Emigration, settlement, and aspiration

What factors compel people to emigrate/immigrate? This activity will introduce students to the concept of migration and understand the variety of factors that influence emigration in general, and Japanese Canadians specifically. These factors are commonly considered as push or pull factors in that economic opportunities can pull people in while issues like property ownership and political strife might push people out or create displacement. The iceberg activity is designed to have students consider the more obvious or visible reason for immigration and to understand there are less obvious reasons that compel people to migrate. Like an iceberg, these issues are often the more significant but less visible reasons for immigration.

1. Handout the iceberg diagram, one per pair.
   1. Invite students to quickly share what they know about icebergs (emphasize that what is visible is a small portion of the total iceberg).
   2. In the top half of the diagram have the students note the more obvious causes of emigration/immigration, allow three to five minutes for this step and debrief with the class. While debriefing students may add new information to their own diagram (Evidence might include scarcity of land, political strife, economic opportunity, education).
2. Students now complete the bottom portion of the iceberg diagram in pairs or small groups. Here they need to consider factors that compel people to migrate but are less obvious. Japanese immigration to Canada was often a by-product of the desire for land ownership by second- and third-born sons, who were not entitled to inherit family property or because of the limited economic opportunities granted in the highly stratified and class-based society of Meiji-era Japan.
   1. For example: individual aspirations, views of property ownership, struggles to attain degrees, licences or trades, etc. Debrief with examples from each pair.
3. Many of the early immigrants to British Columbia sought out fishing, boat works, and farming. To wrap up, pose the following question to the class: What factors influenced Japanese immigration to Canada in the early 20th century? Allow a minute or two, then have the students share their thoughts. The conversation is meant to bring an understanding of where and why Japanese immigrants primarily settled in areas where fishing, farming, and lumber work was available. Property ownership in Canada and back home was important to these early immigrants. As the community grew, a greater need developed for boarding houses, shops, service industries, and other kinds of work.

1. Review the learning from the iceberg activity about where and why Japanese immigrants came to Canada and reflect on some of the reasons for settlement along the West Coast. Review Handout 1.3: Geographic Thinking Competencies for patterns and trends and interrelationships. These concepts can be simplified for student understanding into two questions:
   1. Why did Japanese immigrants settle in these areas specifically?
   2. How did settlement create relationships with the land and people?
   3. Provide students with the Handout 1.2 Migration and Settlement in Canada and conduct an in-class reading activity or assign as pre-reading.
2. Post the following question on the whiteboard, chalkboard, or overhead: What factors influenced the growth of Japanese Canadian communities in prewar British Columbia?
3. Inform the class that they will now take a closer look at the settlement of Japanese immigrants by examining primary source documents.
   1. Arrange students into groups.
   2. Inform the students that they will be working with primary sources of evidence that tell a story about the settlement and growth of the Japanese Canadian community in British Columbia (you may need to review what primary source materials are with your class).
   3. Assign different materials for investigation, which correspond to one of the three themes from the sources (economic, cultural, or community activities).
      1. Alternatively, you can mix the sources and have each group record evidence from each of the thematic areas.
   4. Provide each group with the sources and Handout 1.4 The Information Gap.
4. Instruct the students to examine each of the source materials provided. They should consider what the source tells them about the experiences of Japanese immigrants (the questions included in Handout 1.4 will assist them with this process). Allow 20 minutes for the initial investigation of sources and recording of evidence.
   1. Reorganise the students so that each new group contains different students (like a jigsaw puzzle). NB: If you opted to use mixed-source groups at the start of the lesson, skip this step.
   2. Tell the students that there is an information gap and the responsibility of each new group member is to communicate their findings and for the others to ask questions of clarification and record new information.
   3. Allow students 20 minutes to share information with new group members.
5. Return to the guiding questions and have the students identify and record key words they associate with the guiding questions. Record the list on the whiteboard and create a word cloud for next class. This word cloud can be the basis for a lesson review to begin the next activity. Suggested words might include fishing, community, risk, restriction, perseverance, etc.

1. Begin with a review of the word cloud gathered from the previous activity (create a Wordle/word cloud to share with the class) What words stand out? Why? Use these understandings to set up the Postcards activity.
2. Assign one Property Card (Sources 1.13 to 1.22) to each student. There are 10 families from a variety of locations across the province. In each location, a vibrant Japanese Canadian community existed prior to the uprooting in 1942. Each property card has a place description, property location, photos, and detailed information about the family.
3. Students explore the family they have been assigned, and review the place description, images, and family details. Tell your students they will have 30 minutes to review and highlight key bits of information and each will be called upon to share something they have learned about their family.
4. Select the medium through which they will complete the postcard. There are a number of creative ways in which your students can author a postcard:
   1. Use the postcard template Handout 1.5: Write a Postcard use a slide deck (like PowerPoint or Prezi, tools like Wixie, or tablet/iPad/Chromebook-based creative tools), and write a travel blog/VLOG.
   2. Alternatively, create a class social media account and have students share their designs and information on one of the common platforms.
5. Postcard elements:
   1. Review the criteria listed in Handout 1.5: Write a Postcard.
   2. The postcard can include any number of design and information sharing elements.
   3. Teachers can choose the selected elements list provided in Handout 1.5: Write a Postcard or have the students brainstorm the criteria for the postcards as a class.
6. Post the completed cards for peer review and have students share their impressions of these vibrant communities in prewar British Columbia.