Japanese canadian internment introduction Social studies 11

Outline Last class we examined some significant battles of WWII.   Today, we are going to begin our discussions on Japanese Canadian internment. Our outline for today is: A discussion and video on Pearl Harbour A discussion on Japanese Internment An activity on the causes for the internment

Japanese Canadian internment Much like the internment operations we discussed when learning about WWI, Japanese Canadian Internment is a very dark period of Canadian history. My grandparents who were born in B.C. both experienced the internment. Here is something my grandfather recollected about when he was forcefully removed from his home and put to work on a farm in Alberta. You feel awful. You got to leave your home, leave all your belongings there. We got kicked out, and if you didn’t want to go they’d put you in the internment camps. That’s the way the politicians were. They took everything away, they just took it away. You got no say at all…you figure you be coming back in a couple of months, so you left everything... By the time you went back nothing was there. ... I was a Canadian born, but that didn’t matter. - Tom Yamashita Looking back on this, its hard to imagine why the Government would want to issue such devastating measures. Today, we are going to learn why they did.

Pearl Harbor Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. We are now going to watch an edited scene form the movie Pearl Harbor that depicts the events that happened during the attack.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMrrflkfyns

Discuss with neighbours: Imagine that Japan bombed California and that Squamish was a predominantly Japanese community. Would you feel safe? What would you do to ensure your safety?

Background We are going to read some background information on the internment. After we read, we will discuss some of the main points.

Discussion What work did Japanese men find in Canada? What sentiments do the terms “Asian invasion” and “yellow peril” identify and why did these sentiments grow? What percentage of the Japanese Canadian population had Canadian citizenship? Where did Japanese Canadians get sent during the war? Where did they go when the war ended? What is the historical significance of the internment?

What is an immediate cause? What is an underlying cause? Brainstorm What is an immediate cause?   What is an underlying cause? Immediate Causes: Are often the most obvious and easily identifiable. Directly cause the event in question. Often, the removal of the immediate cause will do little to prevent a similar event from occurring again. For this reason, immediate causes are often seen as being less important than underlying.   Underlying causes: Are usually less obvious and more difficult for the historian to identify Often an underlying belief, ideal, or practice amongst a group of people, and not isolated to a single historical event. Often, the removal of the underlying cause will prevent a similar event from occurring again. For this reason, underlying causes are often seen as being more important than immediate.

Japanese canadian internment: causes We have done a few activities where we analyze for causal factors. Our task now is to use what we’ve learned to analyze a series of documents on Japanese Internment to identify what caused the event.

Work time We are going to use the remainder of class time to get caught up on missed work.   These are our Priorities: Historical Significance Assignment WWI Diary Entry If you have those completed, look at our class blog or your binder for any worksheets you have not completed. Check with me about what should be done.

summary Today we began our discussions on Japanese internment and learned about some of the reasons why it happened.   Next class we will be digging deeper into this traumatic history.