Japanese Canadians

Japanese Canadians
Ngày hệ カナダ người; Nikkei Kanadajin
	Population distribution of Japanese Canadians by census division, 2021 census
Total population
	2001 Census:85,000 (by ancestry, 77% native born); 2016 Census:121,485 (by ancestry)
Regions with significant populations
	Vancouver,Burnaby,Richmond,Lethbridge,Edmonton
Languages
	English,French,andJapanese
Religion
	Irreligion(46%),Protestant(24%),Buddhism(16%),Catholic(9%), and other (5%)
Related ethnic groups
	Japanese,Japanese Americans,Japanese Brazilians,Japanese Peruvians,Japanese Mexicans

Japanese Canadians(Ngày hệ カナダ người,Nikkei Kanadajin,French:Canadiens japonais)areCanadian citizensofJapaneseancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated inWestern Canada,especially in the province ofBritish Columbia,which hosts the largest Japanese community in the country with the majority of them living in and aroundVancouver.In 2016, there were 121,485 Japanese Canadians throughout Canada.^[2]

Generations

The termNikkei( ngày hệ ) was coined by sociologists and encompasses all of the world's Japanese immigrants across generations. Japanese descendants living overseas have special names for each of their generations. These are formed by combining one of theJapanese numeralswith the Japanese word forgeneration(sei,Thế ):

Issei( một đời ) – The first generation of immigrants, born in Japan before moving to Canada.
Nisei( nhị thế ) – The second generation, born in Canada to Issei parents not born in Canada.
Sansei( tam thế ) – The third generation, born in Canada to Nisei parents born in Canada.
Yonsei( bốn thế ) – The fourth generation, born in Canada to Sansei parents born in Canada.
Gosei( năm thế ) – The fifth generation, born in Canada to Yonsei parents born in Canada.

History

Early years

The first Japanese settler in Canada wasManzo Nagano,who lived inVictoria, British Columbiain 1877 (a mountain in the province was named after him in 1977). The first generation orIssei,mostly came toVancouver Island,theFraser ValleyandRivers Inletfrom fishing villages on the islands ofKyūshūandHonshūbetween 1877 and 1928. A Japanese community newspaper for Vancouver residents was first launched in 1897. Around the same time, the Fraser River Japanese Fishermen's Association Hospital inStevestonwas established after the local hospital refused to admit and treat Japanese immigrants.^[4]

In 1907, theAsiatic Exclusion Leaguewas established in Vancouver and, by September of that year, led a mob of rioters who vandalized both Chinese and Japanese neighbourhoods.^[5]In 1908, Canada enacted a Gentlemen's Agreement intended to curb further Japanese immigration to Canada.^[6]

Influenced by the AmericanImmigration Act of 1924,members of the British Columbia parliament pushed for a total federal ban on immigration in the 1920s. After several years of negotiations, Japan eventually agreed to reduce its immigration quota under the Gentleman's Agreement to only 150 persons per year.^[7]

Internment

On January 14, 1942, theCanadian governmentused theWar Measures Actto brand Japanese-Canadians enemy aliens and to categorize them as security threats. There were 20,881 Japanese placed in internment camps and road camps in British Columbia, and prisoner-of-war camps in Ontario. Families were also sent as forced labourers to farms throughout the prairies. Three quarters of them were already citizens in Canada. A parallel situation occurred in the United States, theJapanese American internment.^[8]

The property and homes of Japanese Canadians living in the province of British Columbia were seized and sold off without their consent in 1943. The funds were used to pay for their internment. They also had to "pay rent" for living in the internment shacks that they were assigned. In 1945, after the war, as part of the continued effort to remove all Japanese Canadians from British Columbia, Prime MinisterWilliam Lyon MacKenzie Kinghad his cabinet pass Orders-in-Council to extend the powers of theWar Measures Actand give Japanese Canadians two "options": to be relocated to another province "East of the Rockies" or to go "back" to Japan though most were born in Canada and had never been to Japan.^{[citation needed]}After organized protests by against their treatment, they were finally given the right to vote in 1949. Mobility restrictions were lifted in 1949.^{[citation needed]}

After World War II

Until 1948, Japanese-Canadians, bothIsseiand Canadian-bornNisei,were denied the right to vote. Those born in the 1950s and 1960s in Canada are mostlySansei,the third generation.Sanseiusually have little knowledge of theJapanese language.Over 75% of theSanseihave married non-Japanese.NiseiandSanseigenerally identify themselves not as fully Japanese but as Canadians first who happen to have Japanese ancestry.

