Swimming Upstream

“Swimming Upstream” – Injustice Revealed

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(Video of globe spinning)

(Text: Injustice Revealed presents Swimming Upstream: Japanese Canadian Struggle for Justice in BC)

(Text: “Deport all Japs!” Vancouver Mayor Jack Cornett, 1942)

(Text: “Let our slogan be for British Columbia… No japs from the Rockies to the seas.” Vancouver MP Ian Mackenzie, 1944)

(Text: Long before these remarks were declared, systemic and pervasive racism permeated British Columbia)

(Montage of black and white photographs of Japanese immigrants in front of ships)

Narrator: In the late 19th century, thousands of Japanese immigrants from a feudal island arrived on these shores to help clear the forest harvest, the Seas, and develop the wealth of a young country. What they met was white hostility.

(Text: 1895 BC Denied Rights of Citizenship)

In 1895, British Columbia denied Asian people and First Nations people the rights of citizenship.

(Text: Directly below 1895 BC Denied Rights of Citizenship: X vote, X run for political office, X serve on juries, X work in some professions, X work for government)

(Photo of Tommey Homma)

In 1900, Tommey Homma challenged this law. He won in the BC courts, but the province appealed to England’s Privy Council and succeeded, preserving its power to deny their vote to Asians and First Nations.

(Image of a newspaper article from Thursday, December 18^th, 1902, with the headline ‘Japs Can Not Vote’)

(Images of stores with front windows and glass smashed)

(Text: 1907 Race Riots)

Decades of tension and fear of the Yellow Peril erupted when angry Whites mobbed Vancouver’s Japantown area.

(Photo of the Victoria Daily newspaper with the heading ‘Lectures Upon Yellow Peril’)

Despite the racism, Japanese Canadians continued to thrive in fishing, logging, mining, and farming. They established businesses and raised families.

(Montage of photos depicting Japanese Canadians fishing, logging, mining, farming, owning businesses, and having families)

(Text: The Second World War provided a convenient justification for British Columbia to rid themselves of the ‘Japanese problem’)

(Photo of The Daily Colonist newspaper with the heading ‘Canada is at war with Japanese; All preparations made’)

(Photo montage of Caucasian and Japanese men discussing the war and Japanese mothers with their children)

Canada declared war on Japan after the December 7th, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbour. The War Measures Act was invoked and applied to those of Japanese ancestry, as it had been against German and Italian Canadians in 1939. However, by comparison, German and Italian

Canadians were largely unaffected.

(Montage of photos of identification cards of Japanese Immigrants and Japanese Canadians with the words ‘Japanese National’, ‘Naturalized Canadian’, or ‘Canadian Born’

Those with Japanese ancestry were branded as enemy aliens, ordered to carry ID cards, be fingerprinted, and registered.

(Text: All levels of BC Governments conspired to expel Japanese Canadians and expropriate their property from the protected area)

BC wanted more. All levels of BC governments conspired to expel Japanese Canadians and expropriate their property from the protected area, 100 miles inland from the coast.

(Image of map depicting ‘Where Japs Must Move Out’. Map has an arrow pointing at the coastline that states ‘Coast Defence Zone to be Evacuated by Japanese’)

(Text: Now is the time to address British Columbia’s responsibility and leadership role in… 1. Ethnic Cleansing, 2. Property Dispossession, 3. Community Destruction)

Now is the time to address British Columbia’s responsibility and leadership role in ethnic cleansing, property dispossession, and community destruction.

(Text: 1. Ethnic Cleansing. “Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed to remove another ethnic or religious group, by force or intimidation, from a given area.” United Nations)

(Text: The Army, RCMP, and Government all declared Japanese Canadians “no danger or threat to national security”)

Some powerful forces spoke against the removal. The Army’s lieutenant-governor Ken Stewart reported, ‘I cannot see that they constitute the slightest menace to national security.’

(Montage of photos of Japanese Canadian families)

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Frederick Meade agreed, ‘No fear of sabotage need be expected from the Japanese in Canada.’

The Prime Minister’s Executive Assistant Jack Pickersgill confirmed, ‘I don’t think that there was a member of cabinet who honestly believed that the Japanese were dangerous. It was a British Columbia problem.’

(Montage of photos of Japanese Canadian families)

Initially, Ottawa resisted taking more extreme measures. Despite no evidence of a security risk, BC politicians began a concerted campaign to cleanse the province of Japanese Canadians.

