The Black Savage and the Yellow Peril: The differing consequences of the racialization of the Blacks and Japanese in Canada
Yuko Naka Department of Sociology
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts
Faculty of Graduate Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario June 1997
O Yuko Naka 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada
The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de rnicrofiche/lfilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique.
The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract
The different levels of success of Blacks and the Japanese in Canada was examined, because although both populations suffered similar experiences of exclusion. one group was able to overcome its exclusion. Michael Lyon's definitions of racial and ethnic groups were used to show that the in-group effectively constructed both the Blacks and the Japanese as racial and ethnic out-groups, based upon their physical or "racial" characteristics. However, the Japanese in Canada did self-define as an ethnic comrnunity, and they gained protection and support from their ethnic group, which gave them economic, social, and health benefits. Blacks in Canada have always lacked a strong ethnic community; hence. they have still not been able to overcome the racial and ethnic definitions imposed by the in-group. The contents of the construction of the Blacks and Japanese were also examined. It was proposed that the characteristics attributed to the Japanese "other" facilitated their success, while the images in the conceptualizations of the Blacks hindered their prosperity.
Key words: Lyon, racial group, ethnic group, race, social construction, out-group. in- group, the "other", Bonacich, split labour market
iii Acknowledgernents
Although my name appears on the title page of this thesis, there are many people that were integrai to the cornpletion of this projed. I would like to thank my primary advisor, Anton Allahar, for the tirne and assistance he has given to me in the past several years. Since my undergrad years, I have learned a great deal in his entertaining and enlightening courses. And although he was incredibly busy with his own projects and endeavours, he was able to guide me, so that I was able to complete my MA thesis when I wanted to. Paul Maxim also was integral to the completion of my thesis. His willingness to read over my work, often in a very short period of time, and his suggestions were valuable.
I also owe a great deal of gratitude to my family, who were able to endure my hectic work schedule. They have always been supportive of rny academic pursuits, and they have never doubted my potential or capabilities. Without the help of my parents, I would never have been able to complete the university degrees that I have earned.
I would also Iike to thank my friends, both in Strafford and at Western. People such as Stephanie, Kate, Peter, Elle, David, and Andrea have been there for me, offering words of encouragement and support and never questioning my goals or pursuits. Finally, I want to thank Walter, for providing the motivation for me to complete my thesis quickly. He has also never doubted my ability to finish this project, and his optimism helped me to stay focused and inspired. Although I am proud of rny accomplishment, I am also well aware that without the people I have mentioned, I would have never been able to complete this thesis.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
...... CERTlFlCATE OF EXAMINATION .. ii... ABSTRACT ...... III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS...... v ... LIST OF APPENDICES ...... VIII
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION...... 1 BIOLOGY AS DESTINY...... 1 Opposition to sociobiology...... 4 PRIMORDIAL TlES AS AN INDICATOR OF THE "OTHER"...... 1 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AS AN INDICATOR OF THE "OTHER" ...... 11 "RACE" AS AN INDICATOR OF THE "OTHER"...... 12 LYON'S "RACIAL" AND "ETHNICn GROUPS ...... 15
CHAPTER 2: BLACKS AS THE "OTHER" ...... 21 BLACKS AS THE "OTHER" BEFORE COLONIALISM...... 21 EXPLANATIONS FOR THE "OTHER" ...... -23 COLONlALlSM AND SLAVERY ...... 24 Colonialism and the "other"...... 26 Debate over slavery and the "other"...... 27 SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT OF RACE & THE PHYSICAL AND CULTURAL OTHER ...... -29 AFRICANS AS AN ETHNIC GROUP ...... 35 CANADA AND COLONIALISM...... -35 Definition of the in-group...... 38 BLACKS IN CANADA ...... 42 Who is Black?...... 42 The black "other" as property in New France & British North America ...... 45 Slaves of Loyalist settlers and free black settlers ...... 46 Abolition in Canada...... 47 Refugees and the Fugitive slaves ...... -47 BONACICH'S SPLIT LABOUR MARKET AND THE BLACKS ...... 49 BMCKS AS A CULTURAL OR ETHNIC "OTHER"...... 52 Blacks as a burden 52 ...... Blacks as criminals...... 54 Blacks as objects of humour...... 55 The lack of a black ethnic group...... 56 BLACKS AS THE PHYSICAL OR RACIAL "OTHERn...... 57 Blacks as inferior ...... 57 SEGREGATION AND DISCRIMINATION...... 59 REPATRlATlON OF BLACKS...... 61 BLACKS IN CANADA TODAY ...... 62 The in-group today ...... 63 Blacks today ...... 65 Blacks and poverty...... 66 Blacks and job discrimination...... 67 Blacks and the educational system...... 68 Blacks and crime ...... 70 Blacks as an ethnic group ...... 72
