Scholastic Canada | Dear Canada - Make History Your Own

Dear Canada: A step back in time

AUTHORS


Dear Reader

To help me imagine what life was like for a young girl in the early 1940s, I interviewed elderly members of my family. Their personal stories, particularly about the injustices faced by Japanese Canadians on the west coast during the Second World War, touched me deeply.

My family was sent to an internment camp in the remote B.C. interior. As I walked through what remains of the New Denver camp, I was dismayed by the primitive living conditions the Japanese Canadians had been forced to endure there. Today it seems unbelievable that Canadian citizens could be treated so unfairly solely on the basis of their ancestry.

History truly came to life for me while writing this book; I hope it comes alive for you too when you read it

- Susan Aihoshi