(Image of newspaper with headline ‘Scene at Park as Victorians Urge Removal of Japanese’)

(Text: BC Delegation to Ottawa)

(Photos of Premier John Hart, Cabinet Minister George Pearson, and Cabinet Minister Ian McKenzie surround the text)

In January 1942, Premier John Hart appointed cabinet minister George Pearson to lead a BC delegation to Ottawa where they joined forces with federal cabinet minister Ian McKenzie to demand the uprooting of all, including women and children.

(Photos of Premier John Hart, Cabinet Minister George Pearson, Cabinet Minister Ian McKenzie, MP Robert Mayhew, Ministers Royal Maitland and Harry Perry, CCF leader Harold Winch, and MLA Alan Neill)

Responsible politicians were BC federal MP Robert Mayhew along with ministers Royal Maitland and Harry Perry, CCF leader Harold Winch, and MLA Alan Neill.

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(Text: “Every effort has been made by the Provincial Government to have Japanese aliens removed from the vulnerable zone.” BC Premier John Hart)

(Text: Municipalities joined in. Victoria under Mayor Andrew McGavin voted unanimously to remove the Japanese. Mayor Jack Cornett and Vancouver Council voted the same)

(Image of MP Mackenzie)

MP Mackenzie when on public record stating, ‘It is the government’s plan to get these people out of BC as fast as possible. It is my personal intention as long as I remain in public life to see

they never come back here.’

(Image of the Daily Colonist newspaper with headline ‘Government Will Move Japanese From Coastal Areas to Inland Points’)

In the end, Ottawa conceded to BC’s demands on February 24th, 1942, by ordering ‘all persons of the Japanese race are to leave the protected area.’

(Image of notices that state ‘Notice to all Japanese Persons and Persons of Japanese Racial Origin’ and ‘To Male Enemy Aliens Notice’)

The order was executed quickly. The BC Security Commission, a federal agency, directed the uprooting, dispersal, and incarceration. It involved BC representative John Shiras and MLAs Maitland, Pearson, and Winch.

(Photos of Japanese Canadians being deported)

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(Text: Women and children herded into animal stalls at Hastings Park, Vancouver. Men were kept in separate dorms and shipped to incarceration camps in BC’s Interior. Erroneously referred to as ‘internment camps’)

The camps were often erroneously referred to as internment camps. The Geneva Conventions state a country cannot intern its own nationals, only enemy foreigners.

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(Photo montage of a map of the camps and images of the camps)

(Text: Camps held over 21,000 people. Tashme, the largest, had over 2,600 people. BC refused to pay for children’s education)

BC refused to pay for children’s education, a provincial obligation. The camp’s relied largely on religious groups and their own resources.

(Text: Forced labour camps established)

(Montage of photos of Japanese men working at the labour camps)

More than 2,600 men in 24 labour camps along the Trans-Canada built roads in the interior. The last camp closed in March 1946.

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(Text: Provided cheap labour for prairie sugar beet farms)

(Photo montage of Japanese Canadian’s farming)

To hasten the removal of families from the province, the BC Security Commission advertised these labourers as both industrious and loyal.

(Image of advertisement with the headline ‘Do you need Farm Help?’)

Resistors to the breakup of families were sent to a PoW camp in Ontario.

(Photo with text depicting ‘PoW Camp in Angler, Ontario’)

(Photos of Japanese Canadians)

In 1943 George Collins, Chair of BC Security Commission ordered, ‘These people will be

dispersed across Canada in small groups and exiled from BC. In contrast, Japanese-Americans were allowed to return to their homes and businesses before the end of the war. However, in

1945, Canada, at the urging of BC Politicians, forced all Japanese Canadians to choose between moving east of the Rockies or being shipped to Japan.

(Text: Moving east of the Rockies or being shipped to Japan)

In the end 13,000 people were sent east and 4,000 were exiled to Japan.

(Text: 13,000 people were sent east. 4,000 were exiled to Japan)

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(Text: 2. Property Dispossession. “Outside the taking of Indigenous lands, the greatest dispossession in Canadian history occurred with the uprooting and dispossession of 21,000 Japanese Canadians between 1942 and 1949.” Asian Canadians of Vancouver Island & Landscapes of Injustice Research Collectives. “Those displaced by forces beyond their control should never face the prospect of losing their housing, land, or property rights.’ United Nations)

(Text: BC Government & City of Vancouver colluded with the Custodian of Enemy Property in the dispossession)

The BC government and the City of Vancouver colluded with the Custodian of Enemy Property in the dispossession.