CHAPTER 3: THE JAPANESE AS THE "OTHER"...... 77 ORIENTALS AS THE RACIAL AND ETHNlC "OTHERn...... 77 The imagined and experienced "othef...... 77 The seclusion of Japan ...... 77 THE JAPANESE RACIAL AND ETHNIC "OTHERn...... 78 JAPANESE IMMIGRANTS TO CANADA ...... 80 BONACICH'S THEORY OF THE SPLIT LABOUR MARKET & THE JAPANESE IN CANADA ...... 80 THE JAPANESE ETHNIC "OTHERnVS THE CHINESE ETHNIC "OTHER".... 86 The Japanese racial and ethnic "other" as a threat to white workers ...... 88 The Japanese racial and ethnic "other" as a threat to the white race...... 90 The Japanese "othef as the "yellow peril"...... 91 The Japanese "other" as inferior ...... 96 The Japanese "other" and the "peaceful penetration"...... 98 LEGISLATION CREATED TO EXCLUDE THE JAPANESE...... -100 SEGREGATION OF THE JAPANESE...... -101 JAPANESE CANADIANS AND WWll ...... 102 THE JAPANESE AS A SELF-DEFINED ETHNIC GROUP ...... 110 Prior to WWll ...... 11O The Japanese as an ethnic group during WWII ...... 114 The declining significance of the lssei & the integration of the Nisei and Sansei today ...... -114 The Japanese as an ethnic group today ...... 19 The Japanese as the "other-"today ...... 122
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION ...... 124
APPENDIX 1...... 131 BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 154 VITA ...... 162 List of Appendices
Appendix 1: The Media's Role in the Construction of the "other" Results of Content Analysis
vii Chapter One- Introduction
BIOLOGY AS DESTINY
A primary goal of sociology is to describe and explain the behaviours and attitudes of groups in society. We are interested in what people do or believe, and the reasons why they act or think the way they do. Some researchers explain certain acts and emotions as "human nature", so that tendencies become inevitable, natural, and the will of God or nature. For instance, there exists a field of science known as
"sociobiol~gy".that argues that the origins of human conduct will be found in out- biological histories. Through combinations of neurobiology. psychology, sociology. economics, and politics, sociobiolgists believe they can understand, quantify, and even predict human nature (Rose 1WWi9).
Supporters of saciobiology have used their science to state and legitimize differences between many groups in society. They have utilised measures such as brain size, in mass or volume, to investigate whether there exist differences between males and females in mental ability. Thus, Richard Lynn (1994) uses the heavier brains of males relative to females, to argue that sex differences in intelligence are a reality.
He states that adult males have a higher mean IQ than females of approximately 4 IQ points (Lynn 1994:269).
Researchers, such as Ankney (1992), state that females have smaller brains than men, but unlike Lynn, he concludes there are no significant differences in general intelligence between men and women. He resolves this paradox by proposing that the sex difference in brain size is associated with the intellectual abilities at which males
excel. Thus, while researchers such as Ankney rnay assume equal intelligence
between the sexes, they still acknowledge differences in capabilities and abilities.
Ankney contends that men are more capable of spatial and mathematical tasks, while
females excel in verbal ability, perceptual speed, and motor coordination within
personal space. According to Ankney, it requires more brain tissue to process spatial
information, which explains the larger brains of males (Ankney l992:325).
Sociobiologists have also spent a great deal of energy investigating the natural
and innate differences between racial groups. For exarnple, researchers such as
Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray (1994) write, "...ditferences in cognitive ability
are neither surprising nor in doubt. Large human populations differ in many ways, both
cultural and biological. It is not surprising that they might differ at least slightly in their
cognitive characteristics". They go on to conclude that there exist racial differences in
IQ, so that East Asians, whether in America or Asia. typically earn higher scores on
intelligence and achievement tests than white Americans. However, the difference in
IQ between Asians and Caucasians is small, compared to the difference in test scores
between African-Americans and European-Americans, which differs by one standard deviation (Herrnstein 1994:270).
