lies. The Japanese felt really cheated.When Japanese men tried to speak up and resist the treatment, many were imprisoned and considered as prisoners of war and punished as traitors. A lot were members of the Nisei Mass Evacuation Group, an informal body of second-generation Japanese Canadians who opposed the evacuation policy. After initial detention in the federal immigration hall on the Vancouver waterfront, the internees were sent to a prison camp at Angler, Ontario.Prisoners at the prison camp were not given many privileges. First of all, all prisoners were made to wear red circles on the back of their shirt, like the flag of Japan. As a double effect, these red circles made excellent targets. Next, letter writing was really strict. Only one letter was allowed per month, and only about six lines were allowed. Often, the guards omitted many words that were written. Even the incoming letters were severely filtered and numerous words were excluded. The only time the prisoners were released was to gather wood. Life was basically very dull and boring. Although only a small double fence separated the internees and the guards, the two led much different lives. All this happened even though 75% of all the Japanese were naturalized Canadians.Starting from 1943, the government sold all Japanese Canadian property including homes, fishing boats, businesses, and personal property and over 1000 farms were seized. Families were told that since they wouldnt be gone long, they didnt need to bring much with them. Politicians insisted that the relocation was for security reasons and some even suggested that it was to protect the Japanese from mob violence on the Coast. Though technically, some of the Japanese may not have been interned, their activities and freedoms were severely restricted as they lost almost all of their belongings, ability to earn an income, and were placed in areas where their movement was severely restricted. In...
