The first recorded Japanese immigration to Canada was in 1877. By 1901 the population grew to 4,138, mostly single men that came to Canada searching for jobs. As the immigration so did the discrimination against the Japanese. In the two following decades following the arrival of the first immigrants, the Japanese in British Columbia who established themselves in mining, railroading, lumbering and fishing faced severe discrimination. Those on railways were allowed to do construction, maintenance and dining car service, but were excluded from higher, better paid positions such as an engineer. Following the Duff Commission of 1922, licences issued to Japanese fishermen were cut by one-third, many Japanese turned to agriculture as the only industry which was opened to them.
In 1938 there was a group formed; the Japanese Canadian Citizens League to secure political and economic rights and to fight discriminatory legislation. Discrimination and prejudice was as harsh in western Canada as it was on the west coast of the United States, especially in California. *It became worse when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941, 7:58 A.M., Hawaii time, dive bombers and fighters from six aircr
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By October 1942, 22,000 people were displaced from their homes, torn from their livelihood, and stripped of all rights. On January 14th, 1942, the federal government ordered the evacuation of all male nationals between the ages of 18 and 45. The Japanese in British Columbia were told that refusal to go East of the Rockies if they did not wish to go to Japan could be looked upon in future as an act disloyal to Canada. By July 1942, the British Columbia Security Commission decides to allow evacuation by family units and married men are allowed to rejoin their families. Like their American cousins the evacuees settled in, improvised and tried to carry on with their lives. Some were relocated to eastern Canada others were interned in places like Alger, and 11,694 Japanese had been transported to the interior of British Columbia. In the fist step, the signing, 81 percent of the Japanese in British Columbia volunteered to go to Japan.
Safekeeping to the Japanese meant that their homes, businesses, farms, possessions, everything, would be kept safe. By 1949, all of the barriers were gone.
Unlike the American evacuation effort, the Canadian evacuation effort expected the Japanese to pay for their own internment. On March 27th, 1942, an order-in-council was issued giving the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property the power to liquidate, sell or otherwise dispose of such property, Japanese property (not even the Americans did that to the Japanese). The Japanese understood that their possessions were in the hands of the Custodian until war's end for safekeeping. Many men resisted the evacuation order, hoping to remain with their families. Of course, 40 percent of these were children who had no say in the matter. They had all of their belongings taken away from them if they didn't sell them within several days, if that.
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