What
is August 15 for Japanese Canadians?
Ladies and Gentlemen:
As
a member of the Japanese Canadian community I am very pleased with the
announcement that August 15 is designated as the day of Peace in the Pacific.
What
was and is the meaning of the Asian Pacific War for us? . The war started when
the Japanese imperial army invaded China, triggered by the fabricated
Manchurian Incident in 1931. For most Canadians it must have seemed to be a
conflict between nations of a foreign land: Canada’s trade relations with Japan
was maintained throughout the 1930’s and most Canadian missionaries kept on
staying in China.
This
state of “business as usual” totally changed in 1941 with the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbour. Many Japanese Canadians must have felt that it was the
beginning of a disaster: Indeed, Japanese Canadians were regarded and treated
as enemy aliens even though the
majority was Canadian citizens either by birth or naturalization. Within a
period of a few months almost all the members of the community was uprooted and
incarcerated
Without
exception all Japanese Canadians remained loyal to Canada, as Mackenzie King,
the Prime Minister officially admitted in 1944. However, Japanese Canadians
must have had ambivalent feeling. Shinji Sato in Manitoba expressed his
uneasiness at the time:
“When
I have dwelled on the fact that we are taking arms against the land of our
origin, I have uneasy moments… In my opinion, our war against Japan is not a
war to abolish the Japanese civilizations, but to protect it from the fascist
doctrine…”
Japan’s
surrender on August 15, 1945 did not bring a happy ending for Japanese
Canadians, i.e., the end of the war-time hardships. For some members of the
community it meant that their “deportation” became imminent. In fact during the
following year the expulsion of about 4,000 of them to war devastated Japan
took place.
Many
Canadians of the post-war generations may not be able to believe that the
government policy of removal and incarceration of Japanese Canadians was
continued for four more years, until March 31, 1949.
In
many ways the trauma of the war has still not healed even after 55 years. At
present over 40 cases of compensation lawsuits have been filed in Japanese
courts by war victims from the Asia Pacific region. Unless these cases are
settled with some satisfaction to the plaintiffs, we are not able to wholeheartedly
celebrate peace and the prospect for a better world where people can live in
spirit of reconciliation and harmony.
Our
joint efforts are still needed to bring about Peace in the Pacific in the true sense of words. I believe that it
is achievable as the awareness of people about global citizenship has been
growing and the national borders and geographical distance are not any more
insurmountable barriers with the development of the latest communication
technologies. Thank you very much.