Appendix XIII: Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson on the Evacuation
(Excerpt from address given at opening of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto, June 7, 1964)
For me this Centre is a new reminder of the multi-racial heritage on which our nation is being built, surely and strongly. It is a new, a living monument to the fact that our Canadian unity, our Canadian purpose which seeks a Canadian identity, need not and does not mean any loss of the traditions and cultures, the arts and skills brought to Canada by Canadians from other lands.
The importance and value of the contributions made to Canadian society by Canadians of Japanese descent have not, unfortunately, always been as appreciated as they are today.
The first Japanese to arrive in Canada came to seek a temporary livelihood in British Columbia, many of them planning to return to Japan to retire in comfort. But Canada was to be more fortunate than that for, happily, most of them decided to stay, and the Japanese way of life became firmly rooted in small settlements along Canada’s Pacific coast.
In 1942, however, following the unhappy outbreak of war between our two countries, the coastal area of British Columbia was declared a protected area. People of Japanese origin were required to leave. That action by the Canadian government – though taken under the strains, and fears and pressures of war – was a black mark against Canada’s traditional fairness and devotion to the principles of human rights. We have no reason to be proud of this episode, but it had one compensation. Relocation brought to the attention of other parts of Canada the strong character and the fine qualities of our Japanese citizens and settlers. Their self-reliance and energy and their varied contribution to Canadian development were a revelation to the rest of Canada. Perhaps even more important, the distribution – even though forceful – over the whole country undoubtedly hastened the full integration of Japanese Canadians into Canadian life.