This curated collection of websites brings together valuable information and resources for teachers, students, or others interested in exploring Japanese Canadian history.
Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre
The Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre (NIMC) is a National Historic Site dedicated to telling the story of over 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly relocated during World War II. Located on the site of “The Orchard” internment camp in New Denver, BC, the NIMC contains original buildings, period artifacts and interpretive displays as well as the Heiwa Teien Peace Garden. Visit site
Tashme Historical Project
The Tashme Internment Camp was one of eight camps established in British Columbia by the Government of Canada to intern Japanese Canadians during World War II. Tashme opened in 1942 and closed in 1946. At its height, the 1,200 acre (486 hectare) camp, located 14 miles (23 kilometres) southeast of Hope, was home to 2,644 people. Visit site
Nikkei National Museum
The Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre hosts a wide array of educational programs and resources to support the teaching of Japanese Canadian history and culture. From prepared lesson packages to virtual tours, site-based learning tours, and outreach via the Journey’s discovery kits, the NNM has something to fit your classroom needs. Visit site
Hastings Park 1942
In early 1942, after Canada declared War on Japan, the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) grounds at Hastings Park in east Vancouver were used to temporarily house Japanese Canadians who were being uprooted from the BC Coast. Over 8000 were detained in the exhibition buildings and stables at Hastings Park before being sent to internment sites in the BC interior or to work camps across the country. Visit site
Writing Wrongs: Japanese Canadian Protest Letters of the 1940s
Writing Wrongs is inspired by over 300 letters written by Japanese Canadians in the 1940s to protest the Canadian government’s forcible sale of their property. Japanese Canadians’ letters of protest speak powerfully from the archives about the meaning of citizenship, justice, and equal rights. Visit site
Landscapes of Injustice
During the 1940s, Canada enacted mass displacement and dispossession of people on racial grounds, a collective moral failure that remains only partially addressed. Japanese Canadians lost their homes, farms, businesses, as well as personal, family, and communal possessions. Landscapes of Injustice is dedicated to recovering and grappling with this difficult past. Visit site
360° Riot Walk
360° Riot Walk is an interactive walking tour of the 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver, the ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tseil-Waututh people. It uses 360° video technology to trace the history and route of the mob that attacked the Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian communities following the demonstration and parade organized by the Asiatic Exclusion League. Visit site
Japanese Canadian Photograph Collection
The Japanese Canadian Photograph Collection (JCPC) was assembled by UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections from various donors beginning in the 1970s. While the JCPC documents a wide range of the experiences of Canadians of Japanese descent in British Columbia, the resource is particularly strong in chronicling their treatment during World War II. Visit site
Uprooted Japanese Canadians
A database of names comprised of over 22,000 Japanese Canadians who called the West Coast home before they were forcibly uprooted in 1942 from 195 communities within the 100-mile exclusion zone. The site includes the names of more than 3,000 children born after uprooting and before Japanese Canadians were given full rights of citizenship in 1949. Visit site
japanesecanadianhistory.net
A study of the internment of Japanese Canadians raises many questions about human nature, racism, discrimination, social responsibility and government accountability. Our democratic institutions are not infallible, nor are they easily sustained. Silence and indifference are the enemies of a healthy working democracy. Through the study of the internment, students will come to understand that civil liberties can only be protected in a society that is open, and in a democracy where participation is expected. Visit site
Sedai Oral History Project
The Sedai Oral History Collection is committed to collecting, documenting, preserving and sharing the history of Japanese Canadians through audio and video recordings, and continues to add to the collection.
The Sedai Catalogue currently houses over 200 interviews with Japanese Canadian narrators that including nisei, sansei and ijusha. Visit site
Japanese Canadian Oral History Collection
The collection is comprised of interviews conducted by the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre with Japanese Canadians on topics ranging from early immigration; their participation in pre-World War II industries including fishing, farming, and the lumber industries; and their internment during World War II. The collection is a rich source for the study of ethnic history, BC history, Japanese Canadian history, immigration history, and oral history at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The majority of audio files are in English, but some are in Japanese. Visit site
Warrior Spirit
Warrior Spirit, or Mononofu in Japanese, dives deep into the military history of Japanese Canadians fighting for Canada. It unpacks the complexities, struggles, honour, and perseverance of Nikkei (persons of Japanese ancestry) in the First World War, Second World War, and Korean War.
The enduring resilience, strength, courage, and honour of these dedicated Japanese Canadians are represented in this digital exhibition. Visit site
Politics of Racism
The Politics of Racism: The Uprooting of Japanese Canadians During the Second World War, by Ann Gomer Sunahara, is the first book to fully document the politics behind the 1942 expulsion order that saw 20,000 Japanese Canadians evicted from their homes in British Columbia and sent inland to work camps, detention centres and farms in Alberta and Manitoba. The book details the relationship between racism and political expediency, and shows how political parties and the affairs of the nation were controlled by a small group of politicians who scapegoated minorities to hang on to power.
Tsunagu: Japanese Canadian Family Stories
How do stories and history pass from one generation to another? What relevance do these stories have for people today, particularly young people? Tsunagu means to connect and the Tsunagu website is a platform that connects the past to the present through the voices of second, third, fourth and fifth generation Canadians of Japanese descent. The contributing nisei all experienced the wartime dislocation first hand. The sansei are post-war children who may or may not have been aware of the treatment of their parents. The yonsei and gosei are the grandchildren of the nisei survivors of the incarceration.