Privy Council Office Fonds

Privy Council Office Fonds

Description

Title Proper Privy Council Office Fonds
Date(s) 1919-1951
General material designation
This fonds contains 174 textual records.
Scope and content
This fonds comprises three series containing Privy Council Office records (Orders-in-Council, letters, memoranda, minutes, etc.). The files pertain primarily to issues concerning people of Japanese descent in Canada in the 1940s and include such topics as the following: the termination of the War Measures Act; a prohibition on the immigration of non-British or non-American subjects to Canada; the naturalization of Japanese individuals and Chinese individuals in Canada; regulations regarding trading with the "enemy"; internment of "enemy aliens" in Canada; the policing of groups labelled as "subversive"; "enemy aliens" and "alien" property; the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses during World War II; the Standing Committee on Orientals; Defence of Canada Regulations; government censorship of specific acts; the declaration of war with Japan; the dispossession of Japanese Canadians; the Canadian Japanese Construction Corps; restrictions on firearms and explosives; the establishment of work camps; the British Security Co-ordination; policies regarding Japanese Canadian women and children; the terms associated with the government acquisition of Hastings Park in Vancouver; the forcible sale of property as related to the Soldier Settlement Act; the processes of dispossession, including evaluation of property and terms of sale and lease of property; the budget for funds allotted to the forcible uprooting of Japanese Canadians; the seizure of fishing vessels from Japanese Canadians; government discussion of labour camps for Japanese Canadians; housing for uprooted Japanese Canadians; an investigation of an alleged Japanese fascist gang connected to the Black Dragon Society; the deportation of Japanese Canadians to Japan; the appointment of Henry Irvine Bird to the position of Judge in the British Columbia Supreme Court; the labour and manpower or Japanese Canadians in labour camps; the regulations of the British Columbia Security Commission regarding property ownership; policies adjusted to allow Japanese Canadians to work in the lumber industry; the education of Japanese Canadian children in Alberta; the regulations of the Canadian criminal code and Soldier Settlement Act; the conscription of two men into non-combat roles in the Canadian army; Japanese Canadians holding land and growing crops; regulations pertaining to the release of secret and confidential information to foreign powers; legal action taken by Japanese Canadian individuals against the Attorney General of Canada; the establishment of the Bird Commission and various judges appointed to serve on the Royal Commission; negotiations between the Government of British Columbia and the Minister of Labour pertaining to the funding and well-being of uprooted Japanese Canadians; and an agreement between the Government of Manitoba and the Minister of Labour pertaining to the well-being of Japanese Canadians.
Name of creator
Canada. Privy Council Office created this archive.
Immediate source of acquisition
The digital copies of the records were acquired by the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective between 2014 and 2018.

Structure

Repository Library and Archives Canada

Digital Objects (174)

Metadata

Title

Privy Council Office Fonds
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Terminology

Readers of these historical materials will encounter derogatory references to Japanese Canadians and euphemisms used to obscure the intent and impacts of the internment and dispossession. While these are important realities of the history, the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective urges users to carefully consider their own terminological choices in writing and speaking about this topic today as we confront past injustice. See our statement on terminology, and related sources here.