Japanesse interment
...e Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The government took some of their possessions away from them, which included boats, radios and cameras. After the attack on Pearl Harbor the people of British Columbia were very uneasy having all the Japanese people living so close. They started to blame all their troubles on the Japanese. Prime Minister Mackenzie King wanted votes from B.C. so he was glad to help the people. All Japanese males between the ages 14 and 45 were ordered to move inland. The reason for this was to protect the coast from Japanese spies. Over twenty thousand people were taken from their homes and scattered throughout B.C. By 1942, the Canadian government had set up 8 internment camps in B.C. They were New Denver, Taslune, Kaslso, Roseberry, Lemon Creek Slocan City, Sandon and Greenwood. Because of the war there was a large shortage especially in the sugar beet industry. The government gave the Japanese males a choice to either work on road camps or to go and work on the beet camps and be with their f amilies. Most of the men chose to work on the beet camps. It was a hard life to live in the internment camps. Many families were cramped with eight, nine or ten other families sharing one stove. Many Japanese were placed in tents until their houses ...