War in the Pacific: Japanese-Canadian Internment - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

War in the Pacific: Japanese-Canadian Internment

& The Atomic BombsSlide2

Internment Camps

War Measures Act

: waiving of habeas corpus and right to trial, bans on political and religious groups, restrictions of free speech, confiscation of property and…

POW Camps

: POW camps were created; captured enemy soldiers and merchant sailors (mostly German) were kept in high-security camps (about 35000 POWs in 1944)

&

Internment Camps

: for “enemy aliens” – just like in WWI, people classified in this way would be placed into these campsSlide3

Thousands of innocent Canadians were wrongly placed in these camps

30 000 people of German and Italian descent were required to be registered and report to the RCMP every month and many were interned in one of 26 camps set up

Any suspected fascist or Nazi sympathizers could be interned, and around 100 Communist Part members were as well

German & Italian Internment CampsSlide4

Japanese Internments

About 22 000 people of Japanese descent were living in British Columbia before the War, and ¾ of them were born here

After the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor in 1942, Canada confiscated property and deprived them of rights

The military and RCMP were against the internment, but as of February 24, 1942 all male Canadians of Japanese descent between the ages of 18-45 were forced into camps in the interior of B.C.Slide5

Japanese Internments

2 Days later the government told all others of Japanese descent that they had 24 hours to pack up belongings to be moved inland

March 4, they were told to turn over all property and belongings to the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property as a “protective measure”…Slide6

Japanese Internments

Virtually everything was auctioned off in their absence for a fraction of its worth and some of the funds were even used to run and build the internment camps

…

After the War, Japanese Canadians were encouraged to leave – many

did

Those who stayed were not allowed to return to Vancouver until 1949Slide7

War in the Pacific

After Germany had surrendered on May 7

th

1945, fighting continued in the Pacific against Japan (Allies had focused on taking back Europe first)

Japan had occupied Burma (Myanmar), much of China, and the Philippines Slide8

War in the Pacific

Once the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, the tide shifted and the American Allies began dominating combat in the

Pacific

July 1945, Canada had 80 000 volunteers ready to fight in Japan and 60 naval

vessels

But they would not be needed…Slide9

The Atomic Bombs

March-August 1945 the Americans had been firebombing 58 Japanese cities including Tokyo – 84 000 people (mostly civilians) were killed in Tokyo alone

Japan had not surrendered, and the new President Harry S. Truman believed the Japanese would fight to the bitter end so he cleared the use of a new weapon…the atomic bombSlide10

The Bombs are Dropped

The Enola Gay, an American B-29 bomber, dropped the first bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima at 8:16am on August 8

th

1945m killing 70 000 people instantly

3 days later, it appeared as if Japan planned to keep fighting so a second bomb, Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki killing another 70 000

By 1950 400 000 people had died from the bombs or the after effects

August 14, 1945 Japan surrenders unconditionally and WWII is officially over Slide11

Canada’s Role in Developing the Atomic Bomb

The Manhattan Project was the largest research project in existence when it began in the U.S. with a staff of more than 200 000 to work on developing atomic weapons

The Canadian government cooperated with the British and American governments to ensure the Allies would develop a bomb before the AxisSlide12

Canada’s Role in Developing the Atomic Bomb

All uranium refineries were in Europe and under Nazi control – one last refinery was in Port Hope Ontario – The Eldorado Refinery

The uranium came mostly from Great Bear Lake in the NWT and the heavy water used for the plutonium bomb (Fat Man) was from B.C.

Canadians discovered uranium 235 (the basic element of the bomb) , helped create the first chain reaction with it, and discovered how to purify it Slide13

Sahtugot’ine

Suffering

The

Sahtugot’ine people of NWT were hired as transporters of the uranium from the mines, but they were not given proper protective gear

They brought the dust back to their tents on their clothes and bodies and unwillingly contaminated their community and families

This caused countless men to get cancer and die young

In 1998 some of the tribe travelled

to Hiroshima

to apologize in the role they played