Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the end of racist and xenophobic WWI internment camps in Canada (for a few years).
Enjoy the slave labour next time you visit Banff.
https://www.internmentcanada.ca
OH DEAR ME! Foreign born citizens were rounded up and detained FOR OUR PROTECTION!
The FUNNY THING IS that some of those rounded up DID WISH CANADA HARM!
Steve Paikin - the long time host of TVO/The Agenda - once told a story about his Italian father in law
who was a STAUNCH SUPPORTER of Fascist Mussolini!
Father in law was NOT SURPRISED AT ALL when RCMP officers showed up at his door to take him away
for internment shortly after Italy entered WW2!
BUT.......................Whining about internment camps holding enemy aliens in WW1 is a STUPID LIE-berals game!
Japanese internment camps in Canada during WW2 were another matter - especially since so many younger guys
WANTED TO JOIN UP - FOR CANADA!
But in the panic and hysteria of the time it is little wonder that Ottawa would want to move Japanese Cdns away from the
west coast since in the event of an invasion - such people - who could read English - would BE VERY USEFUL to an
invading army!
Think about it! We can look at a Dutch or Spanish road sign and recognize the place name it refers to
it since it is written in an alphabet that WE USE!
But an invading Japanese soldier would NOT be able to read our maps or road signs and would NEED assistance!
And since we all know how fond Imperial Japanese soldiers were or carving people up with bayonets - it stands to reason
that ANY Japanese Cdns captured by the invaders would BE COMPELLED TO ASSIST THOSE INVADERS!
So there was a LITTLE BIT of initial justification for moving some people away from the coast - FOR A WHILE!
And of course the western mood might not have been so angry if Japan had actually DECLARED WAR BEFORE LAUNCHING ITS
BOMBING RAIDS!
Fear and panic were the order of the day and we have NO RIGHT to judge harshly the people who lived through those ugly times!
