Challenging Exile: Japanese Canadians and the Wartime Constitution

by Eric M. Adams, Jordan Stanger-Ross

The untold story of Japanese Canadians facing banishment after the war and the legal battles that challenged notions of citizenship, race, and rights.

In September 1945, the Canadian government proposed exiling Japanese Canadians to a war-ravaged Japan. Thousands who had already endured internment and dispossession now faced the threat of banishment from the country they called home.

In Challenging Exile, Adams and Stanger-Ross, recipients of the John T. Saywell Prize for Canadian Constitutional Legal History for their work on the uprooting and dispossession of Japanese Canadians in the 1940s, examine the circumstances and personalities behind this controversial policy. Following the experiences of families uprooted from their homes and stripped of their livelihoods and possessions, the authors reveal the human impact of government orders and the broader social and political forces at play. They also analyze the pivotal court case in which lawyers and judges confronted fundamental questions about citizenship, race, and rights during wartime and its aftermath.

Set against a backdrop of global conflict, heightened borders, and widespread racial suspicion, Challenging Exile offers a compelling account of injustice and resilience, highlighting issues that remain deeply relevant in contemporary debates over citizenship, race, and human rights.

384 pages, Paperback

Published October 23, 2025

Reviews

[Adrian]

A legal and political history of the internment of Japanese-Canadians during WWII. The impetus for moving Japanese-Canadians who lived on west coast in land came from the US. Two days after Roosevelt ordered the evacuation of Japanese on US coast, the King government followed suit. All indications were that the public approved. Canadian measures went further than US ones. Japanese property including businesses were sold off at fire sale prices. This action led to the decision to exile Japanese back to Japan after the war. Many of these people were Canadian citizens, many had never seen Japan. People were forced to sign forms saying they wanted to return. Government pressure was strong for people to sign (very reminiscent of how Indigenous people had their land taken away). Government was taken to court but judges sided with government. Authors show how it was this injustice that led to development of Charter of Rights and Freedoms thirty years later. Dark stain on Canadian history handled impeccably.

[Adam Dodek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! Meticulously researched and beautifully written. Loved the photos