Canadian Government’s Compensations for Japanese Canadians Interments in World War Two Canadian Government’s Compensations for Japanese Canadians Interments in World War Two (restitution) No one would ever think that an apology and a meager amount of money would be sufficient enough to pay back for taking away freedom and rights for several years. Apparently, it appears as Canadian government did. During World War II, Japanese immigrants and Japanese Canadians were denied of their rights as humans and Canadian citizens, and were forced to live in internment camps (Baldwin, 2011). Although the Canadian government has realized its wrong doings to Japanese Canadians and has made attempts for reparation, the formal apologies and compensations made by the Canadian government are not adequate to atone for all the financial, social, and psychological damages that Anti-Japanese policies have caused during World War II. The Japanese Canadians were financially troubled by the government’s anti-Japanese policies and their impairments were never repaired commensurately even in the years after the war. Under the anti-Japanese policies, Japanese Canadians lost their jobs and properties, including their homes, motor vehicles, and fishing boats (Mollins, 1999). In the beginning of the war, due to the hatred towards Japanese Canadians, many of the Japanese Canadian owned businesses received very little customers and too many disruptions; thus, they had to close down (Hickman & Fukawa, 2011). Also, almost all of Japanese Canadians were fired from their work (Baldwin, 2011). This happening was very predictable, because Japanese Canadians taking over many of the jobs from Canadians and gaining more control over fishing industry in Bri... ... middle of paper ... ... members. Most of the Japanese Canadians who suffered in the camps became more intimating, having lower self-esteem. These horrible events caused Japanese Canadians to lose their confidence and dignity as Canadian citizens and as humans. The severe violations of birthright led to Japanese Canadians having psychological problems afterwards, which undoubtedly cannot be atoned by an insufficient apology. In conclusion, Japanese Canadian interments in World War Two have left life-long scars on Japanese Canadians by violating the rights to their properties, rights to build their own social status, and basic human rights. Therefore, in order for Canada to truly recompense for its wrong doings to Japanese Canadians, both the government and the people of Canada should make an appropriate apology with right amount of compensation to cover all the damages caused.
The assistance that the war veterans receive in Canada today is considered one of the best in the world. With assistance programs that provide support to the veterans in the form of attentive health care, health insurance, health related travel expenses, assisted living, career training, rehabilitation, financial benefits, and much more. But, this wasn’t always the case with the Veterans Assistance Commission in Canada. Very little was done prior to WW1, for the war veterans. Even though much difference was promised and greater commitments were made by the Canadian government during and after the First World War, it still was not nearly enough. Pensions were denied to deserving candidates, assistance was provided to many in a form that was nowhere near enough to start a new life, and because of the great depression it was even harder for the veterans to make a living.
... have been made to pay for all the costs of the imprisoned and impoverished Japanese when they were released from camp. The compensation they were offered added insult to injury and was not nearly enough to keep the released internees alive. Had the Japanese not been able to recover from their degradation, the United States would most likely have been forced to make reparations for the harm they had caused to their people.
Bolotta, Angelo, Dennis Gerrard, Denise Shortt, Charles Hawkes, Fred Jarman, Marc Keirstead, and Jennifer Watt. "Japanese Canadains Come Under Attack." Canada, Face of a Nation. Scarborough, Ont.: Gage Educational Pub., 2000. 170-172. Print.
During World War II, countless Japanese Canadians, and Americans, were relocated to internment camps out of fear of where their loyalties would lie. Because of this, those people were stricken from their homes and had their lives altered forever. Joy Kogawa’s Obasan highlights this traumatic event. In this excerpt, Kogawa uses shifts in point of view and style to depict her complex attitude and perception of the past.
In “Remarks on signing the bills providing Restitution for the Wartime Internment of Japanese American Civilians” by President Ronald Regan and “An Apology” by Kevin Gover the speakers both, issue apologies for the past wrong doing by the United States.
