The fear of Japan invading Canada in World War Two cause racism to arise in Canada. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 (Bolotta et al, 2000), Canadian citizens feared the Japanese immigrants living in Canada may aid Japan in attacking. Worried about its citizens and problems that may arise, the Canadian government prevented the problem by interning Japanese Canadians. The issue with this solution was the Canadian Government was not justified in interning the Japanese Canadians. The Canadian government had no reason to intern the Japanese Canadians; it was unreasonable, unnecessary and discriminatory.
First of all, putting Japanese Canadians into internment camps was unreasonable as they had done nothing wrong. The only plausible reason for Japanese Canadians to be interned was they lived near Canada’s west coast which could mean they could supply Japan with information to invade Canada (Bolotta et al, 2000). While it is a valid excuse, RCMP had come out with a report stating Japanese Canadians were no threat to Canada or of anyway dangerous (Bolotta et al, 2000). Furthermore, most Japanese Canadians were born in British Columbia, spoke little to no Japanese, and had little or no relation with Japan(_____*reader’s digest*,1969). In other words, this should have be an indicator that Japanese Canadians were no threat to the country. In simpler terms, the Canadian government had no justifications in interning the Japanese Canadians.
Secondly, the extent of the internment of Japanese Canadians was an unnecessary action made by the Canadian government. For instance, all of their belongings and properties were auctioned off at very low prices which was then used to pay for their internment (______, 1969). If Canadians were af...
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...ision. Fear of Japan attacking Canada caused racism to rise. With Canada’s past with racisms and Asians (Bolotta et al, 2000), interning Japanese Canadians extended the timeline of prejudice actions towards minorities. In simpler terms: fear, prejudice and discrimination against Japanese Canadians caused such unfortunate event to happen to innocent people.
Works Cited
Bigelow, Barbara C., and Christine Slovey. "Jerry Stanley?." World War II: primary sources. Detroit: UXL, 2000. 85-89. Print.
Bolotta, Angelo, Dennis Gerrard, Denise Shortt, Charles Hawkes, Fred Jarman, Marc Keirstead, and Jennifer Watt. "Japanese Canadains Come Under Attack." Canada, Face of a Nation. Scarborough, Ont.: Gage Educational Pub., 2000. 170-172. Print.
"The Evacuation." The Canadians at war 1939/45. Montreal: Reader's Digest Association (Canada), 1969. 114-115. Print.
The tendency to racially discriminate and victimise against certain minorities or a specific nationality was a long-lasting sting of racism which was a part of Canadian history. The discrimination by Canadians directed towards Japanese-Canadians during WWII was a significant historical event that needs to be addressed. After the Pearl Harbour attacks in Hawaii by the Japanese navy, 24,000 Japanese-Canadians were placed in internment camps, where they were stripped of their identity and freedom of rights based upon their racial origin. In the aftermath of the internment, many Japanese-Canadian natives were left without life savings, as all of their belongings were confiscated and never given back. This internment of the Japanese-Canadians occurred
some of the positive ways in which the war changed Canada but the most negative way in which
The discrimination suffered by the “ethnic Canadians” increased during the war was inflicted by both society and the government. An example of the discrimination suffered by “ethnic Canadians” is Sarah Mann, a Canadian-German living though World War 1. Before the people of the town knew she was of German descent, she lived a normal life. But, that all changed when they found out; they vandalized her house by breaking the windows, painting harsh words in red paint or blood, which is overall person to person discrimination. However, throughout the war, it was not just the Canadian-Germans who suffered from discrimination, all ethnicities either than English-Canadian or French-Canadian. Also, they did not only receive discrimination through vandalism, and other person to person discrimination, “ethnic Canadians” faced discrimination by the Canadian government. The governments’ discrimination was caused by the pressure of frightened public experiencing panic because of the Great War. Therefore, the government took action by passing the Wartime Elections Act and the Wartime Measures Act. The Wartime Elections act meant the “ethnic Canadians” would lose their right to vote. The “ethnic Canadians” would also be put into concentration camps or have to register to the police on a regular basis. The historical significance...
The War Measures Act was a law passed in 1914 by the Canadian Government in Canada during WWI, amongst many others that the government had passed that allowed the government to take control of communications, establish censorship of transatlantic cables, and organize the militia (Bolotta, Angelo et al. 39). The War Measures Act itself allowed the government to: censor and suppress publications, writing, maps, plans, photographs, communications, and means of communication, arrest, detain, exclude, and deport persons, control harbours, ports, and territorial waters of Canada and the movements of vessels, control the transport of persons and things by land, air, or water control trade, production, and manufacturing, and appropriate and dispose of property and of the use thereof (Bolotta, Angelo et al. 39). It gave the government emergency powers “allowing it to govern by decree” while Canada was in war (War). In World War I (1914-1920), it had been used to imprison those who were of German, Ukrainian, and Slavic decent, and was used in the same way again in WWII (1939-1945) to imprison Japanese-Canadians, and to seize all of their belongings. They were then relocated into internment camps and concentration camps (Bolotta, Angelo et al. 171). Both times, those that were persecuted did not have the right to object (War). Those these laws had been created for the purpose of protecting Canadians from threats or wars for security, defense, peace order and welfare of Canada it instead greatly limited the rights and freedoms of Canadian citizens and debasing immigrants of enemy countries both in WWI and WWII (Bolotta, Angelo et. Al 39).
