Photo courtesy of Nikkei National Museum
In December 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Canada declared war on Japan. For the more than 22,000 Japanese-Canadians living in British Columbia, the conflict initiated a dark period of suspicion, xenophobia and internment. The entire population was uprooted from their homes, dispossessed, and forcibly interned in camps in the B.C. interior for fear that they might be spies for the Japanese government. No supporting evidence was ever produced for these suspicions and no Japanese-Canadians were ever formally charged.
On September 22, 1988, after a long campaign for justice by Japanese-Canadians, a redress settlement was put in place, with an apology from the Canadian government and a $300 million settlement to help the nation take a step towards healing.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the redress settlement, the Nikkei National Museum, along with Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Centre for Policy Studies on Culture and Communities and the Asian Canadian Studies Society, is sponsoring an exhibition entitled A Call for Justice.
Importance of memory
Roy Miki, whose family lived through the internment, was a champion of the redress movement for years and is now a well-known author, activist and a member of the Order of Canada. Miki appreciates how far Canada has come as a nation to achieve the redress settlement but believes that more still needs to be done to keep Canada’s history of racial oppression in the public consciousness, in order to prevent similar episodes from reoccurring in the future.
He welcomes the exhibition, describing it as a celebration of the redress settlement, which addressed a wrongful act that affected over 22,000 Japanese-Canadians.
“It is only right to celebrate its achievement, as it is a dangerous thing to forget this history,” he says.
The Japanese-Canadian internment camps were born of racism and such racism still exists in Canada today, says Miki. He stressed the importance of strengthening the democratic process to ensure such discriminatory acts are never carried out again, not only towards Japanese-Canadians, but towards other ethnic minorities in Canada.
Roy Miki
Searching for an identity
A Call for Justice is a reminder of our past and a warning for the future, and its audience reflects the growing diversity of Canada. Muka-adisa Shobowale, a second year political science student at SFU, reveals the passing of the torch to a younger generation through his attendance at the exhibition. Being of African descent, he believes his skin prevents him from being considered Canadian. Shobowale’s interest in the redress settlement stems from the injustice he perceives in Canada today. According to Shobowale, he wanted to understand how the Japanese-Canadian redress movement was able to gain momentum and if the same strategy could be duplicated by First Nations.
The connection he felt was also due in part to the struggle the Japanese-Canadians went through when being called ‘enemy aliens.’ Shobowale says the exhibition is helping him understand his need to want to belong, to find his own identity in the midst of the Canadian mosaic.
A Call for Justice will run until Dec. 29 at the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre, 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, BC. Open Tues.–Sun. 11:00 a.m.–5 p.m.
