Finished
Muriel Kitagawa
The Internment of the Japanese
The Speech
- In 1945, following the war, Muriel spoke up about what her and her people had went through
- demanded the return of their posessions
"the loss of a house, the loss of a few thousand dollars, the loss of a fishing boat, or a buisness, or a small shop... these items are big only in proportion to how much the victims could materially afford to lose"
Life After
- She expressed her extreme disappointment in her country for their harsh actions, and for turning their back on their own
- After her famous speech, Muriel Kitagawa went on to live a normal life. She was married and had children
- became famous for "This is My Own" and "Letters to Wes"
" We knew that our ideals and training were Canadian, even if you didnt... Sometimes we almost gave up the struggle. Sometimes we wondered why we shouldn't get out and lick our sore wounds someplace else than here, but where would we go? to most of us, Japan is a foreign country full of all the things we learned to dislike, in spite of a lot of things that were good"
- Though she was very disappointed, she still expressed her hope for the future of Canada
Background
After the War
- Muriel Kitagawa was a Canadian-born Japanese woman living during the time of the second world war
- She was a writer
- She was 29 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, which would drastically change the rest of her life
- Japanese Canadians were suspected of supporting Japan, so Muriel and her family were moved away from the Pacific Coast
- It wasn't until 1949 that the Japanese in Canada regained their rights
The Internment
- The government extended an official apology for their actions in 1988, long after the internment
- When the Japanese were first relocated, their houses and other goods were sold off by the government, so many of their posessions were not returned after the war
- After the attack, more than 21,000 Japanese Canadians were removed from their homes
- All possessions were taken; homes, fishing boats, companies and personal goods
- Many were too poor to deal with losing their land, making it hard for them to recover once the war had ended