VIRTUAL DEBATE | Be It Resolved That: “If you’re looking for a source for your undergraduate history essay, you can’t do better than Wikipedia.”

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Meeting ID: 889 2263 9372

University of Victoria professors Jordan Stanger-Ross, author of Landscapes of Injustice: A New Perspective on the Internment and Dispossession of Japanese Canadians, and Elizabeth Vibert will give a short introduction to a virtual debate: Be It Resolved That: “If you’re looking for a source for your undergraduate history essay, you can’t do better than Wikipedia.”

Several of Dr. Vibert's students have worked on updates to the Japanese Canadian Internment section of Wikipedia and will introduce and launch their sections. Community Council chair Vivian Rygnestad and members Jennifer Hashimoto and Sally Ito will also join the event. Matt Huculak from the University of Victoria Library will argue for the resolution, History chair Jason Colby will argue against. After the debate, viewers will vote on a winner followed by question and answers and some final remarks.

ABOUT LANDSCAPES OF INJUSTICE

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 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.