Economic aspects of Japanese evacuation from the Canadian Pacific Coast : a contribution to the study of the economic consequences of the relocation of social groups and displaced persons.

The second World War which began in 1939 set off a chain of reactions which resulted in the evacuation of all people of Japanese racial origin from the Pacific coasts of both Canada and the United States. It was to be expected that unpleasant consequences for this minority group would occur as a result of Japan’s close affiliation with the axis countries, but it was a surprise to many that mass evacuation was the result of the declaration of war between Japan and the Allied Powers. In times past historians have recorded other evacuations. The British army fearing possible aid to the enemy had removed French Acadians from Nova Scotia and dispersed them among the colonies of the Atlantic seaboard. [...] This paper attempts to study economic consequences of relocations of social groups by a detailed analysis of the mass evacuation of Japanese from the coastal strip of British Columbia. It will attempt to show that state-controlled movements of populations may often result in economic as well as social and psychological disorganizations, and that these disorganizations are not always limited to the group relocated but have repercussions that affect intimately many phases of the economic life of the country. However, because of the many limitations of this study, such as the paucity of definite information and the incomplete state of resettlement of the evacuated population, its results can only be accepted and applied with caution. [...