Japanese Internment During Ww2 Research Paper

Report of Japanese Internment during ww2
After the Japanese’ entry to the war (Pearl Harbour) on December 7 1941 the Canadian government became more paranoid that Japanaese Canadians were spies and would guide Japanese naval ships through a shipping canal in Canada.(Sunahara) Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbour, 21 000 people of Japanese descent were ordered to move 160km inland from the west coast. They were first held in barns at Hasting Park, Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition grounds. They later on were sent to internment camps in British Columbia. Many Japanese men were separated from their families and sent to road camps in Ontario and on the coast of BC and Alberta. (JapaneseCanadianHistory) The internees were victims of sickness and cold, and were in crammed conditions for they were packed in barns. All Japanese belongings were auctioned off and only a small percent of the money was put towards internment camps. (JapaneseCanadianHistory) Japanese Canadians had to start over and they had two options: go to Japan, or move to the eastern parts of Canada. PM King declared “It is a fact no person of Japanese race born in Canada has been
charged with any act of sabotage or disloyalty during the years of the war.” (JapaneseCanadianHistory)
For my artifact I chose to draw a map of all the camps in British Columbia where they kept Japanese Canadians in internment, road camps, self-supporting camps, and war camps.
I chose to do the map because it shows how many different places Japanese Canadians were put. I do not want people to forget what happened because this was a terrible thing. If people remember then things like this, than they are less likely to happen again. People’s properties, vehicles, boats and belongings were sold and with it, their life erased and they had to start over. 4000 Japanese were sent back to Japan. Approximately 2000 of them were Canadian born and had no friends or relatives living in Japan. (Sunahara). Over all my map represents the breadth of the impact, and all the different places that 21 000 Japanese Canadians were
taken.
Interning 21 000 Japanese Canadians during World War 2 was a terrible act. The government forced Japanese-Canadians out of their home taking only the belongings they could carry. By the end of internment they sold everything the Japanese owned, even their business. The Japanese in camps were prone to sickness and the cold, put in tight conditions, and the men were put to work. Anyone who resisted in the camps was labeled as a “Resistor” and was send to military camps in Angler and Petawawa. (WarMuseum) It wasn’t until 46 years later that the government of Canada gave an apology to the Japanese. The government ruined the lives of 21 000 Japanese because they thought some could be spies. None of the Japanese that the government suspected to be spies were ever found to be guilty. (JapaneseCanadianHistory) What Canada did was embarrassing. In conclusion, the internment of Japanese-Canadians was unnecessary and hurt our reputation; it made part of Canada a country we should be ashamed of.