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Japan's early victories made British
Columbians fear an attack, possibly assisted by local
Japanese-Canadians, and led to racially motivated pressure for their
removal from the west coast. Bowing to public pressure, the Federal
government forcibly removed 22,000 Japanese-Canadians from the coastal
areas of British Columbia in 1942 and relocated them inland to
rudimentary settlements, road camps, and prairie sugar beet farms.
So-called "resisters" were sent to military internment camps at Angler
and Petawawa, Ontario. Allowed to take few possessions, the evacuees
then saw their remaining property confiscated and sold by the Federal
government.
In 1945, the Canadian government
offered Japanese-Canadians two equally harsh options: dispersal to
places east of the Rocky Mountains or repatriation to Japan. Threatened
with the breakup of their families, some 10,000 Japanese-Canadians
consented to repatriation, despite public protest of the government's
plan. Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King finally cancelled it in
1947, by which time 4,000 Japanese-Canadians had already been
repatriated, the other 6,000 having revoked their consent. Of those who
remained in Canada, only a few Japanese-Canadians ever returned to
British Columbia. The majority attempted to start new lives elsewhere in
the country.
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