Japanese-Canadian Internment during the Second World War
Japanese Canadian Internment
The Japanese Canadian internment was the forced removal of more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War by the government of Canada.
Following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, prominent British Columbians, including members of municipal government offices, local newspapers and businesses called for the internment of the Japanese. In British Columbia, there were fears that some Japanese who worked in the fishing industry were charting the coastline for the Japanese navy, acting as spies on Canada's military. Military and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) authorities felt the public's fears were unwarranted, but the public opinion quickly pushed the government to act.[1] Canadian Pacific Railway fired all the Japanese workers, and most other Canadian companies did the same.[1] Japanese fish boats were first confined to port, and eventually, the Canadian navy seized 1,200 of these vessels.[1] Many boats were damaged, and over one hundred sank.[2]
A Royal Canadian Navy officer questions Japanese-Canadian fishermen while confiscating their boat.In January 1942, a "protected" 100-mile (160 km) wide strip up the Pacific coast was created, and any men of Japanese descent between the ages of 18 and 45 were removed and taken to road camps in the British Columbian interior, to sugar beet projects on the Prairies, or to internment in a POW camp in Ontario. Despite the 100-mile quarantine, a few men at the McGillivray Falls, just outside the quarantine zone, were employed at a logging operation at Devine, near D'Arcy, British Columbia, which is inside the quarantine zone, while those in the other Lillooet Country found employment with farms, stores, and the railway.[3]. Tashme, on Highway 3 just east of Hope, among the most notorious of the camps for harsh conditions, was just outside of the exclusion zone. All others, including Slocan, were in the Kootenay Country in southeastern British Columbia.[4]
Most of
The Japanese Canadian internment was the forced removal of more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War by the government of Canada.
Following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, prominent British Columbians, including members of municipal government offices, local newspapers and businesses called for the internment of the Japanese. In British Columbia, there were fears that some Japanese who worked in the fishing industry were charting the coastline for the Japanese navy, acting as spies on Canada's military. Military and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) authorities felt the public's fears were unwarranted, but the public opinion quickly pushed the government to act.[1] Canadian Pacific Railway fired all the Japanese workers, and most other Canadian companies did the same.[1] Japanese fish boats were first confined to port, and eventually, the Canadian navy seized 1,200 of these vessels.[1] Many boats were damaged, and over one hundred sank.[2]
A Royal Canadian Navy officer questions Japanese-Canadian fishermen while confiscating their boat.In January 1942, a "protected" 100-mile (160 km) wide strip up the Pacific coast was created, and any men of Japanese descent between the ages of 18 and 45 were removed and taken to road camps in the British Columbian interior, to sugar beet projects on the Prairies, or to internment in a POW camp in Ontario. Despite the 100-mile quarantine, a few men at the McGillivray Falls, just outside the quarantine zone, were employed at a logging operation at Devine, near D'Arcy, British Columbia, which is inside the quarantine zone, while those in the other Lillooet Country found employment with farms, stores, and the railway.[3]. Tashme, on Highway 3 just east of Hope, among the most notorious of the camps for harsh conditions, was just outside of the exclusion zone. All others, including Slocan, were in the Kootenay Country in southeastern British Columbia.[4]
Most of