Herrnstein and Murray state that although the debate concerning the effect of genes and the environment on variation between races remains unresolved, 'the evidence eventually may becorne unequivocal that genes are also part of the storyn.
They respond to critics, who argue that their research into racial variations in areas such as intelligence, is dangerous, racist, and unnecessary by replying, "the real danger is that the elite wisdom on ethnic differences-that such differences cannot exist- will shift to opposite and equally unjustified extremes" (Herrnstein 1994:270).
In agreement with Hennstein and Murray, Arthur Jensen (1995) states that the average difference in IQ scores between Blacks and Whites may be "attributable as much to heredity as environment". He argues that "it is a known and uncontested fact that Blacks in the United States score on average about one standard deviation below whites on most tests of intelligence". He concludes by appealing for the need for further scientific study in the knowledge of and causes of race differences in mental abilities (Jensen 1995:629).
Phillipe Rushton defines race as "a geographic variety or subdivision of a species, characterized by a more or less distinct combination of traits (morphological, behavioural, physiological) that are heritable" (Rushton 1996:24). He states that East
Asians (Mongoloids and Orientais) and Blacks (Negroids) define opposite ends of a racial spectrum based upon more than 60 variables, with those of European ancestry
(Caucasoids) falling intermediately. His racial hierarchy was fomulated on the d ifferences he discovered between racial groups in measures of brain size, intelligence, reproductive behaviour, sex hormones, twinning rate, speed of physical maturation, personality, family stability, law-abidingness, and social organization (Rushton
1995:xiii). According to Rushton, it cannot be denied that physical properties of races differ, such as penis size, testosterone level, and cranial capacity. These physical differences relate to racial variations in concepts of the self, temperament, sexuality, aggression, altruism, and value judgments (Horowitz 1995: 189).
For example, Rushton acknowledges racial differences in brain size and IQ, so that Asians had larger brains and higher IQ's, followed by Whites, and than Blacks.
Rushton also discusses a rank ordering within the U.S as Asian>White>Black for behaviours such as marital functioning, mental durability, and law abidingness, which he identifies as indicators of stability of social organizations. Hence, the Asian race has fewer divorces, out-of-wedlock births, and incidents of child abuse, and thus, has more stable organizations compared to Whites and Blacks, while Blacks display the most instability in these areas (Rushton 1996:28).
OPPOSITION TO SOCIOBIOLOGY
Many intellectuals have disputed the racial theories of the sociobiologists by arg uing that the methodology , techniques, and reasoning used by sociobiologists are flawed and scientifically invalid (Rose 1979:280). For instance, the use of brain and cranial size as indicators of intelligence is cited as "statistically absurd", because brain size and intelligence are only weakly related in humans. Speculations on race as an indicator of behaviours such as criminality have also been discredited by many, because of large intragroup variance and low and inconsistent correlations (Cernovsky
1995:675). There is now a firm emphasis on socialization factors as deteminants of most social and mental characteristics (Marger 1994:34). Evidence frorn studies conducted by biologists indicate that socially significant group differences are culturally, not genetically, transmitted (Banton 1967:4). The debate waging between the sociobiologists and their opponents is evident today. The research of people such as Rushton, Herrnstein, and Murray, encounters much hostility, backlash, and accusations of "racism" from other scientists, interest groups, and the general public. However, the concept of "race" is still relevant today, and in accordance with the sociobiologists, society seems to assume that racial groups are positioned on a hierarchy of power and success. It is generally accepted that certain racial groups succeed and prosper, while others do not. For example, Statistics
Canada publishes data describing information such as levels of education and income, occupation classifications, and rates of criminal behaviour and incarceration, categorized by racial andlor ethnic origin. Thus, one can rank racial and ethnic groups on a wide variety of different variables.
If sociobiologists explain these racial hierarchies as an effect of the attributes, tendencies, and capabilities determined by one's race, how would the opponents to sociobiology explain the evident disparities between certain "racial" groups? Some intellectuals may dismiss the paradox entirely, because they dispute the actual existence of "race" as a means of classifying people. Although they cannot deny that there exist distinctive populations of groups who are physically distinguishable from one another, they argue that one cannot identify specific races. Many researchers are in agreement that racial classification systems are arbitrary, because the human population has become so "mixed up", as there has been an immense overlapping of physical characteristics (Montagu 1964:25). There are now so many "racesnthat it has become a "meaninglessntool for classifying people (Allahar 1993:39). However, although the theories and explanations of the sociobiologists may be flawed and questionable, "racen is still an important and relevant concept. It cannot be overlooked that there exist real differences in life chances, opportunities, and standards of living for groups of individuals who physically resemble each other. Hence, even if race does not exist as an empirically valid method of classification, many people continue to attach significance to the notion of race and consider it a real division of humanity. One only needs to turn on the television, listen to the radio, or glance at a newspaper, to be exposed to "racial" issues. Canadian legislation even legally protects individuals from discrimination based upon "race", thus assuming that "race" as a category exists. Therefore, as long as people believe the differences in physical traits are meaningful. they will act according ly (Marger l994:23; Banton 1967:4).
