Unjustifiable Internment of Japanese Canadian in 1942

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The internment of over 20,000 Japanese Canadians was carried out by the order of the Canadian government starting in 1942, with all restrictions lifted in 1949, and is considered one of the most controversial events in Canadian history. It was an inexcusable event as the Japanese populous of primarily western Canada had their property sold without their consent and compensation was not given until 1988, forty-three years after the end of the war. The Canadian government believed it was a necessary evil as they posed a threat to national security . However, the government’s internment of the Japanese population of Canada in reaction to public hysteria was in no way vindicated as it’s only reason was the racism that already existed towards people of Asiatic origin, it violated their basic human and was not necessary as the vast majority of the Japanese people would not have engaged in sabotage or spying for Japan during the war.
Tensions between people of Asiatic origins and the other members of the population have Canada existed long before the internment camps, and is said that the racism “had defined their communities since the first immigrants arrived in the 1870’s”. The primary source for the animosity towards Japanese Canadians was the Asiatic Exclusion League, which was formed in 1907. Its stated aim was to "to keep Oriental immigrants out of British Columbia" , and it served as an excuse for their belief in white supremacy. In 1907 an Anti-Asian riot rampaged through the Japanese sections of Vancouver to protest the presence of Asian workers who they felt threatened their livelihood. The federal government was to stop immigration from Asia and the prejudices were then institutionalized into law. Asians were denied the vote...

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...entennial Project.1877-1977 the Japanese Canadians a Dream of Riches.Vancouver: Gilchnist Wright,1978
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Kobayashi, Audrey. “The Uprooting of Japanese Canadians and Japanese Americans during the 1940’s: Security of Whom?”.Canadian Issues. Fall 2005: 28-30
Omatsu, Maryka. Bittersweet passage: redress and the Japanese Canadian experience. Toronto: Between The Lines, 1992. Print.
Sunahara, Ann Gomer. The politics of racism: the uprooting of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Toronto: Lorimer, 1981. Print.
Wand W. Peter. White Canada Forever. Montreal: McGill-Queen University press,1978.

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