Discrimination In Canada

In two civilized western countries, it is expected that their laws will sufficiently protect their people, regardless of their age, race, gender, sexuality, or religion, among other factors. It is also presumed that all residents, citizens or otherwise, will be safe from inhumane treatment. However, in the 1940’s, those of Japanese descent in Canada and the United States were not afforded either luxury. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese-Canadians and Japanese-Americans became the enemies of their own nations. Discrimination was nothing new; American immigrants of Asian descent were barred from gaining citizenship, and all residents of Japanese descent over the age of 14 (United States) or 16 (Canada) were required to register and
Within 24 hours of the attack, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom declared war on Japan. Under the War Measures Act, Order of Council P. C. 9591, all Japanese nationals, as well as those who had become naturalized Canadian citizens after 1922, lost their citizenships, becoming enemy aliens. Within 48 hours, nearly 1300 Japanese-American immigrants were in custody. In the coming months, much more than their citizenships would be ripped away from
The following day, the United States began removing the Japanese from certain parts of California, which had been deemed “military areas”, using the authority granted by Executive Order 9066, which had been signed less than a week before. These people, who were guilty of no other crime than having Japanese heritage, were taken from their homes, only allowed to bring one piece of luggage with them. Their homes and businesses were confiscated (or “put into trust”) when they left, joining their cars, fishing boats, cameras, and radios, which had long before been taken from them. The concentration camps to which they were taken were primitive: in Canada, where internees had to pay for their stay, many of the camps had no running water or electricity. George Takei, who was a child while in both the Rohwer and Tule Lake internment camps in the United States, described the latter camp as having “more than 18,500 inmates behind three layers of barbed-wire fence and with tanks patrolling the perimeter.” He also told of “barbed wire and the sentry towers where guards kept guns trained on [the