Labour leaders in Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s were strongly opposed to the idea of Asians immigrating to Canada. In “Constructing the Great Menace” by David Goutor, it outlines the oppression of Asians by labour leaders which does not conclude that labour leaders hated all immigration and had a prejudice against all racialized groups. The unionists’ main argument for this opposition is based on the stereotype that Asians were claimed to have “accepted low wages and degraded working conditions” thus proving that they will diminish the standard of living for Canadian workers. These Labour Leaders were prejudice to Asians in an effort to supposedly protect Canadian workers and their jobs. However, it is not fair to say that labour
Adams, Michael C. C. The "Best War Ever: America and World War II" Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 1994. Bailey, Ronald H. The Home Front, U.S.A. Time-Life Publishing, Chicago, IL. 1978 Bard, Mitchell G.
“They spoke of the Japanese Canadians,'; Escott Reid, a special assistant at External Affairs, would recall, “in the way that the Nazi’s would have spoken about Jewish Germans.'; Just like in that statement, I intend to expose you to the ways that the Japanese were wronged by Canadians throughout the Second World War. As well, I intend to prove what I have stated in my thesis statement: After the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the Japanese in Canada were wronged by being torn from their homes to be put into internment camps to serve Canadians through hard labour.
It was December 8th, 1941, the day after the attack in Pearl Harbour, that the Canadian government imposed the War Measures Act which changed the lives of more than 21000 Japanese Canadians forever (Paolini). The War Measures Act allowed the government to impose certain conditions on the population in times of crisis. This gave the government the power to intern the Japanese-Canadians during World War Two. These Japanese-Canadians were first tar...
On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3
Systemic discrimination has been a part of Canada’s past. Women, racial and ethnic minorities as well as First Nations people have all faced discrimination in Canada. Policies such as, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provincial and federal Human Rights Codes, as well has various employment equity programs have been placed in Canada’s constitution to fight and address discrimination issues. Despite these key documents placed for universal rights and freedoms Aboriginal and other minority populations in Canada continue to be discriminated against. Many believe there is no discrimination in Canada, and suggest any lack of success of these groups is a result of personal decisions and not systemic discrimination. While others feel that the legislation and equality policies have yet resulted in an equal society for all minorities. Racism is immersed in Canadian society; this is clearly shown by stories of racial profiling in law enforcement.
O'Neill, William L. World War II: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.
was the driving factor that ultimately resulted in the internment of the Japanese Canadians. Racial prejudice against Orientals had been around in B.C. since the 1850s when Chinese immigrants came to Canada to help with the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. A newspaper article described the Chinese as a “marvelous human machine, competent to perform the maximum of labour on the minimum of sustenance” (Adachi 42). While they were beneficial for contractors, they posed a threat to the white population (Figure 3). The cartoon suggests that the low living standards of the Chinese allowed them to endure the harshest conditions, while being satisfied with the lowest wages. In contrast, the typical European is portrayed as a civilized human being who cannot compete with the Chinese workers without sacrificing his dignity. As a result, when the Japanese started immigrating to Canada later on, the British Columbian population only saw them as another threat to their culture due to the similarities they shared with the Chinese. However, the Japanese proved to be a greater problem since they were not affected by the Head Tax imposed on the Chinese (Hickman, 33; Morton). The attack on Pearl Harbour was an excuse that finally allowed British Columbians to release the anti-Japanese sentiment that they had been suppressing for years. In addition, when the final decision to intern the Japanese Canadians was passed, the government considered them all as potential threats (Figure 4). There was no effort made to distinguish those who posed potential threats and those who did not; most of them had no connection with Japan besides for their ancestry. This can only be attributed to racism, as there are only 38 suspects out of the 22,000 internees. Similarly, selling of Japanese property was another racist act that the government claimed to be necessary for the war effort and to increase national security (Sunahara 90; “The War Years”).
Internment was brought about by a justifiable fear for the security of the nation. Japan had pulled off an attack on Pearl Harbor, which no one had thought was conceivable. With the thought that Japan may attack the West Coast of the United States, while the US military was in shock, was on everyone’s mind.
Do you know that despite Canada being called multicultural and accepting, Canada’s history reveals many secrets that contradicts this statement? Such an example are Canadian aboriginals, who have faced many struggles by Canadian society; losing their rights, freedoms and almost, their culture. However, Native people still made many contributions to Canadian society. Despite the efforts being made to recognize aboriginals in the present day; the attitudes of European Canadians, acts of discrimination from the government, and the effects caused by the past still seen today have proven that Canadians should not be proud of Canada’s history with respect to human rights since 1914. First, is because of the attitudes of European Canadians towards aboriginals, which were mostly cruel and inhumane.
Lyons, Michael J. World War II - A Short History. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education,