Two things happened to me this past week that took me into a small corner of my brain that I don’t like visiting.

First, there was an email from a sometime editor of mine telling me that efforts were being made to save the childhood home of internationally-acclaimed writer Joy Kogawa, located at 1450 West 64th Avenue. Then, on the weekend, I read a review of the autobiography of Dr. David Suzuki.

Let me first paint a picture of British Columbia in the early months of 1942. On the 7th of December, 1941, the Japanese had attacked the US Naval base in Pearl Harbour, causing large scale damage to capital ships and death to many Americans. This devastating attack drove a stake of fear into Americans and Canadians living on the West Coast. But it was more than just Pearl Harbour. Japanese soldiers had committed atrocities (perhaps too mild a word), in their undeclared war in China. Between December 1937 and March 1938, approximately 400,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war were slaughtered by the invading troops. An estimated 80,000 women and girls were raped; many of them were then mutilated or murdered.

The prejudice against Japanese-Canadians was also part of the prevailing mood and social fabric. “Japs” or “Nips,” as they were always called, kept to themselves and were obviously not to be trusted.

Long before Pearl Harbour, politicians and newspapers were warning of the “Yellow Peril”.

In 1942, I was in my 11th year while David Suzuki, a third generation Japanese-Canadian, was six and Joy Kogawa, who was second generation, was seven. They, along with all Canadians of Japanese origin, were deported to concentration camps, mostly in the interior of BC, where they remained interned until the war ended in August 1945. A little girl in my class at Maple Grove Elementary, Michiko Katayama was amongst them.

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