ABSTRACT
In early 1942, a strange — though perhaps not uncommon — political phenomenon transpired. The US government required a group of persons, mostly citizens, to report to a civil authority, imposed a curfew upon them, transported them to heavily guarded camps, confiscated their homes and businesses, and even deported some back to their ancestral country. Over 120 000 persons were treated to these special regulations. The Canadian government, for its part, shortly followed suit against 20 881 persons of the proscribed group. After the Second World War the Canadian government, unlike the American, continued the juridical project of exclusion. The detainees and internees were offered ‘the option’ of being relocated ‘East of the Rockies’ or, alternatively, of being ‘repatriated’ to the country from which their ancestors had emigrated several generations earlier. 1 The ‘repatriation’ programme was cancelled in 1947, 21 years after being implemented. 2 The evacuation and relocation programme was cancelled in 1949, four years after being implemented.
