During the second World War, Canada had one of its darkest moments in history. Not only were we at war with Germany but also at war with ourselves. Canada feared invasion by Japan and sent thousands of Japanese Canadians to Internment Camps. They were treated harshly in the camps and got very low wages. Someone should have stood up and said that this was a wrongful act of discrimination against the oriental people. Canada was fighting Germany but no Germans in Canada received such treatment. This anti-Japanese racism was a terrible time for Canada.

It was on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese armed forces attacked Pearl Harbor. The following day, they attacked Hong Kong where there were 2 000 Canadian soldiers on guard. Many of these Canadians died and the rest were taken prisoner by the Japanese. Canada would then begin to fear an invasion by Japan. On March 4, 1942 the British Columbia Security Commission was established to "plan, supervise and direct" the evacuation of Japanese Canadians from their homes.

The invasion was feared along the British Columbia coast and the federal government felt a decision must be made. Soon enough, $15 billion was spent on evacuating the 22 000 Japan

What was meant by "national security" or "military necessity" and what did the "defense of Canada" involve? Ottawa made no attempt define publicly what these things meant. There was no opposition to the evacuation and no explanations were being made. There was not a single member in the cabinet who would oppose to debate the evacuation policy in the Commons. Even the churches in Canada did nothing at all. The Executive of the General Council of the United Church of Canada stated "our government must protect us so far as it is possible from insidious attacks," thereby suggesting that evacuation was justified on the basis of potential treachery. The church is supposed to draw itself from vicious and unchristian attitudes. There was no person who was able to stand up and say that this was unacceptable.

Nevertheless, there must be someone to blame for what happened. The government had a major contribution and had a strong say in it but the government couldn't have done it without the people on their side. People weren't opposing the discrimination because they thought it was for protection of their country, but an invasion was not very likely and the actions taken were cruel and unmerciful.

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Approximate Word count = 807
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)