December 7th, 1941
The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.The United States declares war on Japan. Canada declares war on Japan. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police immediately impound 1200 Japanese fishing boats and close Japanese language schools and newspapers. The Federal Cabinet passes Order-in-council P.C. 9591 under the War Measures Act requiring all Japanese nationals to register with the Registrar of Enemy Aliens All persons of Japanese ancestry are required to register with the Registrar of Enemy Aliens regardless of citizenship (Order-in-council P.C. 9760) The area 100 miles inland from the west coast of Canada is designated a ‘protected area’. All Japanese male nationals between the ages of 18 to 45 are to be relocated from the protected area (Order-in-council P.C. 365) All persons of Japanese origin are expulsed from the protected area (Order-in- council P.C. 1486). Cars, cameras and radios are confiscated, and a dusk-to-dawn curfew is imposed. The British Columbia Security Commission is established to implement the complete evacuation of the Japanese from the coast. Most are relocated to internment and detention camps in interior British Columbia and Ontario, and sugar beet farms in Alberta and Manitoba (Order-in-council P.C. 1665) Widespread looting occurs throughout most communities immediately after the Japanese are evacuated from their homes All remaining property and belongings left by the evacuees are entrusted to the Custodian of Alien Properties Approximately 22,000 Japanese Canadians had been uprooted forcibly from their British Columbian homes and relocated across Canada The Custodian of Enemy Alien Property is authorized the right to dispose of Japanese properties and chattels without the owner’s consent (Order-in-council P.C. 469) The Minister of Labour is awarded control over all movement of the Japanese in Canada including the right to prohibit or prescribe the terms of their residence in any part of Canada (Order-in-council P.C. 946) Japan surrenders to the Allied Powers after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Most internment camps are ordered closed and destroyed Japanese Canadians are encouraged to apply for voluntary repatriation to Japan.The remainder must, under the War Measures Act, remain dispersed across Canada Restrictions imposed under the War Measures Act are lifted, permitting free movement of Japanese Canadians throughout Canada By this time, 3,964 Japanese Canadians had returned to Japan. Less than 1000 remained in British Columbia
December 8th, 1941
December 16th, 1941
January 16th, 1942
February 24th, 1942
March 4th, 1942
October, 1942
January 23rd, 1943
February 5th, 1943
August 15th, 1945
March 31st, 1949
References: ‘Two Reports on Japanese Canadians in World War II’, Department of Labour of Canada. New York: Arno Press, 1978 Sando, Tom. Wild Daisies in the Sand, Life in a Canadian Internment Camp . Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2002 Yesaki, Mitsuo. Sutebustuton: A Japanese Village on the British Columbian Coast . Vancouver: Peninsula Pub- lishing Company, 2003 City of Vancouver. ‘Historical and Cultural Review of Powell Street (Japantown)’. www.vancouver.ca/ www.japanesecanadianhistory.net
Tanya Southcott (M Arch, Waterloo) is an intern architect working in Vancouver.
62 On Site review 22: WAR
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