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1914-1945: Introduction / War Years / Interwar Years / World War II / Changing Attitudes
World War II
In 1942, an order-in-council removed Japanese Canadians from "protected areas" of British Columbia. Later the same year, males between the ages of 18 and 45 were dispatched to work camps in the province's interior. The full scale evacuation of 21,000 Japanese soon began. Families were separated; about 2,000 men were sent to work camps; about 12,000 women, children, and elderly lived in makeshift processing centres. The Pacific National Exhibition grounds in Vancouver became a holding area for
hundreds of Japanese Canadians. Some mothers and children lived for days in horse stables before finding better lodgings. They were then sent to detention centres in deserted B.C. mining towns. Men who refused to work were transported to official internment camps as subversives. About 4,000 Japanese Canadian families managed to stay together when they agreed to work on sugar beet fields in Alberta and Manitoba.
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