Japanese Internment In Canada Research Paper

December 7th, 1941 at 7:48 a.m, Pearl Harbour was bombarded by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers that killed 2,403 people and destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. Prime Minister of Canada, Mackenzie King, decided to intern Japanese Canadian citizens based on speculative evidence. Both the RCMP and the Defence Department lacked proof of any sabotage or espionage, but even so, on February 24, 1942, an order-in-council passed under the Defence of Canada Regulations of the War Measures Act gave the federal government the power to intern all people of Japanese racial origin. The Canadian government …show more content…
There is physical evidence that the Japanese were scrutinized by Anti-Japanese associations like the Macintosh of the Standing Committee on Orientals of being faithful to Japan, as opposed to Canada. However, in actuality, no reports were found to support such a judgment. There was even a secret letter composed on August 5th, 1942 from S. T. Wood, an RCMP Commissioner, to W. S. Stevenson that proved the incorruption of the Japanese. Colonel Wood declared in his letter, "We have had no proof of undercover work or harm among the Japanese in British Columbia.". This letter confirms in fact that the Japanese posed no threat to Canada’s national security. The Japanese were interned into camps for an invalid reason: to become spies for Japan thus threatening the safety of Canadians should Japan decide to attack North America. However, due to the strong U.S. naval force in the Pacific, the potential assault on North America was low since it would be a higher hazard and lower gain in contrast with an attack on the southwest Pacific. The Canadian government also took Japanese internment a step further than the Americans did, by selling the property of interned citizens (often far below market value) and using the money to pay for their imprisonment. Furthermore, the proof of injustice brought upon Japanese can be supported by an archive composed by Ken Adachi, a …show more content…
The Japanese endured the agony of family breakups. The men were viewed as more dangerous since they were considered more likely to take part in an uprising. With no more than the allegation of being a spy, the Japanese were forced to live in untenable conditions, with little electricity or running water. They were fed three small non-nutritional meals a day, and worked long hours on sugar beet farms, often cheated out of their wages. Even though there were no barbed wire barriers like the "death camps" in Europe, the Japanese had little opportunity to escape since they were guarded around the clock and the site was remote. The actions of Canadian government further added to the misery of the Japanese when, in 1943, the Canadian government confiscated their property. In 1945, after the official end to World War II, the interned Japanese Canadians were allowed to choose between two scenarios: either be deported back to Japan or to be relocated out of British Columbia. Numerous Japanese Canadians left the country since their roots in Canada had effectively been cut by the Canadian government. In addition to physical and mental stress, Japanese Canadians were not treated with the same respect or equity as other legal Canadian citizens. They were seen as "enemy aliens" and a race who basically could not be