A Brief History
On February 24, 1942, the government passed a law under the “War Measures Act” allowing the government to relocate and intern citizens of Japanese origin. The government that enacted this law was the Canadian federal government! The sorry history of the United States treating its own Japanese citizens in such a hysterical and racist manner is far more well documented and familiar to Americans, and little attention is paid to the fact our genial neighbors to the North did the same thing.
Digging Deeper
On February 24, 1983, the United States Congress Special Commission passed a resolution condemning the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, over 40 years late for an apology! The US internment had taken place from February 19, 1942 (Executive Order 9066) and lasted until March 20, 1945. The “relocated” Japanese Americans were forced to quit their jobs and sell their property, usually at enormous loss and move with only those items they could carry. Sent to hastily constructed camps with armed guards and barbed wire, it was as if these innocent Americans were prisoners. (They were.) The West Coast of the United States was stripped of Japanese Americans, but curiously in Hawaii where Japanese Americans made up a third of the population, only about 10% were interned.
President Carter ordered an investigation into this shameful chapter of American History, and in 1988 President Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act that apologized to the Japanese Americans interned and authorized a $20,000 payment (reparations) to each person surviving that had been interned. Of course, this paltry amount did not come close to making up for the ruined lives the internment had caused. Various investigations into the internment policy found that differences of opinion existed among government employees and advisers, and that those reports and opinions against internment were covered up.
It is often pointed out that Italian and German Americans were not interned, although we were at war with those countries during World War II, but in fact small numbers of German and Italian Americans were interned, sometimes in the same camps as the Japanese Americans!
After Canada followed the American lead and interned Japanese Canadians under the Defence of Canada Regulations, the Canadian government seized the property of the internees, justifying this grab by claiming the sale of this property would fund the government relocation program. While the American “relocation” or “internment” camps have been characterized as actually being concentration camps, the Canadians did without the pretext and sent Japanese Canadians to prisoner of war camps, including stables, barnyards, and unheated shacks. The Canadian atrocity did not end until 1949 when full voting and citizenship rights were finally restored to Japanese Canadians. Mass deportation to Japan was mandated for many Japanese Canadians after the War! Intense discrimination and restrictive laws also followed the War.
In 1988, the Canadian government, facing the same sort of activism that prompted US apologies and reparations, issued an apology and a payment of $21,000 to each surviving internee.
Today, with hindsight, the rough treatment of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians seems harsh and racially motivated, and had no substantial evidence of being necessary other than hysteria. Question for students (and subscribers): Is the current situation with Muslim Americans and Muslim Canadians likewise a case of hysteria and racial hatred over-ruling logic and facts? Please feel free to give us your opinion about the World War II internment of Japanese in Canada and the US, and whether or not such action (to a greater or lesser extent) should be taken to regulate Muslims in the US and Canada in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Inada, Lawson Fusao, Patricia Wakida, et al. Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience. Heyday, 2014.
Reeves, Richard. Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II. Picador, 2016.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="15313 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=15313">24 Comments
What America and Canada did to the Japanese was abhorrent and the monetary reparations our government and the Canadian government offered to survivors was insulting. I do believe that peoples fears of Muslims is pure hysteria. There are more than 1.6 billion Muslims in this world and only about 125,000 Muslims are thought to either be radicalized or at risk for becoming radicalized, in the ENTIRE world. So, I would say our risk of having Sharia Law take effect in the United States of America or millions of our citizens to become radicalized is 0%.
In the time that these events took place, I do find the treatment of the Japanese to be harsh. But this is not the same as the Muslims in current time. I believe we are not stern enough currently. It is not an issue of race, it is an issue of national security. Currently, we have not done anything “racist: or “prejudice” to the Muslims who are currently living in the United States? We have only halted the rapid immigration of Muslims into our country until we have reestablished national security
The picture is offensive, its sad that the place people move to have a better life ends up treating them like they shouldn’t be here for their ethnicity. Also I understand the money was to ‘makeup’ for what we had done to them but I don’t think any amount of money could fix the lives we ruined.