World War Two was one of the biggest militarized conflicts in all of human history, and like all wars it lead to the marginalization of many people around the world. We as Americans saw ourselves as the great righteous liberators of those interned into concentration camps under Nazi Germany, while in reality our horse was not that much higher than theirs. The fear and hysteria following the attacks on pearl harbour lead to the forced removal and internment of over 110,000 Japanese American residents (Benson). This internment indiscriminately applied to both first and second generation Japanese Americans, Similarly to those interned in concentration camps, they were forced to either sell, store or leave behind their belongings. Reshma Memon Yaqub in her article “You People Did This,” describes a similar story to that of the Japanese Americans. The counterpart event of pearl harbour being the attacks on the world trade
The Japanese Canadians in Canada were devastated by Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour and fearful of what it would mean for themselves. Some 3,600 Japanese had become naturalised Canadians before 1923 when nationality made it very difficult for Japanese to obtain it. One of the first decisions made by the government gave the Royal Canadian Navy the power to impound any vessels that belonged to Japanese Canadians and assemble them at special ports along the coast where they were moored to the shore. The government explained the impounding of the Japanese boats as a defensive measure.
The tendency to racially discriminate and victimise against certain minorities or a specific nationality was a long-lasting sting of racism which was a part of Canadian history. The discrimination by Canadians directed towards Japanese-Canadians during WWII was a significant historical event that needs to be addressed. After the Pearl Harbour attacks in Hawaii by the Japanese navy, 24,000 Japanese-Canadians were placed in internment camps, where they were stripped of their identity and freedom of rights based upon their racial origin. In the aftermath of the internment, many Japanese-Canadian natives were left without life savings, as all of their belongings were confiscated and never given back. This internment of the Japanese-Canadians occurred
Marsh, James H. "Japanese Internment: Banished and Beyond Tears." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 7 Jan. 2014. .
The Indian Residential schools and the assimilating of First Nations people are more than a dark spot in Canada’s history. It was a time of racist leaders, bigoted white men who saw no point in working towards a lasting relationship with ingenious people. Recognition of these past mistakes, denunciation, and prevention steps must be taking intensively. They must be held to the same standard that we hold our current government to today. Without that standard, there is no moving forward. There is no bright future for Canada if we allow these injustices to be swept aside, leaving room for similar mistakes to be made again. We must apply our standards whatever century it was, is, or will be to rebuild trust between peoples, to never allow the abuse to be repeated, and to become the great nation we dream ourselves to be,
Despite the overwhelming use in political rhetoric, it is difficult to establish the Government of Canada’s precise definition of reconciliation. It is equally unclear as to what reconciliation entails substantively— as either a process or an outcome —in reconceiving the colonial relationship between Indigenous peoples, Settlers, and the Canadian government. For my Reconciliation Essay, I intend to problematize the very term of reconciliation as used in Canadian politics by drawing primarily on its use in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 2008 Residential Schools Apology. I will argue that the concept reconciliation as exercised in the political discourse of federal government is neither a meaningful gesture, nor consistent with Indigenous conceptions of same term. In fact, reconciliation as presented by the Government of Canada serves only as a tool to recolonize Indigenous peoples, in that its connotations leave the colonial relationship largely
Stetson Conn (1990) wrote “For several decades the Japanese population had been the target of hostility and restrictive action.” It was easy for the government to take advantage of the Japanese-Americans because they were already the target of aggression. Since the Japanese population was already in such a low position in society, taking advantage of their circumstances was easy for the government. The Japanese found themselves having to defend their presence in a country that was supposed to be accepting; this also happened to the Chinese before the Japanese. (Terry, 2012)
Japanese immigration created the same apprehension and intolerance in the mind of the Americans as was in the case of Chinese migration to the U.S at the turn of the 19th century. They developed a fear of being overwhelmed by a people having distinct ethnicity, skin color and language that made them “inassimilable.” Hence they wanted the government to restrict Asian migration. Japan’s military victories over Russia and China reinforced this feeling that the Western world was facing what came to be known as “yellow peril”. This was reflected in the media, movies and in literature and journalism.4 Anti-Oriental public opinion gave way to several declarations and laws to restrict Japanese prosperity on American land. Despite the prejudice and ineligibility to obtain citizenship the ...
...at seemed to unfold due to the residential school system. Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to all former students of the system addressing the assimilation policy as "wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country” (Harper). This apology acknowledged the various damages involving Aboriginal identity that the system created and established a better relationship with the Aboriginal people of Canada. The negative impacts the residential school system created clearly outweighed any positive effect, if any, that was made at all. It is the power to assist and to maintain a sense of culture, that, despite all odds, brought the First Nations people to the cultural reaffirm mission increasingly evident in Canada today. Nevertheless, Aboriginal culture took a tremendous weakening for future generations of today due to the residential school system.
Providing True Reparation: Changes the Government of Canada Must Make in its Current Policies Towards the Addressing Legacy of Residential School Abuse