Kaz and Cathy Miyata

Racism against Asians led the BC government to ban Japanese Canadians from voting in provincial elections.

Tomekichi Homma fights the BC government in court for the right to vote in provincial elections. The Supreme Court rules in Mr. Homma's favour, however, the highest court in Britain overruled the verdict.

Anti-Asian riot in Vancouver.

Parliament changes the federal election law allowing Japanese Canadians to vote in federal elections, however, BC parliament still will not allow Japanese Canadians to vote.

Pearl Harbor (a US naval yard) and Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport (as well as several other strategic locations in Hong Kong), are attacked by Japan. At the time Hong Kong was a British Crown Colony and therefore considered Canadian Territory.

Canada declares war on Japan. Prime Minister Mackenzie King invokes the War Measures Act. Under the guise of national security, The Royal Canadian Navy impounds 1,200 Japanese Canadian fishing boats. Japanese language schools and newspapers are closed down.

All persons of Japanese descent living in Canada are required to register as enemy aliens.

All male enemy aliens between the ages of 18-45 are forced to leave the coastal area before April 1. Most are sent to work in road camps. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) enforce these relocations.

The British Columbia Security Commission (BCSC) is established to oversee the relocation of all Japanese Canadians away from the west coast of Canada

Japanese Canadian women and children are forced to leave their homes by the RCMP. The women and children are delivered to Hastings Park in Vancouver, to live in livestock stalls

BCSC begins moving women/children to "ghost town" detention camps. Twenty-five camps are designated: Slocan, West Denver, Lemon Creek, Tashme, etc.

Order in Council grants the government the right to sell, without consent, all properties owned by Japanese Canadians. The monies received from the forced sale of farms, homes, and businesses are held in "protective care." The government confiscates all of the monies from these sales.

The British Columbia Security Commission is dissolved. Authority and responsibility for managing Japanese internment is transferred to the Department of Labour.

Prime Minister King announces the official policy that Japanese Canadians are to be dispersed across Canada or repatriated to Japan.

Repatriation (deportation) surveys are forced on internees. Nearly 4,000 Japanese Canadians are sent to Japan, over half of whom were Canadian citizens. Japanese Canadians who refuse to be deported continue to be held in internment camps.

Japan surrenders and WWII ends. German and Italian POWs are sent back to their own countries. All Japanese Canadians in Canada remain incarcerated in Internment camps, German POW camps, and labour camps across the country.

Japanese Canadians continue to be held as prisoners in internment camps and German Prisoner of War (POW) camps and labour camps across Canada. However, German POWs and Italian POWs are released and sent back to their respective countries.

Japanese Canadians are released and allowed to return to the "protected zone" off the BC coast. They are granted freedom of movement but their property, homes, and businesses are not returned. It is estimated that the government and undisclosed business owners accumulated millions of dollars from the internment of the Japanese Canadians. The Japanese Canadian internees leave the camps desolate and impoverished.

Due to the persistent negotiations by the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC), Prime Minister Brian Mulroney issues a formal apology to the Japanese Canadians interned during and after the war. In compensation, each surviving internee is offered $21,000; reinstatement of Canadian citizenship is offered to those forcibly exiled to Japan, and; a community fund is established to rebuild infrastructure and combat discrimination.