AHC/WI: No Canadian Japanese Internment

While I would "love'' to place the blame for this outrageous action entirely upon the head of our Prime Minister of the period (William Lyon Mackenzie King), I fear internment of our Japanese-Canadian citizens would have taken place no which which party held the levers of power in Canada at the time. :(
 
It was mostly about seizing fishing boats from Japanese-Canadian fisherman and auctioning them off to Canadian-born fishermen.

Sadly, the majority of immigrants move to Canada because they are tired of political violence and warfare in their homelands.
 
All it would take is King listening to the security services, which like their US counterparts saw no reason for internment. His reasons were a) keeping BC Liberal b) fear of pogroms c) fear of fifth column d) racism. Ultimately he ignored the experts and listened to the hysterical BC pols and voters. A) federal Tories are a pathetic joke B) can be handled if necessary C) cite experts to Cabinet D) cite experts.
 
I said IF it is to be believed!

All it would take is King listening to the security services, which like their US counterparts (1) saw no reason for internment. His reasons were a) keeping BC Liberal (2) b) fear of pogroms (3) c) fear of fifth column (4) d) racism. (5) Ultimately he ignored the experts and listened to the hysterical BC pols and voters. (6) A) federal Tories are a pathetic joke (7a) B) can be handled if necessary (7b) C) cite experts to Cabinet (7c) D) cite experts. (7d)

1) Depends on who and what you mean by "expert". General DeWitt, commanding US Western Defense, was ferociously in favor of internment. In the US it was mostly about grabbing prime California real estate at bargain basement prices. Never heard about seizing Japanese-Canadian fishing boats though. In Hawaii, they couldn't take away the Nisei and Issei on the grounds that it would have destroyed the economy if 1/4 of the population were forcibly evacuated!:eek: But a measly 110,000 on the West Coast was OK as long as there was $$$ to be made.:mad::eek:

2) Keeping the US House Democratic in 1942, which they did by 42 votes. Not that internment made the difference, but the "saintly" FDR could be a real cold-hearted son of a bitch when he wanted to be.

3) What?

4) The Canadian people are not the strident nationalists that most Americans (by comparison) are. But maybe if the average Canuck HAD been they would have been more able to accept that Japanese-Canadians could have just as much pride in their country as their fellow countrymen.

5) I could be snarky and say that that can't happen in Canada, but I won't:rolleyes:

6) Putting him alongside with FDR on the worst day of Roosevelt's life as a leader, as a politician, and as a man.:mad:

7a-d) Would you mind expounding on this?:confused:

I saw a made-in-Canada made-for-TV film many years (20?) about what happened to the Japanese-Canadians in WWII, using one family and what happened to them. I confess IDK if it was fictional or not, but I had the overall impression that it was true.:confused:

It was a real shock. The differences between how Ottawa treated their Nisei and Issei were in many ways both much better and much worse than what was done by Washington. The Americans were sent to miserable "relocation centers". That is, concentration camps in the literal sense, concentrating unwanted populations in unsanitary environments with little medical care and mostly harsh desert conditions.

I confess that its been so many years now that I don't remember:eek: what the conditions were in the Canadian camps, but from what little I can recall at least the conditions were better.

OTOH, there was the question of "loyalty". After the initial crazy-panic and relocations in the USA, and especially after the Battle of Midway, there seemed to be something of a cooling off of tensions in the US.

At least enough to allow Nisei to serve in the military. Up to this point, Japanese-Americans had been specifically barred from serving in the armed forces, thanks to racists laws and more racist judicial rulings denying them the rights of citizenship (Sound familiar?). But in WWII beggars couldn't be choosers.:p The rest (442nd Regimental Combat Team) was history. Shamed by their sterling performance, the Supreme Court finally got off their collective fat asses and released the internees. By the Summer of 1944, most of them were freed.

IF that Canadian film was to be believed, however...the Japanese-Canadians who had already for many years going back to WWI freely served in the Canadian Armed Forces? They found themselves being taken out of the line and sent to internment themselves!:eek::mad::confused: I know there can't have been too many of them, but even one was too much. There were no 442nd Regimental Combat Teams in the Canadian Army, it seems:(:eek: And again, if that film was true, Canada's Nisei were kept locked up until VJ-Day:eek::mad: I also got the impression that the Japanese-Canadians were told that they had to be moved to Ontario or points east if they wanted to stay in Canada, or else they'd face mandatory deportation, but I could well be wrong on that.

Also, proportionally a lot more Japanese-Canadians it seems opted to be deported via the USSR (usually to go with their Issei parents) to Japan than happened in the USA (mainly the Americans who did so were known as the No-No Boys, for their refusal to swear allegiance or to serve in the military if asked).

I don't get it... Tell me please RogueBeaver that that movie was complete bullshit...!?

EDIT: "The War Between Us" starring (among others) the veteran Japanese-Canadian actor Robert Ito. This was the film.
 
Last edited:
All it would take is King listening to the security services, which like their US counterparts saw no reason for internment. His reasons were a) keeping BC Liberal b) fear of pogroms c) fear of fifth column d) racism. Ultimately he ignored the experts and listened to the hysterical BC pols and voters. A) federal Tories are a pathetic joke B) can be handled if necessary C) cite experts to Cabinet D) cite experts.

Did he think Japanese-Canadians were that Conservative? Odd.

Without internment, what butterflies/effects might there be on modern Canada? More Japanese, possibly?
 
He worried about backlash from BC's mostly white population, even though the BC Tories were junior partners in the Liberal-Tory coalition government provincially and were a federal nonentity. The other 3 reasons were more important. King's personal views on this subject were informed by his expertise and deep-seated racism.
 
Did he think Japanese-Canadians were that Conservative? Odd.

Without internment, what butterflies/effects might there be on modern Canada? More Japanese, possibly?

It wouldn't matter how Conservative Japanese-Canadians were since Asian-Canadians were not allowed to vote from the 1880s until after WW2.
 
Last edited:
Top