From DiscoverNikkei.org

Immigration & Citizenship - Canada

Digital archive which highlight the unique history, experiences, and contributions of Canadians of Japanese ansestries. This site contains video clips of oral histories, text, archival photorgaphs and related material.
"This website ... presents a comprehensive overview of the Japanese community in Canada from its early beginnings to the present."
Includes sections on "Early History," "WWII Experience," "Renewal," and "Japanese Canadians Today."
"The first known Japanese immigrant, Manzo Nagano, settled in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1877. By 1914, 10,000 Japanese had settled permanently in Canada. The 1996 census estimated that there were 51,800 Canadians of Japanese ancestry (those who listed single origin) and an additional 25,330 who had some Japanese ancestry (multiple origin). The history of Japanese Canadians is characterized by discrimination and turmoil in the past and by achievement today."
This series of articles was developed as a part of lesson plans to teach Japanese internent in Canada.
This article discusses the resettlement of interned Japanese Canadians in Montreal and their historic interactions with French Canadians.
  • Arthur Miki "Japanese Heritage in Transition" (PANA Keynote address (July 7, 2005, Vancouver B.c.) coming soon
This is an article from the tutorial, which "describes southern Alberta's passage from a land teeming with buffalo to a major centre of the modern oil and gas industry." The entire tutorial "introduces these fundamental economic changes" and "explores how social, economic, and cultural changes have, in turn, affected the people of southern Alberta and its premier urban centre, Calgary." Japanese settlement is a part of its history.
  • "Japan": Canada Heirloom Collection, Volume VII: Canada at the Millennium; a Transcultural Society.
"Canada at the Millennium: A TransCultural Society is a fitting tribute to our country and its people, poised to enter the new era with a confidence that is supported by our strong democratic foundation and that has been shaped by the values that have guided our journey to the new millennium. The 50 nations celebrated in this illustrious volume testify to the richness of our cultural diversity and our openness to the world." This chapter focuses on Japanese in Canada.
"Abstract: During World War II the Canadian government implemented a systematic plan to rid British Columbia of over 22,000 Japanese Canadians. Forty years later, Japanese Canadians mobilized in a movement to demand redress. To make their case, they used realism with its objective research methods to prove that the government's actions violated their rights. But while realism helped them win their case, this paper claims that there were ramifications. While realism made it possible to narrate Japanese Canadians into the history of the Canadian nation as fully assimilated citizens, this implicitly accepted the nation's hostile construction of racial others. Through an analysis of the Japanese Canadian film Minoru: Memory of Exile, this paper shows how difficult it is to shed realism once it is institutionalized, underlining the importance of developing a critical awareness of how it operates."
Norm ibuki interviewed Japanese Canadian and provides the story of Japanese experiences from his migration to Canada to repartriation.
"This is the story of Japanese settlement in Southern Alberta. It will be told through the personal memories of the children of the settlers themselves. You are invited to turn the pages of their history, to hear them tell their own stories, and view the photographs that remind them, and us, of their journey East to West!"
"This site outlines how the Hironaka family came from Japan in 1905 and established their farm in Southern Alberta. It also includes a virtual photo album in chronological order through two world wars, and the Japanese evacuees from British Columbia to Alberta."
Biographical profiles of Issei who immigrated to Canada. The entire text of Nakayama's book has been scanned and is available in a searchable web interface through the Canadian Heritage project, "Our Roots: Canada's Local Histories Online".
Describes a research project by Hiroko Noro at the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives to explore the hapa identity of interracial Japanese Canadian children.
"To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Canadian Citizenship Act (1947), Citizenship and Immigration Canada, in conjunction with private-sector partners, commissioned this book. A survey history, it traces the evolution of Canadian citizenship and the role played by immigration in the development of Canada from the turn of the century until 1977, when the last major amendment to the Citizenship Act was made."
Column about "Nikkei Canadian," written by Yumi Schemmer. She is a native-born Japanese and lived in Canada as a freelance writer.
This article is about the history of the relationship between the two countries dating back to the 1840s, although the official diplomatic relationship was established in 1928. Also available in Japanese.
Although primarily a history of the bilateral diplomatic relations between Japan and Canada, this article also details the history of Japanese immigration into Canada and, particularly, British Columbia and Vancouver.
  • Manzo Nagano is recognized as the first official Japanese immigrant to Canada, landing at New Westminster in 1877.


Timeline

日系カナダ人史の主な出来事に関する年表 (PDF)　(英語のみ）
日系カナダ人年表、1883-現在（2002）


Online Exhibit

The original 1996 exhibit was created by the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Toronto Nikkei Archives and Resource Centre of the National Association of Japanese Canadians, Toronto Chapter. The exhibit is currently in the main hallway at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.


Collection Guides

Finding aids of resources on the early history of the Japanese in Canada, the Japanese Canadian internment during World War II, and the redress issue of the 1980s.
Inventorief 1975; updated in 1996.

Bibliography

Annotated bibliographies, including a book in French.
  • Tomoko Makabe, The Canadian Sansei. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. (University of Toronto Press)
"The Canadian Sansei is much more than an account of third-generation Japanese Canadians. Makabe's explorations reflect on aspects of history, culture, and identity in general as they relate to ethnic minorities in Canada and throughout the world."
"This book traces the immigration of Japanese into the Fraser River fishery from first entry in the 1870s, their immigrant surge in the late 1880s and their dominance by the 1900s."
Retrieved from "http://www.discovernikkei.org/wiki/index.php/Canada"
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