Notice of British Columbia Security Commission, 1942.
Most Japanese Canadians feared harassment from local hotheads and bigots; few feared government injustice. Yet this government notice, from the newly established British Columbia Security Commission, announced a policy of wholesale evacuation of Japanese Canadians from the so-called coastal defence zone, a policy which Japanese Canadians and their few defenders considered unwarranted and unjust. At first only male Japanese nationals were required to leave - a move which had the effect of tearing fathers from their wives and children. Then the second order, reproduced here, ordered all Canadians of Japanese background to leave the prohibited coastal area. Of the nearly 22,000 people affected, three out of every four were Canadian citizens.
