Legacies of Dispossession

1. Provide students with Handout 4.1 Predictions of Post-Internment Life for Japanese Canadians
   1. Have students consider the introductory story to this lesson and the learning acquired in the previous lessons.
   2. They then consider these while completing the handout in as much detail as possible. Remind them that these are predictions and they should be thoughtful and creative with their responses. These responses are to be recorded under the ‘My Prediction’ column.
   3. Provide students with Source 4.1 Japanese Canadian Population Distribution by Provinces 1941 and 1947 and Source 4.2 Powell St. Population 1941 and 1949.
   4. Students return to the chart. How does this new information impact the predictions? Allow students to add or adjust their predictions under the ‘What the Sources Said’ column.
   5. Now share Source 4.3 Interview with Betty Toyota. Consider a read-aloud activity here to share the depth of feeling in this interview. Again, after reading the interview students add notes to the ‘What the Sources Said’ column.

OPTIONAL: Watch Minoru: Memories of Exile

Minoru: Memory of Exile. Director: Michael Fukushima, The National Film Board of Canada

• Share the challenges Japanese Canadian faced in exile, often more than once, to a new town.
• To wrap up, students can discuss what surprised them most in this activity and which predictions they answered most and/or least successfully.

1. Provide students with Handout 4.2 Letters from Tashme and copies of the selected letters from former students, Sources 4.4 – 4.7 Student Letters.
   • Here you may choose to issue multiple copies to groups or individual students. Each letter was written by a different author and highlights different kinds of experiences as experienced by these teenagers.
   • Allow students 20–30 minutes to read through the letter(s) and record responses in Handout 4.2 Letters from Tashme.
   • Students can be asked to share out responses or you may opt to collect the handouts and assess them to uncover themes. These could be displayed in class next day using a Wordle app or noted on the whiteboard.

1. Explain to your students that they are now going to consider the options for relocation given to Japanese Canadians when the federal government began closing the purpose-built interment camps. Provide students with Handout 4.3 From Internment to Exile and Source 4.8 Notice for Dispersal.
   • In this activity students are to reflect on the options given Japanese Canadians to relocate and to choose an option.
   • Under the Family and Individual Considerations header ask students to consider any variable that may have been considered prior to making a choice (economic needs, communal needs, legal issues, emotional needs, transportation, access to education, etc.)
   • Students then make a choice for themselves. If they had to make a decision in the summer of 1945 which choice would it be and why?
   • Allow 30 minutes for these steps, then review student responses.
2. For the next activity students need to be placed in teams/groups of 4–6. After organizing teams/groups provide each group with Handout 4.4 Shaken Identity Project review the guidelines for the project with the class.
   • Provide a set of the source materials for this activity to each team/group:
     • Source 4.9 Repatriation Survey
     • Source 4.10 Internment and Exile
     • Source 4.11 Pickersgill Memo
3. Students use the source materials, previous learning and additional research to develop their project. It is recommended that teachers spend some time debriefing each of the sources with the class.
4. Give students a chance to share their creations and display any art and play any songs they have produced.

1. Provide students with a copy of Handout 4.6 Debate the Question and the following Source materials:
   • Source 4.12 A Post-War History of Japanese Canadians
   • Source 4.13 PM Mulroney Apologises
   • Source 4.14 Does PM Trudeau apologize too much?
2.  Students track their findings on Handout 4.6 Debate the Question and use this information to debate the question:
   • Has the Canadian government been accountable for its actions against Japanese Canadians in the 1940s?
3. Assign students to debate one side or the other of this issue.
   1. Provide the guidelines for the debate, and the criteria for evaluation.
   2. Allow half a period for preparation and to organize the speakers. Students are only permitted to use notes from Handout 4.5 After the Apology and the source materials provided.
   3. Run the debate and debrief the most contentious points.

1. In advance of this activity prepare to have someone (a teacher or a student) come into your class. Let’s call this person, “X”. Attempt to have their entry appear completely normal or routine. X should plan on doing several things in class such as:
   • Change the time on the clock
   • Take a book and put it in a bag
   • Erase the chalkboard
   • Close a window
   • Talk to someone
2. Before X comes into the room, have students working or reading at their desks. When X comes into the room, most of the students will be curious about what he or she is doing. After X leaves the room, have the students write down all the things that happened. (You can do this immediately after X leaves or sometime later). Once everyone has finished writing, find out what everyone remembers and what they did not.
3. What details do they recall? What did X wear? How long was X in the room? What book did X take? Who did X talk to? What did X say? You may even ask some leading questions to influence memory. For example, if X was not wearing a hat, ask, “What color hat was X wearing?” Compare how everyone’s memory was the same and different.
4. Provide students with Handout 4.7 How We Remember. Have them complete the questions and debrief with the class before proceeding to the next activity.

1. Prepare a list of school names from your district, and local districts if you need more names, to assign to student pairs. Each pair needs four local school names to research:
   • Provide one copy of the Handout 4.8 What’s in a Name? to each pair of students. Have them record the names of the schools they will research.Students complete the chart, and the research on the schools in their assigned cluster.
   • Once complete bring the class together to share the information found in their research.
   • Which ethnicities are most represented, least represented or not represented?
2. After groups have had time to analyze the data have each share their findings with the class using the following guiding questions:
   • What are the characteristics of the most common school names?
   • What possible factors may influence these commonalities?
   • Does it matter who a school is named for? Why?
   • How do schools play a role in maintaining common memory or national narratives?
   • What can be done to reshape this narrative and honour other stories?
3. Provide students with Source 4.15 Point / Counterpoint which offers two perspectives on the removal of controversial statues from public places. This article addresses the removal of Prime Minister John A. MacDonald’s statute from city hall in Victoria, B.C.
   • Assign roughly half of the class to each side of the argument. Allow 10 minutes for reading the article and finding the key points of debate.
   • Students are strongly encouraged to build upon the points in the article with personal views.
   • Conduct an informal debate, class discussion, town hall forum or other strategy to engage the students.
   • It is not critical that students come to share one common view or that there is agreement on how we move forward with issues regarding public sites of memory.
   • Debrief with journal writing, pair share, or similar.
4. Extension activity. Have students search out existing sites of memory that have been designed to commemorate the injustices experienced by Japanese Canadians in the 1940s. Students may consult the Resource Archive in this site for links and information on a variety of such sites or they may use external sources. Student should consider two questions after selecting a list of sites:
   • Is this an effective way to commemorate Japanese Canadian history?
   • What story is told by this site(s) of memory?

1. Create student groups, minimum of four per group. Provide students with Handout 4.9 Design Jam. Review the design jam process:
   • The Mission – Present the starter ideas and criteria or boundaries for design
   • Brainwriting – Three rounds of idea sharing, students build on collective ideas and consider any challenges
   • The Design – Student teams move on to finalizing a single design and sketching the design on chart paper
   • Showdown/Dot Voting – Student teams present their designs in a competitive format and everyone votes using sticky dots
2. Choose selected museum exhibits to share with the students to help them conceptualize the elements of an effective museum exhibit. Many exhibits can be viewed online, including the complimentary exhibit (Broken Promises) to this research hosted at the Nikkei National Museum.
3. Student teams complete each of the steps and apply the criteria from Handout 4.9 Design Jam to their design
   • Students brainstorm their ideas
   • Select the idea that most ideally fits the criteria
   • Design the exhibit using chart paper or teacher supplied alternative
   • Present their idea and vote on all design concepts