LECTURE | Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers and Landscapes of Injustice present "Landscapes of Injustice: Re Persons of Japanese Race"

Free and open to all

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On February 20, 1946, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld three Orders in Council authorizing the mass exile of Japanese Canadians in the Re Persons of the Japanese Race decision. This year marks the 75th anniversary of that judgment and of the subsequent decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to uphold the SCC decision on appeal.

Dr. Jordan Stanger-Ross will cover the historical background and policy origins while Dr. Eric M. Adams will speak about the decision itself. Drs. Adams and Stanger-Ross are currently working together on a book on the Japanese Canadian exile based on the collaborative research from the Landscape of Injustice project. Judge Maryka Omatsu will offer introductory remarks for the two speakers.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1942, the Canadian government forced more than 21,000 Japanese Canadians from their homes in British Columbia. They were told to bring only one suitcase each and officials vowed to protect the rest. Instead, Japanese Canadians were dispossessed, all their belongings either stolen or sold.

The definitive statement of a major national research partnership, Landscapes of Injustice: A New Perspective on the Internment and Dispossession of Japanese Canadians reinterprets the internment of Japanese Canadians by focusing on the deliberate and permanent destruction of home through the act of dispossession. All forms of property were taken. Families lost heirlooms and everyday possessions. They lost decades of investment and labour. They lost opportunities, neighbourhoods, and communities; they lost retirements, livelihoods, and educations. When Japanese Canadians were finally released from internment in 1949, they had no homes to return to. Asking why and how these events came to pass and charting Japanese Canadians' diverse responses, this book details the implications and legacies of injustice perpetrated under the cover of national security.