Reformulating Citizenship: The Nikkei in Canada and Australia Patrick Haid A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of History and Philosophy University of New South Wales March 2011 ii Originality Statement “I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.” Signed: . Date: . iii Abstract This thesis traces the experience of Japanese immigrants and their descendents (or Nikkei) in Canada and Australia from their arrival in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, until after the deportation of substantial numbers of each community in 1946 and 1947. Using Bosniak, I argue that the pre-war position of the Nikkei within each nation exemplified the tension between concepts of universal rights, and the need for boundaries in liberal citizenship. At the end of the war, both Canada and Australia attempted to deal with the incoherence presented by these groups by deporting those that they could, and extending historic rights to those who remained. The temporal proximity of these actions to the formal creation of Canadian Citizenship in 1947 and Australian Citizenship in 1949 suggests the historic importance of these events. At a time when national boundaries were being redefined, the deportations illustrated just where the limits of Canada and Australia lay. Chapters 1 and 5 of this dissertation provide historical context for the thesis. Chapter 1 presents an analysis of the pre-war development of racial-nationalism in Canada and Australia in order to contextualise the position that “Japanese” subjects occupied within each nation. Chapter 5 examines post-war citizenship reform with respect to how the “foreignness” of Nikkei was accommodated and pre-war notions of citizenship were disturbed in the post-war period. Chapters 2 to 4 tell the story of deportation in Canada and Australia through three vital lenses – legislative action, judicial review and popular discourse – in order to examine how different aspects of national life interacted with Nikkei at a time of national crisis and reinterpretation. In short, this thesis sees the wartime treatment of Nikkei, particularly the deportations, as a historically important vantage point from which to view the racial nationalism of the first decades of the 20th century and the increasingly civic understandings iv of each political community in the post-war era. v Acknowledgements I would not have started this thesis without Sally Cove and Grace Karskens, who supported and supervised my undergraduate work. The general direction of this work was suggested by Roger Bell, and sharpened by Sean Brawley’s wise suggestions. However, I am most in debt to my supervisor Lisa Ford, who has been a generous and rigorous reader and mentor to me. Her knowledge, patience, and management taught me much about the discipline of history, and how I could interact with it. I am also grateful to the UNSW School of History and Philosophy, and in particular to Sally Pearson, Paul Brown, Kama Maclean, Tony Corones and Peter Schrijvers for assistance and encouragement at various stages of my candidature. Helen and John Milful, Stephen Parnaby, Agnes Heah, and the team in the Faculty Office have been a wonderful support. Yuriko Nagata, Mark Finnane, John Myrtle and Helen Harris unselfishly shared their skills and knowledge with me, to my great appreciation. The School of History and Philosophy generously made possible research trips to Ottawa and Canberra. Everyone at the Library and Archives, Canada, but particularly Alix McEwen, Don Carter, Gabrielle Nishiguchi and George de Zwaan went above and beyond the call of duty. The staff from the National Archives of Australia in Sydney and Canberra, the National Library of Australia, the State Library, Fisher Library, the Japan Foundation Library, and the research and Law Libraries at UNSW offered invaluable advice and assistance. My local libraries were the repositories of both knowledge and resources that did not exist elsewhere. Marrickville has been a wonderful place to work, and Kogarah nearly the equal of its football team. Thank you to my families, Chris, Jocelyn and Neph Wake for their love and support throughout this process; and Maria O’Neill, Teri Haid, Caroline Haid and vi Andrew Messer for hanging in there. I am especially grateful to Sarah Haid who, with the assistance of Campbell McKay, spent many nights editing after work. Finally, thank you to my partner, Caroline Wake, for leading the way in ways too numerous to mention. Her constant belief sustained this project through good times and challenges to its successful end. vii Table of Contents Introduction.....................................................................................................................1 Definitions and justifications: Nikkei and citizenship...........................................................5 Situating the thesis within Nikkei, citizenship and comparative historiography ................16 Structure and material..........................................................................................................29 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................32 Chapter 1. Developing the outside within: residence and alienage before the war 35 Immigration policies and nation building............................................................................38 Anti-Chinese legislation ......................................................................................................42 The rise of Japan and the racialisation of restriction...........................................................48 Restrictions, concessions and the development of Nikkei communities.............................51 Internal exclusion ................................................................................................................60 Australian Nikkei.................................................................................................................65 Canadian Nikkei ..................................................................................................................71 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................76 Chapter 2. Legislating for the “repatriation” of the Nikkei......................................79 Introduction .........................................................................................................................79 Canada .......................................................................................................................82 Emergency legislation and early war action........................................................................82 Discrimination, intelligence and Canadian Nikkei..............................................................85 1941-42: The disruption and displacement of Nikkei life and community.........................90 1943-44: The idea of “repatriation” ....................................................................................98 1944-45: American policy divergence and loyalty tests ...................................................101 1946: Deportation and the meaning of citizenship............................................................107 Australia...................................................................................................................111 Emergency legislation and early war action......................................................................112 Discrimination, intelligence and Australian Nikkei ..........................................................115 1941-45: Australian Nikkei and universal internment ......................................................119 General internment policy developments..........................................................................123 1945-46: Deportation policy and the post-war position of Nikkei in Australia ................125 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................135 Chapter 3. The role of law in deportations and citizenship ....................................137 Canada .....................................................................................................................141 The sale of Nikkei property and the struggle for judicial review......................................142 The Exchequer Court.........................................................................................................146 Repatriation or exile, the Supreme Court and the dilution of executive power ................149 Privy Council review, executive vindication and the evolution of citizenship .................157 Australia...................................................................................................................161