It’s sad what the U.S. did to Japanese Americans. I mean I get that the U.S. was scared that there could’ve been spies among the Japanese Americans but I feel that there could’ve been a different and better way to deal with it.
I do believe that the current situation with Muslim Americans and Muslim Canadians is a case of hysteria and racial hatred over-ruling logic and facts. This is due to that most terrorists use the Muslim religion as a backdrop for their terrorists acts. This causes people to put other Muslims in the same group. In my opinion, the World War II internment of Japanese in Canada and the US was uncalled for. The people in those camps had nothing to do with the war. It was not their fault that their fellow country men decided to go to war. I truly believe that innocent people should be punished for other people’s mistakes.
It is sad how the Japanese Americans were treated. I do not think that the current Muslim’s are being treated the same. It is my opinion that the US must protect itself first and I don’t think it should matter what nationality.
It is very saddening the amount of hatred a person can show towards someone of another race.
We fear what we don’t understand. The U.S. at the time didn’t understand Japanese-Americans so what did they do? They locked them up. As for the present day, it’s not much different than what many Americans think about the Muslim religion now. I wonder, if any of those people know anything about Islam (other than what they have read or seen on tv)? Have they ever visited a mosque? I doubt it. Until people stop to think for one second about what life is like in another person’s shoes and seek to understand more about a religion that they do not know about, close-mindedness, erroneous information,and flat out bigotry will continue to run rampant.
It is amazing that there is a majority of Americans who do not know about Japanese internment camps. Their limited knowledge of WWII is Pearl Harbor, D-Day, and German concentration camps. While we weren’t operating death camps, and the living conditions were much more suitable, we still imprisoned innocent citizens. I like the comparison to current event with Muslim Americans or Muslim immigrants. Can you imagine if we put all of them in internment camps after 9/11 or the Boston Bombing?
I will be the first to admit that I am not very well educated on the history of America. I know we learned a lot of different things in school, but it seems like we were so sheltered from the events leading up to a war, or events that took places. Or, possibly it was my fault and I didn’t pay attention like I could have. I did not know about the Japanese internment camps. It seems like they were driven by mass hysteria though, and if it was driven by, these actions obviously ended up causing it. Especially considering Canada followed in suit.
It is not surprising that very few Italians and Germans were interred. They are European and the standard norm in the US is European. Asians in general were looked upon with suspicion.
The interment of citizens of Japanese origin as a result of WWII hysteria is a sad time in our country’s history. I did not know that Canadian federal government did it as well. I sure hope our country has learned its lesson and doesn’t try it again.
It’s sad that this happened to the Japanese culture. Why is it these things happen and then are not discussed until a later date and then offering monetary values to make up for it, just isn’t right.
Fear caused many people to lose everything. Their homes, jobs, money. It is so sad that the United States did not stand by and protect its people.
I agree with Kyle in that I also hope that the U.S., Canada, or any other Western government attempts to intern people of a country that is perceived as a threat. It seems that in the case of the Japanese, it was seen as easier to simply lock up anybody who looked like they could be a threat than to seriously investigate who posed a serious threat to peace. I fear that the recent Muslim ban shares the same racist undertones, and I hope I am wrong in making such a connection.
This is such a huge blemish in the U.S. and Canadian history. It’s disgusting that someone thought that 20,000.00 dollars would even begin to make up for the horrific way in which we treated citizens based on their ethical background. People had to give up businesses, houses, possessions, pets, and their lifestyles to go to these prisons…. gated and guarded, for doing nothing at all.
….and sadly, not much has changed today!!!
Interesting questions you would like answered. Most of it is hysteria, until it is not. But it could be the other way around too… it’s not hysteria but should be.
It is very sad that people were treated this harshly.
I can’t believe that our country did that to Japanese American people, but not only did our country do that but Canada did as well. They put those people in what you can say “concentration camps.”
It doesn’t seem like much has changed…
it was a sadness history, which war affected citizens life
I personally hate Japanese military in the past, especially at NanJing War. Canadian government was pretty nice by giving money for apologies and reparation to survival people.
I believed I commented about this before, however, no amount of money could negate the horrible actions our government treating Japanese Americans.