Artefact 1; Order-in-Council P.C. 1486
Citation: Canada Gazette, 1867-1946. Vol. 75, no. 212 (Extra), February 27, 1942. http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=cangaz&id=7380&lang=eng
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On February 24, 1942, following the Pearl Harbor attack, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King passed Order-in-Council P.C. 1486. The order, authorized by the War Measures Act, enabled the government to forcibly remove over 21,000 Japanese Canadians from the Pacific Coast to internment camps and labor sites all across Canada. Initiated by Justice Minister Louis St. Laurent through a "Notice to all persons of Japanese Racial Origin," the order marked the beginning of a systematic uprooting that would last until 1949.
This legislation allowed the RCMP to enforce strict measures such as a dusk-to-dawn curfew, warrantless searches, and the confiscation of personal property including; cars, radios, firearms, and cameras. Personal effects and vehicles were gathered and sold at significantly reduced prices by the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property, erasing the economic foundations of entire communities! The internment process involved relocating families to holding facilities, shockingly, families were initially confined in the livestock buildings at Hastings Park in Vancouver, highlighting the inhumane conditions they were subjected to, before being moved to more permanent camps.
The impact of P.C. 1486 continued even after the war, with a secondary uprooting mandated in September 1945 that forced those interned to either move east of the Rocky Mountains or face deportation to Japan. However, widespread protest and public lobbying led to the revocation of deportation orders in 1947, and by March 31, 1949, all restrictions on Japanese Canadians were finally lifted.
Bibliography:
[2] Kobayashi, Audrey. "The Uprooting of Japanese Canadians and Japanese Americans during the 1940s: SECURITY OF WHOM?" Canadian Issues (Fall, 2005): 28-30. https://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/uprooting-japanese-canadians-americans-during/docview/208679255/se-2