The purpose of this thesis is not to empirically disprove or validate sociobiological theories, because even sociobiologists themselves admit the difficulty in separating the effects of socialization or environment and genetics in the examination of human behaviour. However, this thesis will offer an alternative to the doctrines of the sociobiologists that regard certain races as naturally superior and capable compared to other races. A cornparison of Blacks and Japanese in Canada will be made, to demonstrate that the greater success of the Japanese is attributable to the pre- war protection they received from their ethnic community, and the values that continued to operate when that community was disintegrated after the war. A second reason for the greater success of the Japanese will be identified in the differing contents of the conceptualizations of the black "other" compared to the Japanese "other". lnitially it may appear that the Blacks and Japanese are drastically different groups, with dissimilar standards of living and levels of success, but these two groups do share similar experiences in Canada. A historical review commencing with the first
Black and Japanese settlements in Canada will be used to dernonstrate that both groups suffered segregation, riots, legislation barring them from rnany spheres of daily life, relocation schemes, immigration barriers, and especially the hostility and hatred from the white majority.
It will be suggested. using a theory formulated by Edna Bonacich (1972). that such acts against the Blacks and Japanese were fundamentally economic in origin.
Thus, because both populations were exploited as sources of cheap labour, they threatened the more high-priced white workers. White labourers protested the cheaper
"alien" workers. and successfully lobbied for the prevention of the hiring of Blacks and
Japanese in Canada. However, the hostility against the Blacks and Japanese eventually spread into non-economic spheres, and both populations were excluded from various arenas of Canadian life. This was achieved through the efforts of white labour and national organizations, the media, and political and religious leaders.
In order to justify the exclusion of both the Blacks and the Japanese at various times in Canadian history, they were constructed as out-groups by the dominant group.
Humans have the tendency to form groups because without group affiliations, individuals lack values, symbols, and patterns of interaction. Erich Fromm labels this state as "moral aloneness" (Fromm 1972:21). Thus, group membership enables individuals to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance that they cannot achieve in isolation.
However, in order for group members to recognize their group identity, a process of social comparison is mandatory. William Graham Sumner describes in his ethnographic literature, group self-images and attitudes towards neighbouring groups.
He states that the 'Lwe-group"or "in-group" differentiates itself from other groups or the
"out-groups", and this process creates sentiments of comradeship within the in-group
(Brewer 1979:71). By identifying differential or anomalous characteristics in the out- group, the in-group is able to boast its superiority (Brewer 1979:il; Tajifel l979:4l). If mernbers of the in-group do not feel some sense of superiority towards the members of the out-groups. then it becomes difficult to justify or continue their exclusion.
In order for the in-group to acknowledge its superiority. it must devalue or discredit the characteristics of the out-groups. Some sociologists and anthropologists assert that ethnocentrism, the inclination for a group to judge other groups by its standards and to view out-groups as inferior or deficient, is a universal practice. This aliows the members of the in-group to exclude members of the out-groups and to prevent their integration into the collective. The behaviours and values of the in-group become "correct" and "natural", while those of the out-group are seen as "odd",
"immoral", or "unnatural" (Marger 1994:l 5).
This process of devaluation serves to increase the in-group's hostility towards the out-groups and also heightens the in-group's sense of groupness (Gonnan
1979:488; Brewer 1979:71). Felix le Dantec states that every social group exists only in having some "common enemy", and this enemy serves to cernent the members of the in-group together. Susan Isaacs also contends that the existence of an outsider is the essential condition of any formation of togetherness within a group (Allport
1954:41).
