B.C. apologizes for 1940s Japanese-Canadian internments

[alp227]

Source: Canadian Press

British Columbia formally apologized today to the Japanese-Canadian community for the internment of thousands of people during the Second World War.

Members of the B.C. legislature voted to apologize for actions taken 70 years ago that saw 22,000 Japanese-Canadians placed in internment camps in British Columbia and across Western Canada.

The federal government apologized to Japanese Canadians in 1988, but today was the first time the province formally apologized and acknowledged that Japanese-Canadians were discriminated against simply because they were of Japanese descent.

North Vancouver-Lonsdale Liberal Naomi Yamamoto introduced the apology, saying the internment of Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War was unjust and contrary to British Columbia's core values.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/05/07/bc-japanese-internments-apology.html

[drm604]

1. I wasn't aware that Canada did this.

[iemitsu]

3. canada did this in response to US urging.

[S_B_Jackson]

16. Actually, you're mistaken....

the Canadian government ordered the internment of Canadians of Japanese ancestry in Dec 1941 - not "in response to US urging" but due to it's own internal politics and anti-Japanese sentiment.
A quick overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Canadian_internment

A more extensive view: http://www.japanesecanadianhistory.ca/Politics_of_Racism.pdf

[iemitsu]

21. thank you for the correction.

proves that one (i) should never just accept what others tell me.
thanks also for the links to good information.

[polly7]

18. Canada had been in Germany since September, 1939.

Axis U-boats had sunk Canadian vessels off the coast of Newfoundland and Canada throughout the war. I'm sure there was a real fear among Canadians and the Gov't after Pearl Harbor that some sort of attack by Japan was possible here too, but it was definitely no excuse for what was done to the Japanese Canadians. They had been treated horribly before and the racism towards them is undeniable.

[slackmaster]

15. It's one of those uncomfortable, inconvenient facts of history that a lot of people don't know

Like Japan still practicing capital punishment.

[polly7]

19. I learned about it in history class at school, it's never been something here that's been played

down or tried to be hidden, as far as I'm aware.

1941: Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor

As Canadian soldiers were fighting overseas in the name of democracy, at home the federal government was staging the largest mass exodus in Canadian history. During the Second World War, roughly 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forcibly evacuated from the west coast and resettled in other parts of the country. Their struggle continued after the war as they fought for an apology and redress for their loss. CBC Television and Radio covered the crucial issues in their journey from relocation to redress.

http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/war-conflict/second-world-war/relocation-to-redress-the-internment-of-the-japanese-canadians/a-date-which-will-live-in-infamy.html

High-profile people like David Suzuki have been speaking about it for decades.

http://www.nfb.ca/film/force_of_nature_david_suzuki_clip_1

Internment - David visits an internment camp in the Slocan Valley, British Columbia, Canada, Where at 6 years old, he and his family were interned by the Canadian government.

[KG]

2. good thing the US had a progressive leader then, so it couldn't happen here...

[Monk06]

4. People who say Canada is not a racist country don't know the history. Chinese were not allowed

to vote here til 1962

And the history of Japanese internment in Vancouver, Victoria and elsewhere in BC is ugly and shameful as the following pdfs illustrate. Long reads but very informative. At the time Vancouver was racist, yet Seattle was tolerant towards they're Japanese American neighbours.

http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/pdf/chapters/2007/triumphofcitizenship.pdf

http://japanesecanadianhistory.ca/Politics_of_Racism.pdf

[OnyxCollie]

6. Were the Japanese farming in Canada?

I believe the internment in the US was due to pressure from large farm corporations, who made a great profit when the Japanese were forced to leave their crops in the fields.

This is the subject of my thesis which I am currently writing.

Thanks for the links.

[Monk06]

11. Mostly fishing 1200 boats on the BC coast but also farming and logging. The whites wanted to get

rid of the competition and the Japanese were very well organized and productive. They entire Japanese fishing fleet in Steveston, (Vancouver) was hauled out into Georgia Strait and scuttled. The Japanese Canadians even landed immigrants had to hand over their houses cars and businesses to whites. It was evil. You can search Google images and there are plenty of pics.

[Monk06]

22. I used to own the yacht that led the Vancouver Yacht Club on the scuttling expedition. I prominantly

featured in the Komagata Maru deportation as well.

[HeiressofBickworth]

7. I believe you are mistaken about Seattle

In Seattle, Japanese were ordered evacuated on April 12, 1942. There was no tolerance. Their land and businesses were confiscated and all Japanese were evacuated. A guy I went to school with was born in a camp while his father (also Japanese) was fighting for the US in Italy.

[Monk06]

12. That's just one of the claims in the PDFs. I don't know whether it is true or not. But the threat of

riots in Vancouver was overt, real and Vancouverites had previously rioted against the Chinese. So it was perhaps more accepted and organized in Vancouver. I live in Vancouver so I have done some reading on this and have some friends whose older relatives were victims of rioting and police intimidation.

[polly7]

9. That's not quite right either ......

1947
The Exclusion Act is repealed as a result of pressure from lobbying groups in Canada, as well as from the international community. But the Chinese are placed under the same limits on immigration as other Asians.

Chinese Canadians are given the right to vote in federal elections.

Chinese Canadians are also allowed to work as pharmacists, lawyers and accountants.

1949
British Columbia gives all Chinese Canadians the right to vote in provincial elections.

http://www.ccnc.ca/toronto/history/timeline.html

but yes, Canada was far from tolerant back then.

[Monk06]

13. Thanks for the date correction. I may be thinking of the Sikhs.

[polly7]

5. Dr. David Suzuki's family was one of those held in the camps.

I believe he was about six at the time. He's spoken about it often and the effect it had on him.

[DreamGypsy]

8. Canadian singer/songwriter James Keelaghan's reflection powerful reflection on this injustice...

James Keelaghan wrote the song 'Kiri's Piano' about the Canadian internment during WWII -

" target="_blank">

The song is very powerful. After the performance of the song, Jame's analysis of what he wrote and what it means about human acceptance of discrimination/hate in times of crisis is even more powerful.

[PavePusher]

10. Wow. Very John McCutcheon-esque. Thank you. n/t

[slackmaster]

14. It's nice to see Canada finally getting with the program on this

[polly7]

17. Mulroney formally apologized on behalf of Canada in 1988, the same year as Reagan.

Redress

In the post-war years, Japanese Canadians had organized the Japanese Canadian Committee for Democracy, which later became the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC). In 1983, the NAJC mounted a major campaign for redress which demanded, among other things, a formal government apology, individual compensation, and the abolition of the War Measures Act.[17]

To help their case, the NAJC hired Price Waterhouse to examine records to estimate the economic losses to Japanese Canadians resulting from property confiscations and loss of wages due to internment. Statisticians consulted the detailed records of Custodian of Aliens, and in their 1986, valued the total loss to Japanese Canadians totalled $443 million (in 1986 dollars).[17]

On September 22, 1988, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney gave a formal apology and the Canadian government announced a 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 each surviving internee, and the re-instatement of Canadian citizenship to those who were deported to Japan.[33] The agreement also awarded $12 million to the NAJC to promote human rights and support the community, and $24 million for the establishment of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation to push for the elimination of racism. Nothing was given for those that had been interned and died before compensation was given out.

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 nearby

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Canadian_internment

[obamanut2012]

20. Good God, and I thought the US took a long time to do this