(Image of Powell Street area map)

Vancouver City Council wanted to redevelop the Powell Street area.

(Photo montage of Japanese homes and businesses)

The city urged Glen McPherson, the Custodian’s Vancouver representative, to sell all Japanese Canadian homes and businesses in that area.

(Photos of municipal property assessment records)

McPherson collaborated with the BC’s Municipal Affairs Minister Edward Bridgman to obtain municipal property assessment records. Then McPherson met with Vancouver officials to discuss their interest in acquiring properties

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(Text: “At the very least [Vancouver] encouraged the forced sales and supplied a key rationalization for the policy.” Landscapes of Injustice Project)

(Photo collage of newspaper clippings that state ‘Auction Sale’ and ‘For Sale’)

In January 1943, despite Ottawa’s initial reluctance, Cabinet bowed to BC pressure and granted the Custodian of Enemy Property the right to dispose of everything without Japanese-Canadians’ consent.

(Images of Japanese Canadians fishing and farming)

(Text: 1,300 fishing boats seized and sold. Farms and equipment sold)

BC judges Sydney Smith and David Whiteside approved each forced sale.

(Text: The proceeds from the sales paid for the incarceration)

The proceeds from the sales paid for the incarceration, contrary to the Geneva Conventions. In the U.S., there was no seizure or sale of property.

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(Text: Over 15,000 lost property in the 100 mile area. 1,700 parcels were taken and sold by the Custodian of Enemy Property. Property owners sued and lost in court. The final sale in Vancouver by the Custodian of Enemy Property was 526 East Cordova owned by Toru Suzuki on January 9, 1950)

(Text: 3. Community Destruction)

(Photo montage of Vancouver’s Japantown and Japanese Canadians)

Gone was Vancouver’s Japantown, the geographical heart of the community, where the pulse was felt, where more than 8,000 people lived, worked, and played. Fifty-nine language schools in the province were closed; education was disrupted; vibrant business communities were wiped out; and future generations lost touch with their heritage, resulting in the loss of language and culture.

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(Text: The Tide Turns)

(Photo montage of Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Japanese Canadians)

Prime Minister Mackenzie King declared in 1944, ‘it is a fact that no person of the Japanese race born in Canada has been charged with any act of sabotage or disloyalty during the years of the war.’

(Text: But post-war BC continued its racist policies)

But post-war BC continued its racist policies.

(Photo of the New Canadian newspaper with the headline ‘Seek Vote for Japanese Canadians’)

(Text: BC reaffirmed the denial of the in March 1947)

BC reaffirmed the denial of the vote to Japanese Canadians and First Nations in March 1947.

(Photo of Premier Bryon Johnson)

(Text: In 1948 BC’s Premier Bryon Johnson prevented Japanese Canadians from returning to the Coast)

In 1948, BC’s Premier Bryon Johnson prevented Japanese Canadians from returning to the coast.

(Photos of Japanese Canadian families)

(Text: BC agreed to pay half of the costs of their continued exile)

BC agreed to pay half of the cost of their continued exile.

(Image of Japanese Canadians logging trees)

(Text: Re-imposed a 1902 ban that prevented working as loggers)

In the same year, the province re-imposed a 1902 ban that prevented Japanese Canadians from working as loggers on Crown lands.

(Text: In 1949 won the Rights of Citizenship. Checkmark vote, Checkmark run for political office, Checkmark serve of juries, Checkmark enter professions, Checkmark work for government, Checkmark return to BC’s west cost, Checkmark move freely)

Slowly, the tide changed, and in April 1949 Japanese Canadians won the rights of citizenship through a national political campaign.

(Photos of the Redress Settlement and the signing of the Redress Settlement)

Almost 40 years later, honour was restored with the signing of the Redress Settlement with the federal government.

(Text: $21,000 to each survivor. $12 M to a Community Fund. $24 M for a Race Relations Foundation)

The terms included $21,000 to each survivor, $12 million to a Community Fund, and $24 million for a Race Relations Foundation.

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(Text: Today, there are over 120,000 Canadians with some Japanese ancestry. No Japantown exists in Canada. Japanese Canadians are spread across Canada along the railway line. There is an over 90% intermarriage rate. Few of 3^rd to 5^th generations can speak or read Japanese. In 2012, the BC Legislature passed unanimously a Motion of Apology to Japanese Canadians brought by MLA Naomi Yamamoto)

(Photo of Naomi Yamamoto)

(Text: Yet the BC Government has taken no measures to address the harm done)