1939-1952

Lesson 1: IMMIGRATION, SETTLEMENT AND ASPIRATION

Landscapes of Injustice tells a story of the loss of home. It is about fear, racism, and measures taken in the name of security that made no one safer. It is also about the resilience of Japanese Canadians confronting injustice.

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Information Gap Activity

Students will explore the question of why Japanese migrants came to Canada and where they settled. Students examine primary and secondary sources as they investigate questions about the factors which influenced the settlement and growth of Japanese Canadian communities in British Columbia.

SUGGESTED TIME: 45 MINUTES

Teaching Instructions

  1. Review the learning from the iceberg activity about where and why Japanese immigrants came to Canada and reflect on some of the reasons for settlement along the west coast. Review Handout 1.3 Geographic Thinking Competencies for patterns and trends and interrelationships. These concepts can be simplified for student understanding into two questions:

    (1) Why did Japanese immigrants settle in these areas specifically?

    (2) How did settlement create relationships with the land and people?

    Provide students with the Handout 1.2 Migration and Settlement in Canada and conduct an in-class reading activity or assign it as pre-reading.

  2. Post the following question on the whiteboard, chalkboard or overhead: What factors influenced the growth of Japanese Canadian communities in pre-war British Columbia?

  3. Inform the class that they will now take a closer look at the settlement of Japanese immigrants by examining primary source documents.

    - Arrange students into groups.

    - Inform the students that they will be working with primary sources of evidence that tell a story about the settlement and growth of the Japanese Canadian community in British Columbia (you may need to review what ‘primary source’ materials are with your class).

    - Assign different materials for investigation, corresponding with one of the three themes from the sources (Economic, Cultural or Community Activities). Alternatively, you can mix the sources and have each group record evidence from each of the thematic areas.

    - Provide each group with one or more sources (Sources 1.1 – 1.12) and Handout 1.4 The Information Gap.

  4. Instruct the students to examine each of the source materials provided. They should consider what the source tells them about the experiences of Japanese immigrants (the questions included in Handout 1.4 The Information Gap will assist them with this process). Allow 20 minutes for the initial investigation of sources and recording of evidence.

    - Reorganize the students so that each new group contains different students (like a jig-saw). NB: If you opted to use mixed-source groups at the start of the lesson, skip this step.

    - Tell the students that there is an information gap and the responsibility of each new group member is to communicate their findings and for the others to ask questions of clarification and record new information.

    - Allow students 20 minutes to share information with new group members.

  5. Return to the guiding questions and have the students identify and record key words that they associate with the guiding questions. Record the list on the whiteboard and create a Word Cloud for next class. This word cloud can be the basis for a lesson review to begin the next activity. Suggested words might include: fishing, community, risk, restriction, perseverance, etc.

Handouts

Sources