The war at home
The years leading up to the Second World War were already difficult for Japanese Canadians, as they were considered outsiders and undesirables by white Canadians and were excluded from mainstream society. They lived under race-based restrictions on their movements and labour. Fear and resentment of Japanese Canadians reached a breaking point on December 7th, 1941, when the attacks on Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong took place. Government action against Japanese Canadians was swiftly enacted, as rumors spread about a possible Japanese invasion. 90% of Japanese Canadians in British Columbia were forcibly removed from their places of residence to locations spread across the country, including internment camps, labour camps, sugar beet farms, and prisoner-of-war camps. Wartime restrictions against Japanese Canadians were not fully removed until 1949. Despite the treatment and bans on enlistment, 150 Japanese Canadians participated as Canadian soldiers in the Second World War.
