The Japanese Canadian War Memorial: The Struggle for Enfranchisement and

Recognition in Canada

Katie Roy

Vancouver, B.C.

Vancouver Technical Secondary

June 15 2021

Introduction

The Japanese Canadian War memorial is dedicated to the Japanese Canadian soldiers who fought

to the struggle for enfranchisement and other major parts of Japanese Canadian history makes it

a complicated symbol for the Japanese Canadian community today.

Canadian war memorial makes it an important symbol to the Japanese Canadian community,

representing not only a history of disenfranchisement and exclusion, but also one of

empowerment and resilience. Its secondary purpose is to examine the role of war memorials in

the 21st century.

of anti-Asian sentiment and experienced systemic marginalization. Beginning in the late 19th

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Sunahara, Ann. “Japanese Canadians.”

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Sunahara, Ann. “Japanese Canadians.”

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Sunahara, Ann. “Japanese Canadians.” In The Canadian Encyclopedia, edited by Mona Oikawa, Eli Yarhi, and

Celine Cooper. Canadian Encyclopedia, January 31, 2011.

culminated in a violent riot of 9,000 white Canadians that wrecked the homes and businesses in

Vancouver’s Chinatown and Japantown.

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In response, Japan and Canada negotiated a

volunteers in August 1914.

He obtained military training for 171 volunteers in 1916, only to be

refused by enlistment centers in B.C on racial grounds.

Alberta, where they successfully enlisted.

country, serving with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Europe.

battles as Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, and the Battle for Hill 70. Ultimately, 54 Japanese

Canadians fell in the line of duty. Considering the racial barriers they faced and their

socioeconomically marginalized status, their successful enlistment and service demonstrates

great resilience and courage.

the Japanese Canadian war memorial.

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University of British Columbia, 2014.

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Sunahara, Ann. “Japanese Canadians.”

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Sunahara, Ann. “Japanese Canadians.”

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Dick, Lyle. “Masumi Mitsui.” In The Canadian Encyclopedia., January 21, 2019.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/masumi-mitsui.

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Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. “Gentlemen’s Agreement, 1908.” Accessed June 13, 2021.

anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Designed by James Anderson Benzie, the memorial is

a pillar with a lantern on top, and a large, circular base.

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The design is a blend of Japanese and

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Cherry blossoms hold great symbolic meaning in Japanese culture. The primary significance of

cherry blossoms is a metaphor for the transient and ephemeral nature of life.

A parallel can be

drawn between this symbolic meaning and the sacrifice of the 54 young men in the war: their

lives were short, but still beautiful and worthy of recognition.

Canadian enfranchisement. Japanese Canadian soldiers had temporarily obtained the right to vote

during the war under the Military Voters Act of 1917.

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Post war, the veterans headed the

suffrage movement and attempted to convince the B.C government to honour their service by

granting them the franchise.

Canadian Legion.

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2021. https://electionsanddemocracy.ca/voting-rights-through-time-0/brief-history-federal-voting-rights-canada.

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Folklore.” Bbg.org, April 25, 2016.

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the B.C Legislature in Victoria.

vote, nonetheless a significant breakthrough for the entire Japanese Canadian community.

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This

One day after the Hong Kong attacks, Sergeant Mitsui wrote a letter to the Minister of Defense

on behalf of Japanese Canadian veterans, pledging “their unflinching loyalty to Canada as they

did in the Last Great War”.

including veterans, were considered spies for Imperial Japan and declared “enemy aliens”.

Pacific Coast, some 21,000 people, were forcibly relocated to internment camps in the

Kootenays region.

Their property was seized by the government and sold to cover the costs of

internment and to discourage their return to the West Coast.

Among those detained was

Sergeant Masumi Mitsui. When he was escorted to Hastings Park to be registered as an “enemy

alien” , he reportedly threw down his medals and declared “ You've taken everything away from

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extinguished.

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Probable causes for this act include mandatory blackout regulations and concern

federal government’s policies were intended to pressure Japanese Canadians to give up their

status as british subjects.

Around 4,000 Japanese-Canadians were repatriated to Japan, despite

public opposition from organizations such as the Co-operative Committee on Japanese

Canadians (CCJC).

Those who agreed to relocate east lived under other legal restrictions until

all Asian Canadians were granted the federal franchise 1948.

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prominence, headed by the National Association for Japanese Canadians (NACJ).

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The increase

of support and attention for the redress movement was prompted by two publications in 1981.

The first was Joy Kagawa’s novel Obasan, which provoked an emotional response in the

Canadian public and garnered sympathy for the wartime experiences of Japanese Canadians.

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The second was the Politics of Racism by Ann Gomer Sunahara, which used the federal

government's own records to document the politics behind the 1942 expulsion order.

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months later, on September 22, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney spoke in the House of Commons,

acknowledging the wartime rights violations and announcing a payment of 21,000$ to Japanese

Canadians expelled from the coast in 1942 or born in Canada before 1 April 1949.

Among

other compensations, the settlement included a fund of 12 million dollars to rebuild the

infrastructure of destroyed Japanese Canadian communities.

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changing the attitudes of the larger public towards Japanese-Canadians was the relighting of the

memorial’s lantern. In August 1985, a formal ceremony was held for the relighting, performed

by a 98 year old Masumi Mitsui.

Considering the original meaning of the lantern as a

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reunification between these countries. Furthermore, bearing in mind the conjunction between the

extinguishing of the lantern and the categorization of Japanese Canadians as “enemy aliens” , the

enfranchisement. First, the erection of the memorial marked the emergence of the

enfranchisement movement. It was also testament to the determination of Japanese Canadians to

enlist and serve their country, despite racial barriers and their marginalized status. The lantern’s

subsequent extinguishing in 1942 coincided with the internment of Japanese Canadians.

This

act symbolized the “ extinguishing” of the hope for enfranchisement. The relighting of the

lantern in 1985 was attestation to the success of the redress movement and the acceptance of

Japanese Canadians into the national consciousness. The memorial has come to be a symbol of

both disenfranchisement and enfranchisement for Japanese Canadians, depicting not only a

narrative of exclusion and disempowerment, but also one of empowerment and community

mobilization.

embedded with the values, beliefs and attitudes of that era. The majority of Canada’s memorials

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were constructed in the 1920’s and 30’s, to memorialize those lost in the First World War.

Memorials and monuments of the era were used to construct a historical narrative to fit the

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neglected the contributions of minority groups such as the Japanese Canadian volunteers. As the

most visible manifestations of war commemoration, war memorials play a critical role in the

establishment and reinforcement of the national collective memory. An increase in recognition of

war memorials dedicated to minority groups would result in war remembrance practices that are

more reflective of the diverse nature of Canadian identity and history. Some such memorials to

be considered are the National Aboriginal Veterans War memorial, the Chinatown Memorial

Monument, and of course, the Japanese Canadian War memorial.

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