Reference Re: Persons of Japanese Race

Though this reference case does not directly involve litigants of Japanese descent, it is one of the most important cases in Japanese-Canadian legal history as it deals directly with not only their uprooting, dispossession, and forced removal from Canada, but also with conceptions of race, nationality, and of who is understood as ‘belonging’ to the Canadian nation state. The case revolved around the three ‘deportation’ Orders-inCouncil (PC 7355, 7356, and 7357) that were issued at the end of December 1945 under the guise of legality due to the War Measures Act. The ruling handed down from the Supreme Court of Canada was mixed, wherein all justices stated that at least part of PC 7355 was valid, Rinfret CJC, Kerwin and Tasherceau JJ stated that PC 7356 and 7357 were valid, Hudson and Estey JJ stated that everything except for part of PC 7355 was valid, and Kellock and Rand JJ only ruled that part of PC 7355 was valid with the rest of the Orders-in-Council (along with parts of PC 7355) were invalid or only partially valid. The case was then appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. (Co-operative Committee on Japanese Canadians et al v Attorney-General of Canada et al [1947] 1 DLR 577)