Japanese Students

British Columbians felt quite a lot of fear that their Japanese neighbours might be collaborating with the Japanese military, which worsened the anti-Japanese sentiment that already existed in BC. In 1942, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, over 22,000 British Columbians of Japanese descent lost their land and belongings and were relocated from the coast and sent to internment camps. Some were forced to relocate to Japan after the war, while others moved to different provinces. A small amount returned to Surrey after the ban on Japanese residents was lifted in 1949, but few did, forever changing the population of BC. Many students in Surrey high schools were of Japanese descent, so these extreme policies altered school life.¹

1942 Before the Removal of Japanese Students
Removal of Japanese Students