The Internment of Japanese Canadians and the Stain of Injustice

The internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II marked a profound shift in Canada's treatment of its citizens, motivated by a combination of wartime paranoia and underlying racial prejudice. This exhibit explores and analyzes the systemic violation of civil rights enacted under the camouflage of national security, revealing a consequential era where fear and discrimination led to harsh realities for an entire community. 

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, over 21,000 Japanese Canadians were categorized and labeled as enemy aliens and further subjected to strict regulations that uprooted families, dismantled communities, disrupted their livelihood, and marked them as outsiders in their own country. Men, women, and children were forcibly uprooted from their homes, stripped of their possessions, and ultimately relocated to remote internment camps across the country. These actions by the government were taken without any solid evidence of collective nor individual espionage or sabotage, rather based instead on a government policy deeply rooted in racial prejudice.  

This exhibit presents a series of artifacts that illustrate the scope and impact of these government actions. The Order-in-Council P.C. 1486 set the legal basis for the internment, while photographs of the mass seizure of Japanese Canadian fishing boats and the forced relocation of families to camps highlight the personal, emotional, and economic toll of the policy. Additionally, a photograph of Tashme, the largest of the internment camps, reveals the scale of internment and the resilience of the internees. A featured newspaper artifact from the time provides contemporary insights into the public and governmental discourse surrounding the Japanese Canadian community, reflecting broader societal attitudes and the immediate impacts of policy decisions on the lives of affected individuals.

Concluding with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's apology in 1988, this exhibit not only recounts a major historical injustice but also emphasizes the steps taken towards reconciliation and restitution, marking Canada's progress in acknowledging and learning from this dark chapter. Through these artifacts, the exhibit highlights the enduring spirit and contributions of the Japanese Canadian community and stresses the importance of remembering and understanding this period to ensure the protection of civil liberties for all.