Righting Canada's Wrongs: Japanese Canadian Interment in the Second World War

As indicated by the name, this series is hopeful. It is not about opening old wounds; it's about remembering the past, understanding it and moving forward. - Nikkei Voice

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941, there were over 20,000 Japanese Canadians living in British Columbia. From the first arrivals in the late nineteenth century, they had taken up work in the province, established families and communities, and had become part of Canadian society, despite frequently being faced with racism and prejudice in its many forms.

But with war came wartime hysteria. After Pearl Harbour, Japanese Canadian residents of BC were rounded up and forced to move to internment camps with inadequate housing, water, and food. Their homes and properties were seized. Men and older boys were sent to road camps, while some families ended up on farms where they were essentially used as slave labour. Eventually, after years of pressure, the Canadian government admitted that the internment was wrong and apologized for it.

Through historical photographs, documents, and first-person narratives from five Japanese Canadians who were youths when they endured the experience, this book provides a full account of an important and shocking episode in Canadian history.