Teaching Tips

1. Define new terms with historical details

When providing definitions for new or unfamiliar terms, include concrete historical details to help students grasp the context. For example, “dispossession” is a key term in the history of Japanese Canadians in the 1940s, referring to the government’s decision to seize and then sell the belongings of Japanese Canadians against their will. The consequences of the government failing to keep its promise to protect their belongings left many Japanese Canadians homeless and destitute.

2. Provide context for historical details

Providing context for historical events helps to make them more understandable. In the case of the dispossession of Japanese Canadians, an important factor was the complex history of unequal citizenship before the 1940s. When Japanese migrants first moved to Canada in the late 1800s and even as they became naturalized citizens, purchased property and built communities, racist laws and practices continued to threaten their sense of belonging. They were not allowed to vote, faced limited employment options, and experienced restricted forms of leisure. Newspapers in British Columbia regularly printed racist caricatures of Japanese Canadians, often portrayed as invaders or threats.

3. Use active voice with specific details

Students develop a firmer understanding of a topic if the history of an injustice clarifies who did what, where, and when. Instead of the passive form “Japanese Canadians were dispossessed,” could be elaborated to “In 1942, the federal government uprooted Japanese Canadians from their homes on the coast of British Columbia. Former neighbours ransacked the vacant properties, stealing and destroying countless belongings. In the years that followed, into the early 1950s after the end of the Second World War, the federal government auctioned and sold what remained, against the wishes of the owners.”

4. Be respectful

Be respectful of the Japanese Canadians who lived through this experience. Consider how they or their descendants might feel if they could see or hear what you are presenting.

5. Use clear and precise language

Beware of propaganda and language that distorts the truth. Here are some examples.

Misleading	More accurate
Evacuation	Forced uprooting
Interior settlements or housing projects or camps	Internment sites or internment camps
Repatriation	Expulsion or exile

6. Beware of adjectives

Descriptive terms can add significant differences in perception. Describing Japanese Canadians as just Japanese, ignores their sense of identity as Canadians. “Japanese Canadian camp” rather than “Internment camp” may suggest that Japanese Canadians intentionally chose to move to them. Using “camp” alone may also suggest a fun place. “Incarceration” probably most accurately describes the Prisoner of War camps.

7. Address myths and misunderstandings

Myths and misunderstandings about the history of Japanese Canadians may persist. The fear that permeated the country during the Second World War does not excuse the actions that took place but certainly informed them. Addressing myths and misunderstandings can help students appreciate what happened and can serve to make them aware of similar situations today. At the time, a myth used to justify the uprooting was that the Japanese Canadian community could be harbouring spies and terrorists planning to attack Canada. In fact, the Canadian military and police investigated during the 1940s and found no evidence of dangerous activity and advised the government that Japanese Canadians were not a threat to national security. Subsequent investigations also did not find any Japanese Canadians guilty of spying.

8. Address racist language and imagery

The stories that are valued, recorded, and repeated tend to be the stories of those in power. Parliamentary debates, news stories, and public opinion pieces about Japanese Canadians at the time, often used racial slurs like “Jap” in justifying their racist actions. While critically examining racist content, be sensitive to the impact that the material can have on students. 

9. Provide perspectives of Japanese Canadians

Include content created by Japanese Canadians as much as possible. Many resources including oral histories and various forms of art are available on this web site and elsewhere. Contacting local Japanese Canadian associations could put you in contact with members of the community willing to speak to your class.

10. Consider alternative possibilities

Explore ways in which events might have turned out differently, to demonstrate some of the forces that were involved historically. For example, the US government ended the forced relocation of Japanese Americans after the war ended in 1945 and allowed them to return to their homes. What were some of the reasons the Canadian government did not do the same?

11. Realize that terms may change over time

Terms may change over time. For example, “Japanese Canadian” is no longer hyphenated, either as a noun or an adjective. “Internment” has been used to mean different things in different contexts. The Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, which Canada signed in 1929 says that a country cannot intern its own citizens, and most of the Japanese Canadians were Canadian citizens. Sometimes the term is used more broadly to refer to confinement during wartime. Japanese Americans began using “incarceration” for sites in which most Japanese Americans were being held, such as Manzanar, since almost all were treated in this way. In Canada, a significant proportion of Japanese Canadians ended up on sugar beet farms, which does not seem to be incarceration, although it was part of the more general term of “uprooting.” Americans use “internment camps” for places that were more like Prisoner of War camps, like Crystal City. Also, in Canada, the Prisoner-of-War camps such as Angler and Petawawa included both Japanese nationals as well as naturalized citizens or Canadian-born inmates.