Japanese Assimilation In Canada
Introduction
While Canadian soldiers fought overseas in the name of democracy, the federal government was supporting the re-location of peaceful Japanese Canadians at home. During the Second World War, roughly 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forcibly and unfairly evacuated from the west coast and resettled in other parts of the country. Their struggle continued after the war as they fought for an apology and redress for their loss. While war being declared on Japan was a main reason for evacuating Japanese Canadians from the British Columbia (BC) coast, there were underlying reasons as to why the government took part in the re-location process. Unfortunately their actions only contributed to Canada's poor development of ethnic relations …show more content…
Others voiced their concerns and fears to the provincial government over the possibility of Asian domination in British Columbia (Roy 2003: 90). With many cabinet members expressing similar points of view, the provincial government quickly thought to prohibit any further immigration of Japanese. However, because of Japan’s military ties with Britain, and because Canada was a British subject at that time, completely banning Japanese immigration to Canada based on race was not favourable as it would “embarrass Britain” and its ties with Japan (Roy 2003: 83; Roy et al. 1990: …show more content…
During their fight for redress, the Japanese Canadians were supported by dozens of groups who identified with their experience and the need to assert human rights. One of the groups present was the Aboriginal community, who have been fighting for redress for years (Ebihara 1991). The design of the Japanese Canadian redress has shown a successful approach to equal co-operation of the Japanese Canadian community and the government, and it is apparent that the Aboriginals have adopted a similar method to redress. An Assembly of First Nations (AFN) report suggests that changes be made in the present process (Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR) for compensation. Rather than having a process that “takes too long and costs too much, and does not address the need for truth-sharing, public education and awareness”, the AFN suggests a “two pronged approach” that involves fair and reasonable monetary compensation to each individual or their descendants according to personal experience, as well as to “ongoing activities and resources for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation [that emphasizes] culturally-based approaches to healing” (2004). The suggestion made by the AFN is similar to the format of the Japanese Canadian redress: individual compensation to each of the residential school survivors, a
While Canadian soldiers fought overseas in the name of democracy, the federal government was supporting the re-location of peaceful Japanese Canadians at home. During the Second World War, roughly 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forcibly and unfairly evacuated from the west coast and resettled in other parts of the country. Their struggle continued after the war as they fought for an apology and redress for their loss. While war being declared on Japan was a main reason for evacuating Japanese Canadians from the British Columbia (BC) coast, there were underlying reasons as to why the government took part in the re-location process. Unfortunately their actions only contributed to Canada's poor development of ethnic relations …show more content…
Others voiced their concerns and fears to the provincial government over the possibility of Asian domination in British Columbia (Roy 2003: 90). With many cabinet members expressing similar points of view, the provincial government quickly thought to prohibit any further immigration of Japanese. However, because of Japan’s military ties with Britain, and because Canada was a British subject at that time, completely banning Japanese immigration to Canada based on race was not favourable as it would “embarrass Britain” and its ties with Japan (Roy 2003: 83; Roy et al. 1990: …show more content…
During their fight for redress, the Japanese Canadians were supported by dozens of groups who identified with their experience and the need to assert human rights. One of the groups present was the Aboriginal community, who have been fighting for redress for years (Ebihara 1991). The design of the Japanese Canadian redress has shown a successful approach to equal co-operation of the Japanese Canadian community and the government, and it is apparent that the Aboriginals have adopted a similar method to redress. An Assembly of First Nations (AFN) report suggests that changes be made in the present process (Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR) for compensation. Rather than having a process that “takes too long and costs too much, and does not address the need for truth-sharing, public education and awareness”, the AFN suggests a “two pronged approach” that involves fair and reasonable monetary compensation to each individual or their descendants according to personal experience, as well as to “ongoing activities and resources for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation [that emphasizes] culturally-based approaches to healing” (2004). The suggestion made by the AFN is similar to the format of the Japanese Canadian redress: individual compensation to each of the residential school survivors, a