Exile: The Forced Deportation of Japanese Canadians

It is recommended that teachers review the Rhetoric and Reactions slide deck document before embarking on this set of student activities. Prepare to share the slide deck with the class.

Day 1

1. Walk students through slides #2-10 to provide some context for the activity. Pause at slide #5, the Notice to All Japanese Canadians, authorizing their removal and slide #10 which contains examples of the ‘Voluntary Repatriation’ forms presented to all Canadians of Japanese ethnicity.
   • Draw student attention to the wording, phrases and language used in the Notice and the Declaration forms.
   • Take time to discuss why the government used these specific words and phrases.
2. Move to slide #11, read out the question, and ask students to consider structure and delivery of the Notice to Japanese Canadians.
   • Using slides #12-13 walk students through the process of analyzing the notice.
3. Now we will examine Pickersgill’s memo to Deputy Minister of Labour Arthur MacNamara. Distribute Handout 1: Pickersgill Memo to the students. Allow student time to walk through the various excerpts of the memo and record annotation and impressions.
4. Bring the class together to discuss their findings and uncover the meaning and purpose of the questions that were covered in this memo.
5. Proceed to slide #21 and walk through the highlighted elements of the memo.
6. The dropping of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the surrender by Japan in August 1945 had a significant impact on the declaration to move to Japan for many signees. Walk through slides #22-24 and discuss the impact this had on Japanese Canadians that wanted to revoke their declaration to move, and to the attitude of Pickersgill about the change of heart.

Day 2

1. Invite students to think about how Canada presents itself as a country. Think about what this country means to them. In what ways did yesterday’s lesson challenge this notion?
2. Share slides #26-32 to encourage student discussion and reflection.
   • Ask students to think about reason why families and individuals would have agreed to move?
   • What factors would they consider in making such a decision?
3. Read out the “Travelling RCMP” (slide #33) article from the slide deck. You can zoom in on the copy on the projector. What does the story tell the reader about the Japanese Canadian community’s reaction to the option to move to Japan?
4. Distribute Handout 2 : Community Reactions. The various reactions offer students varying perspectives on the reaction of community members.
   • Invite students to select at least two newspaper articles from the handout. You can decide whether students should evaluate one from each perspective, or if you want to divide the class into pro – full exile and anti- full exile. Have students complete the questions as provided on the handout. Answer key is provided for teachers.
   • The crux of this section of the lesson is for students to compare and share articles from both perspectives.Whose perspective about repatriation is being shared?
     • What thoughts/ feelings does the article present?
     • Allow students time to share out in their table groups. Take some volunteers for a class-wide sharing. It may be worthwhile to note the inherent bias in all these articles coming from the same newspaper The New Canadian.

Day 3

1. Recap conversation from last day, Consolidating Community Reactions. Then transition to “Need Race Be a Barrier.” This is an essay written by a student at Tashme High School, Josie Yano in the 1940’s. This article is included below as Source 1: Need Race be a Barrier.
   • Distribute copies of the source, or share on a projector. While this copy has been censured for racialized language, you might just preface that references to racial identity are more direct than is appropriate now. Older students may reflect upon the reasons why this student essay (1945) might reflect such language, whereas one produced in this context would not.
2. What keeps people rooted to one place? This activity explores the many factors that root people and tie them to a particular location. Reasons can be emotional, economic, cultural, geographic or others. Have students think and share ideas in pairs and note these reasons on a list.
   • Provide students with Handout 3: Maple Leaf
   • Have students take the handout and write the various reasons from their list in the veins of the maple leaf diagram.
   • Now ask them to expand upon each vein. For example of they wrote ‘Family’ have them add things like grandparent’s, cousin’s, family gatherings etc.
   • Students complete the maple leaf (individually or in pairs).
3. Prior to the ‘loyalty’ survey, Japanese Canadians may have expected to be free to return to the west coast of British Columbia to rebuild their lives. However, as the federal government was considering how to deal with the movement of interned Japanese Canadians in 1945-1946, local municipalities were the site of conversations about the possibility of Japanese Canadians returning to the west coast. In this activity students will read about, and assess, the discussion in the City of Richmond about their return.
   • Provide students with Handout 4: Richmond League. Alternatively teachers can project the article for the entire class to read, then provide the handout (pairs, groups or individually).
   • Students complete the analysis questions in the handout. When complete have the class share out responses to the articles and their answers to the questions.

Day 1

1. In talking about the exile of Japanese Canadians,  it may be particularly important to hear personal narratives – real, lived experiences. We will first hear from one woman, Mary Asako Seki: she was born in Vancouver in 1930, and spent her teenage years being moved around Alberta, before being exiled to Japan.Using the Voices of Exile slide deck introduce the Otsuji family, and Mary Asako Seki. Share slides #1-6 to provide context and meaning to the challenges of exile.

• • NOTE: do not go beyond slide #6 until the students have completed their interview documents.
  • Take some time to review slide #6 ‘Interviews As Primary Sources’. Students will use the story of Mary Asako Seki to practice ‘interviewing’ these sources.
  • Provide each student with Handout 8: Interview Mary Asako Seki. Using Handout 8 students complete the interview questions and fill in all boxes of the handout.
  • Using the slide deck (slides #9-38) debrief the interview activity.

Day 2

This activity will have students moving through 5 different stations. You might have desk groups pre-arranged accordingly. Remind students that we learned what happened to Japanese Canadians in 1946: how the message was conveyed, and what responses were circulating. In this activity, we are going to take a bit more of a personal lens.

1. To begin, let’s think about the place and people you identified as “home.” How did you get to this space: meaning, how did you/ your family establish and create this sense of belonging?
   • Let students think for a minute. You might wish to have them sketch or jot down notes on a scrap sheet of paper/ mini whiteboard.
   • Once you sense they have an idea, begin a 10 min freewrite exercise, where students reflect upon how they/ their family established a sense of home. This will prime them for the activities to come. You might indicate that students will not be required to publicly share their responses.
   • Following the freewrite, have students read back their work, and highlight/ circle any strong themes or recurring words/ ideas.
2. Tell the students that, in this activity, we are going to learn about five people who established a sense of home, but were uprooted and exiled. We’ll talk about the factors and impacts of these events.

• • Post, or place, each of the six individuals, Handouts #6, 7, and #9-12, round the classroom. Students will now engage in the analysis of multiple stories if exile.
  • Provide each student with Handout 5: Faces of Exile. Student complete Handout 5 as they navigate from one station (interview) to another. Students must complete all six stations.
  • Have students share out selected entries to debrief the activity.

Day 3

Review and debrief questions from last day, with specific attention to the third question:

• What themes/ sentiments/ ideas did you notice more than once?
• What can we learn about Mary Seki from her interview?
• What questions have emerged based on this exploration?

In this activity, we will hear from other people who also experienced exile. Consider what themes may be similar to Seki’s, and what new topics emerge.

1. Students often view the past as something not relevant to current times or, in this case, as something that does not impact contemporary Japanese Canadians. This activity explores the connections between the exile of Japanese Canadians in the later 1940’s and contemporary issues impacted by Exile.
   • Distribute Handout 13: CBC News Story to students (individually, in pairs or in table groups).
   • Guide students through the reading. The have students, individually, in pairs or table groups, complete the question set included in the handout.
   • Debrief the questions with an emphasis on the connection between the past, internment, dispossession, and forced exile, with contemporary issues like family and community.