Internment of Japanese Canadians

Common card · No. 242000

From 1942 to 1949, Canada forcibly relocated and interned over 22,000 Japanese Canadians—comprising over 90% of the total Japanese Canadian population—from British Columbia on the grounds of national security. The majority were Canadian citizens by birth and were targeted based on their ancestry. This decision followed the events of the Empire of Japan's war in the Pacific against the Western Allies, such as the invasion of Hong Kong, the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the Fall of Singapore which led to the Canadian declaration of war on Japan during World War II. Similar to the actions taken against Japanese Americans in neighbouring United States, Japanese Canadians were also subjected to government-enforced curfews and interrogations, job and property losses, and forced repatriation to Japan. From shortly after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor until 1949, Japanese Canadians were stripped of their homes and businesses, then sent to internment camps and farms in British...

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