1877

The first Japanese person known to settle in Canada, Manzo Nagano, lands in New Westminster, British Columbia. (Source: Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre)

1900

Tomekichi Homma challenges the government of British Columbia’s ban on voting. In Cunningham v. Homma, the Privy Council ultimately rules against Mr. Homma. (Sources: Elections Canada; Wikipedia; The National Association of Japanese Canadians)

1907

The Asiatic Exclusion League organizes the Pacific Coast Anti-Asian riots to attack businesses and people of Asian ethnicities in Vancouver Chinatown and Japantown. Surrounding these events, the government of British Columbia enacts a series of laws discriminating against all persons of colour. (Sources: The National Association of Japanese Canadians; The Canadian Encyclopedia)

1938

The Canadian government enforces laws that restrict all Asian Canadians from the right to vote or to enter various professions including law, mining, and civil service. (Sources: The National Association of Japanese Canadians; The Canadian Encyclopedia)

1942

Beginnings of the Asia-Pacific War and the Canadian government’s invocation of the War Measures Act that introduces the suspension of civil rights, seizure of personal property, and forced internment of Canadian “enemy aliens [of] Japanese racial origin” in work and prisoner of war (“POW”) camps. Unlike POWs or Canadians of German and Italian descent, Japanese Canadian human rights were not protected by the Geneva Convention. (Sources: Government of Canada; Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre)

1947

The National Japanese Canadian Citizen’s Association (renamed the National Association of Japanese Canadians [the “NAJC”] in 1980) is formed to represent and protect the civil liberties of the Japanese Canadian community. The 1947 Citizenship Act expands franchise to Canadians of South Asian and Chinese origin, but excludes Indigenous Peoples and Japanese Canadians. (Source: The National Association of Japanese Canadians)

1949

Japanese Canadians gain the right to vote federally and provincially. The Government of Canada re-instates Japanese Canadian rights to move freely within Canada and reveals that almost all of the latter’s property (valued at over $400,000,000 collectively) has been sold off to finance the internment. (Sources: The National Association of Japanese Canadians; The Canadian Museum for Human Rights; Wikipedia)

1967

The 1967 Immigration Act opens up immigration for skilled labourers. Paired with the Japanese Economic Miracle (1945-1991) representing Japan’s rapid postwar economic growth, the Act promotes the Second Wave – the immigration of skilled Japanese workers to Canada in the coming decades. (Sources: Council on Foreign Relations; Berkeley Economic Review)

1980

The National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) establishes the National Redress Committee, giving that committee a mandate to research and study the subject of Redress (Source: Toronto NAJC)

1983

Three Japanese Canadian lawyers from Toronto – Shin Imai, Maryka Omatsu and Marcia Matsui – begin organizing the Sodan Kai, a non-partisan group aimed at bringing more community involvement to the Redress movement in Canada. The term “Sodan Kai” means “arriving at a mutual decision through quiet group discussion”. (Sources: Toronto NAJC; Discover Archives)