On October 3rd of this year, there will be a ceremony and unveiling of a Japanese Canadian Monument here in Victoria. It’s being built now on a patch of land just south of St. Anne’s Academy and across from Beacon Hill Park.
The monument will include almost 22,000 names of Japanese Canadians who were interned during World War II, along with the names of 3,000 children born during that internment.
It’s shocking that this even happened here in Canada, but it did. And even more shocking was that 77% of them were British subjects, and about 60% were actually born in Canada.
When I was growing up I had lots of Japanese kids as neighbourhood friends and classmates. That’s because I lived in an area of Richmond that was not far from the community of Steveston where there were a large number of Japanese families, mostly because of the fishing industry.
The story goes that in the late 1800’s, a Japanese fisherman who came to Steveston, noticed the high number of salmon in the Fraser River. He ended up writing a letter to the people of his village in Japan, inviting his fellow fishermen to join him, and many of them did.
Of course, there were lots of Japanese, Chinese, European, South Asian and other immigrants who came to Canada over many years and for different reasons. Even in my family — my mother was a Danish immigrant, as were my grandparents on my father’s side.
What I didn’t know about at first, was what many of my Japanese friends’ parents had gone through during the Second World War. And some of my teachers too. One of them told me how his father, who owned a logging company here on Vancouver Island, lost pretty much everything when he and his family were interned. My teacher didn’t really remember the camp because he was so young when they were there, but his older sibling did and never got over it.
The reasoning behind this internment was “national security”, but it was really more about racism and discrimination which ran rampant back then. Japanese fishermen were told by the government to turn in their boats, which were later sold. Of course, none of the money went to the fishers. The federal government also confiscated homes, personal items, businesses, everything, to supposedly “finance” the cost of their internment. There’s a lot more to it, but suffice it to say that it’s an ugly story all around.
After the war they were encouraged to voluntarily repatriate back to Japan or settle somewhere outside of B.C., away from the coast. They were pressured to give up their citizenry, and some of them did. I can’t say I blame them.
In 1988, Prime Minister Mulroney signed a Japanese Canadian Compensation agreement which included an apology and a redress payment to those who were affected and still survived. But how do you really make up for doing something like that to people?
The truth is that you can’t.
The other awful truth is that ignorance, discrimination and racism continues. Especially in some places.
Why can’t we be friends?
So I, for one, am going to show up to the unveiling of the Japanese Canadian Monument on October 3rd. I’m going to look for those old, familiar names from my childhood and whisper a silent “I’m sorry.”
IJ
Note: The Japanese Canadian Legacies Society says the Oct. 3 unveiling event is at capacity. “We look forward to welcoming members of the public to discover the monument in the weeks that follow, and to return to this permanent place of remembrance, reflection and community for generations to come.”
