Japanese-Canadian Internment Assignment

Canada was justified and it was necessary to imprison the Japanese for many reasons. At the time,
the Japanese were trying to expand on the East. In the attempt to expand, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour
and Hong Kong where Canadian troops were stationed. Canada was in a state of panic for the Japanese
might take over Canada. This means that it was only reasonable for Canada to cut off all sources of
information (Japanese newspapers, schools, etc.), imprison everyone that was Japanese, and sell their
assets to pay for their imprisonment. If they didn’t, the Japanese could have sent information to one
another or other Japanese soldiers overseas for a surprise invasion. At the time, there was nothing wrong
with this imprisonment because it kept every other Canadian safe and protected our country. If they had
not interned and detained all Japanese people, Canada would have been invaded and destroyed. Not only
did it serve as a method of protection, but a way of revenge as well. For all those Canadians killed
overseas, it was valid for us to detain the Japanese to show Japan that their people are suffering because of
what they did to Canadian soldiers.

Canada shouldn’t have interned Japanese-Canadians as it was extremely unnecessary. The

Japanese-Canadians that resided in Canada were most likely born in Canada. Some haven’t even been to
Japan or speak Japanese, let alone spread information overseas. If anything they helped our economy with
their stores and farms. If we were trying to protect our country from invasions, then why didn’t we
imprison Germans or Italians? There are so many other ways to protect a country like strengthening your
military or gathering more materials. It’s ridiculous to assume that every living Japanese-Canadian is a
spy that works for Japan. They were over-worked and imprisoned in harsh conditions based on their race
(just like the Holocaust). Even when we had released them, they had nowhere to go and nothing to eat.
We had sold all of their assets, leaving them nothing. When Japanese-Canadian interment was over, we
still took decades to apologize. The holocaust imprisoned, tortured, and killed innocent people based on
their race and Canada had done the same. Had we not learned that something like this was wrong? Having
such a baseless assumption was wrong and going to such extreme measures was completely unnecessary.