – likening them to acts of Nazism. • BC newspapers viewed deportations as too lenient! A ‘Jap was a Jap whether born in Canada or Japan’ and questioned the abilities of those determining loyalty to Canada in any persons ‘born of enemy stock’.

9. Almost all 2nd generation (Nisei) Japanese Canadians wanted to stay – after all Canada was their country, they spoke English and had attended Canadian schools. • But despite this, many signed for repatriation not because they wanted to go to Japan, but because they felt pressurized during interviews. • August 1st 1945 10,397 (43%) of all Japanese Canadians signed for repatriation. From V-J Day to the end of 1945, 4,720 Nisei had asked to be removed from lists. • BUT a new Order in Council stated that anyone who had requested repatriation either before they were interned or before the surrender of Japan would be deported, as this was viewed as an act of disloyalty towards Canada. Deportation would also apply if they were a wife or child of a person being deported.

10. The number of Japanese Canadians in British Columbia dropped from 23,224 in 1941 to 15,733 in 1944. • So in a matter of 3 years the Japanese Canadian population dropped by 7, 491. • In 1944 this figure of 15,733 decreased to 7,169 by 1951. • So in just 7 years the population of Japanese Canadians dropped by 8, 564 people. • The ending of the mass deportations allowed the state to step slightly down the racist ladder, but the exclusionary immigration policies and segregation laws and practices that remained in place made that step a SMALL one.

11. Those who were deported, robbed, imprisoned, evacuated, and enslaved had all been guilty of the same offence.  THEIR CRIME WAS THEIR RACE! • As with Chinese, Ukrainian, and Jewish Canadians, that crime had been deemed sufficiently heinous to justify abuse and mistreatment in a country whose veins coursed with racism.

12. Questions What does it mean to the general public when the Government apologizes? How do you think the family members of the Japanese Canadians who were mistreated felt after the hearing this apology, knowing the degree of suffering their family member(s) have endured?