Japanese Internment in Canada WW2

Japanese Canadian Internment

attack-pearl-harbor 2:00

FORCED RELOCATION: THE JAPANESE-CANADIAN STORY 1942-1947 In 1942, the Federal government removed Japanese-Canadians from the coastal areas of British Columbia. Japan's early victories made British Columbians fear an attack, possibly assisted by local Japanese-Canadians, and led to racially motivated pressure for their removal from the west coast. Bowing to public pressure, the Federal government forcibly removed 22,000 Japanese-Canadians from the coastal areas of British Columbia in 1942 and relocated them inland to rudimentary settlements, road camps, and prairie sugar beet farms. So-called "resisters" were sent to military internment camps at Angler and Petawawa, Ontario. Allowed to take few possessions, the evacuees then saw their remaining property confiscated and sold by the Federal government. In 1945, the Canadian government offered Japanese-Canadians two equally harsh options: dispersal to places east of the Rocky Mountains or repatriation to Japan. Threatened with the breakup of their families, some 10,000 Japanese-Canadians consented to repatriation, despite public protest of the government's plan. Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King finally cancelled it in 1947, by which time 4,000 Japanese-Canadians had already been repatriated, the other 6,000 having revoked their consent. Of those who remained in Canada, only a few Japanese-Canadians ever returned to British Columbia. The majority attempted to start new lives elsewhere in the country.

75th Anniversary Narrated by David Suzuki 11:15

Suzuki revisits Slocan Internment Camp 2:14

https://www.nfb.ca/film/enemy_alien

David Suzuki

https://www.nfb.ca/film/minoru-memory-of-exile

This feature-length documentary tells the story of the Asahi baseball team. In pre-World War II Vancouver, the team was unbeatable, winning the Pacific Northwest Championship for five straight years. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, all persons of Japanese descent in Canada were sent to internment camps. The former Asahi members survived by playing ball. Their passion was contagious and soon other players joined in, among them RCMP officials and local townspeople. As a result, the games helped break down racial and cultural barriers. This remarkable story is told with a combination of archival footage, interviews and dramatic re-enactments.

https://www.nfb.ca/film/sleeping_tigers_the_asahi_baseball_story

Gov't apology 1988