Since 1967, the second wave of immigrants were usually highly educated and resided in urban areas.^[9]

In the late 1970s and the 1980s, documents on the Japanese Canadian internment were released, and redress was sought by the National Association of Japanese Canadians, an organization representing Japanese Canadians nationally that was headed byArt Mikifrom Winnipeg. In 1986, it was shown that Japanese Canadians had lost $443 million during the internment. There were 63% of Canadians who supported redress and 45% who favoured individual compensation. On September 22, 1988, the National Association of Japanese Canadians succeeded in negotiating a redress settlement with the government at the time, under the leadership of Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney.The settlement included $21,000 for each individual directly affected, which was by 1993 almost 18,000 survivors. The federal government also provided a community endowment fund to assist in rebuilding the community, which is run by the National Association of Japanese Canadians. In addition, to address the more systemic racism that led to the plan and later justifications of the effort to remove "all people of Japanese racial origin" from Canadian territory, the redress settlement included the establishment of the Race Relations Foundation and challenges to theWar Measures Act.The Prime Minister also offered a formal apology in the House of Commons and the certificate of acknowledgement of injustices of the past, which was sent to each Japanese Canadian whose rights had been stripped, incarcerated, dispossessed and forcibly displaced.

The younger generation of Japanese-Canadians born in the late 20th century are mostlyYonsei,the fourth generation. ManyYonseiare of mixed racial descent. According toStatistics Canada's 2001 census of population information, Japanese-Canadians were the Canadian visible minority group most likely to have a formal or common-law marriage with a non-Japanese partner. Out of the 25,100 couples in Canada in 2001 that had at least one Japanese person, in only 30% of them were both partners of Japanese descent. As of 2001, 65% of Canada's Japanese population was born in Canada.

Education

Toronto

Vancouver

Montreal

Calgary

Edmonton

Halifax

London

Ottawa

Saskatoon

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Locations ofhoshū jugyō kōin Canada

Hoshū jugyō kō(Japanese supplementary schools) for instruction of the Japanese language include those in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, London, Montreal, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Toronto, and Vancouver.^[10]

With teachers from Japan:

Toronto Japanese School
Vancouver Japanese School(バンクーバー học bổ túc thụ nghiệp giáo,Bankūbā Hoshū Jugyō Kō)- Established on April 7, 1973 (ShowaYear 48).^[11]

Without teachers from Japan:^[10]

Alberta
- CalgaryHoshuko Japanese School Association (カルガリー học bổ túc thụ nghiệp giáoKarugarī Hoshū Jugyō Kō)^[12]
- MetroEdmontonJapanese Community School (MEJCS; エドモントン học bổ túc giáoEdomonton Hoshūkō)^[13]
Nova Scotia
- Japanese School ofHalifax(ハリファックス học bổ túc thụ nghiệp giáoHarifakkusu Hoshū Jugyō Kō)
Ontario
- London(CA) Japanese School (ロンドン ( CA ) học bổ túc thụ nghiệp giáoRondon Hoshū Jugyō Kō)
- TheOttawaHoshuko (オタワ học bổ túc giáoOtawa Hoshūkō)^[14]
Quebec
- Montreal Hoshuko School
Saskatchewan
- SaskatoonJapanese Language School (サスカトーン học bổ túc thụ nghiệp giáoSasukatōn Hoshū Jugyō Kō)

Demographics

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1901	4,738	—
1911	9,067	+91.4%
1921	15,868	+75.0%
1931	23,342	+47.1%
1941	23,149	−0.8%
1951	21,663	−6.4%
1961	29,157	+34.6%
1971	37,260	+27.8%
1981	40,995	+10.0%
1986	54,505	+33.0%
1991	65,680	+20.5%
1996	77,130	+17.4%
2001	85,225	+10.5%
2006	98,905	+16.1%
2011	109,740	+11.0%
2016	121,485	+10.7%
2021	129,425	+6.5%