Japanese Canadian Internment

Multiculturalism is an important thing in Canada’s culture. Canada takes pride in the different cultures we have today. Some examples of cultures we have are: Caribbean, Asian, and European cultures. The Japanese people in Canada are proud of their culture. Their past, though, was very rough because their country, along with Germany, was part of World War II, playing as the enemies. Both countries wanted to build great empires, so they started to attack many countries in Europe and Asia, expanding their territory, and that’s how the war started. During this war, Japanese people living in Canada, also known as Japanese Canadians, were treated badly because other Canadians thought of them as traitors and enemies. In this essay, I will be talking about the history on how the Japanese were treated during the war, the rights that they were given, and what happened to the Japanese after the war. The first thing I’ll be talking about is how the Japanese were treated during the war. It all began on December 7, 1941, when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, USA. When the Canadians heard the news on Pearl Harbour, they told all Japanese Canadians to move to British Columbia. They were put into internment camps until the war was over because the Canadians couldn’t trust them ever since the Pearl Harbour incident. Many interned children were brought up to these camps. When David Suzuki was a child, he was brought over to one of these camps because he was also Japanese Canadian. The Canadian government gave this order “based on speculation of sabotage and espionage, although the RCMP and defense department lacked proof.” They also weren’t a threat to national security. The Japanese Canadians were given lots of racist comments during this time, and they were really depressed too. In their camps, they had to live in ghettos, which is an area or community that is segregated or isolated and is inhabited by a socially and economically deprived minority. During this