On February 24th, 1942, the Canadian government followed America’s lead days prior, by issuing Order-in-Council P.C. 1486. The order provided the legal means to expel all Japanese Canadians residing within one hundred sixty kilometers of the Pacific coast. Thus began internment.

My grandpa was among the 22,000 Japanese folks, many born in Canada like my grandpa, uprooted from their homes and land. Families were separated. Some were sent to prison camps for free labour, others sent to farms in th...