World War II Japanese Canadians And the Battle for Hong Kong

After Pearl Harbour anti-Asian sentiment in Canada grew –Within days the CPR fired all of its Japanese workers – most other industries did too –Japanese fishermen in BC were ordered to stay in port –1200 fishing boats were seized by the Canadian navy –Curfews imposed on Japanese Canadians and enforced by soldiers –Mob attacks – flaming torches into rooming houses, bricks through windows and businesses

Attack on Hong Kong December 8 th, 1941 – day after Pearl Harbour, Japanese laid siege to Hong Kong (a British colony) –2000 inexperienced Canadian troops were there with little training (and 18,000 British) Some had never fired their rifles; others didn’t know how to throw a grenade!

After 17 days of battle Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day, 1941 –800 Canadian casualties –POWs were brutalized wounded were murdered nurses were raped and killed survivors tortured - In total, 264 Canadians died in Japanese POW camps

Canadian Homefront Canadians reacted badly to the attacks in Pearl Harbour and Hong Kong –Wanted revenge and the closest target were Japanese Canadians –Scared of more attacks – feared Japanese Canadians might still be loyal to Japan and attack Canada By 1942 more than half the “Japanese” living in Canada had been born here and weren’t really “Japanese” at all – they were Canadian!! And they didn’t agree with what Japan was doing

Canadians decided the Japanese-Canadians were dangerous and might act as spies –Government ordered they be moved from all coastal areas in 1942 –Were sent to isolated camps in the BC interior and separated –Males between the ages of 18 and 45 were sent to a “protected area”, some as farms laborers in the Prairies and Ontario – work camps –Women and children were sent somewhere else – families split up

Government held auctions to sell their possessions, homes and businesses – confiscated their fishing boats –Owners did not get the money –Government used the money to pay for the camps they kept the Japanese-Canadians in Note: There is not even ONE document case of any Japanese-Canadian working as a spy for Japan

Compensation 1988 Prime Minister Brian Mulroney agreed to partially pay back Japanese-Canadian survivors for their losses –public apology –$21,000 for each surviving Japanese-Canadian born before 1949 –$12 million to the Japanese-Canadian Assoc. for low- cost housing for elderly Japanese-Canadians

Fort Minor – “Kenji” 4I94

Homework Answer the following and hand it in to be marked Taking into account what you now know about Pearl Harbour, Hong Kong, Japanese expansion, Canadian reaction and Japanese-Canadians during WWII do you think that the Canadian government was right to act the way that it did? Do you support the 1988 policy to compensate Japanese Canadians for their losses during WWII? Explain.