Better late than never. That's what Burnaby resident Stanley Fukawa, 74, had to say about the provincial government's apology to Japanese Canadians who were placed in internment camps and had their property seized during the Second World War.
"Hopefully, this kind of thing won't happen anymore," Fukawa said.
After Japan entered the Second World War in 1941, roughly 21,000 Japanese Canadians were incarcerated under the War Measures Act. Members of the Canadian military and the RCMP argued they were not a security threat, yet the B.C. government pressured the federal government to intern the Japanese. They were ordered to leave the West Coast of B.C., even though 80 per cent of them were born in Canada.
Fukawa was only four years old when Japanese Canadians were forced to leave the West Coast by April 1, 1942. His mother and father packed their bags and left their Mission berry farm behind, thinking they would be able to return soon.
Families who stayed past the deadline were forced to move. Many Japanese Canadians were initially held in livestock barns at Hastings Park before they were sent to internment camps in B.C. and the Prairies. Families were split up, their property and fishing boats were seized and auctioned off, and anyone who resisted was sent to a prisoner of war camp in Ontario.
The Fukawas settled in Vernon, but as Japanese Canadians, they were for-bidden to own property and their travel was restricted. Their farm was resold, Stanley thinks to a returning veteran.
"My parents were very bowled over to be deprived of their property and their freedom. It was very tough for them," Fukawa said.
Fukawa's father found more farm work in Vernon, and the family saved enough to buy a new farm once they were allowed to return to the Fraser Valley on April 1, 1949, years after the war ended. No Japanese Canadian was ever charged with an act of disloyalty.
"B.C. was a very different place at that time. It's unbelievable we were so racist," Fukawa said. "There was this saying: 'Once a Jap, always a Jap.' If you were born with Japanese genes, you were sneaky, and you were going to kill all the white people. That's how they justified this. It was to protect themselves."
B.C. formally said sorry on Monday, May 7, when Naomi Yamamoto, MLA for North Vancouver-Lonsdale, introduced a motion to apologize in the legislature.
"The House deeply regrets that these Canadians were discriminated against simply because they were of Japanese descent and believes that all Canadians regardless of their origins should be welcome and respected," Yamamoto said in the house.
"What else can they say, I guess," Fukawa said.
In 1988, the federal government made a similar apology and offered compensation to Japanese Canadians for wrongful incarceration and property seizure, but Monday's apology was a first for B.C. To view a video of the apology on YouTube, go to http: //bit.ly/JapaneseApology Statement.
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