When World War II broke
out and Japan attached Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong, Japanese Canadians
were forced out of their homes and moved to internment camps because
they were considered a threat to "national security."
True.
Twelve weeks after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong, the
Canadian federal government used the War Measures Act to order the
removal of all Japanese Canadians residing within 100 miles of the
Pacific coast. The had been prompted to do so by racist B.C. politicians
who had long been looking for an excuse to rid the province and Canada
of the Japanese minority.
At the time, the government
claimed that Japanese Canadians were being removed for reasons of
"national security." The removal order, however, was opposed by Canada's
senior military and police officers who said that the Japanese Canadians
posed no threat to Canada's security. No Japanese Canadian was ever
charged with disloyalty to Canada.
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