Robert Miles describes the social construction of out-groups and uses the terni the "other" to describe the imagery, beliefs, and evaluations created to explain the appearance and behaviour of those with whom one cornes into contact. This process always represents the recognition of the differences of the "other" compared to the superior group. Miles makes an important distinction in his discussion of the social construction of the "other", by distinguishing between the "experienced other" and the
"imagined other". The "experienced other" arises out of direct contact and interaction with the out-groups, while the "imagined othei' rests on no empirical reality. Although this separation exists, Miles proposes that the boundaries between the two representations are blurred (Miles l989:17).
The "imagined other" exists in the minds of the in-group, and the constructs and stereotypes are reinforced upon direct encounters with the out-group. Actual contact with the out-groups just reinforces the existing imagined constructs possessed by the in-group. Even when the characteristics and behaviours of the "experienced other" do not correspond with the "imagined other", the in-group merely adjusts its conceptualizations. Th us, representations based on direct experience may transform the content of "the other", but the conceptualization of the out group as "the other" remains unquestioned (Miles 1989:20). Primordial ties as an indicator of the "other"
Groups can only be fomed if members possess some shared characteristic. attitude, or attribute that designates them as group members. By identifying a signifier of group membership, the in-group is then able to identify the out-groups who do not possess the necessary markers. Often groups are believed to be formed on the basis of primordial ties. lsaacs notes the significance of primordial ties in the construction of the basic-group identity. He acknowledges the ideas of Clifford Geertz, who stated that primordial attachments or identifications consist of assumed "givens" of social existence. Primordial bonds provide identification to an assumed blood tie, race, language, religion or custom, and at times they can have an overpowering binding power (Isaacs A975,36).
Group membership can acquire the same power and intensity over members without actually being based on actual blood relations. Anton Allahar explains this in his article, "Primordialism and ethnic political mobilisation in modern society". He describes two forrns of primordialism based on contrasting origins but resulting in similar effects. He presents the concept of a hard type of primordialism which refers to individuals being attached to one another and to a certain community based on ties of blood, which lead to an unquestioned loyalty between members. This is equivalent to a natural, inherent. and automatic attachment (Allahar 1996:6).
The soft type of primordialism concentrates on the social and non-biological bases of attachment and instead proposes that feelings of intense intimacy and affiliation can be a product of social construction. Even though the bonds between 11
rnembers may be centred on a false kinship or bond to a countty, religion, or belief, the strength of the affiliation can be just as intense as the bond between blood ties (Allahar
l996:6). Hence in-groups can affiliate based on presumed primordial ties.
Therefore he argues that ethnic, religious, national, political and other forms of identification with a cornmunity that are not based on blood, can gain power and control over members that they attribute as sacred. His central point is that it is not important whether an actual blood tie exists between members of a group or community, but what
is crucial is whether the individual believes this tie exists (Allahar 199616).
Physical characteristics as an indicator of the "other"
Physical characteristics are often used to mark an individual's identity as a rnember of a certain group, and they become indicative of elements of Erikson's
"shared sameness" between members. Isaacs states that physical characteristics mark an individual's group identity more effectively than any other attribute. It is often assumed that these physical characteristics possess a natural, inherent or "hard" primordial basis, because such characteristics are more visible and permanent than other characteristics. An individual's skin colour, texture of skin and hair, shape and arrangement of facial features are created at birth and remain for the life span. For an in-group, physical characteristics become "a badge of identity" and establish who "we" are and who "they" are (Isaacs 1968:75;Isaacs 1975:47).
The physical identifiers serve a greater purpose than just sources of identification, because they become representative of certain social, cultural, and moral 12 qualities. As Sumner and Le Dantec propose, the in-group compares itself to out- groups in order to undergo a self-evaluation and to allow members to establish a sense of self-esteem. Thus, the members of the in-group are able to establish their difference and su periority throug h the successful exclusion of the out-groups.
"Race" as an indicator of the "other"
Although physical characteristics have served as a source of group identity, it will be suggested that since the Eighteenth Century, supposed "racial characteristics", based on physical attributes, have also served as criteria for group membership. lsaacs demonstrates that physical characteristics that mark an individual's group identity, have been used as prïmary syrnbols of race (Isaacs 1968:75). Allahar concedes that physical characteristics also provide individuals and groups with social meanings, and the in-group identifies the differentiating racial characteristics that deem the out-groups as socially, culturally, and/or morally inferior.(Allahar 1993:39)
Skin colour is one of the most obvious markers of racial categories. In-groups often construct a colour hierarchy, which highlights the out-groups' different skin colours. For instance. an in-group may view itself as the superior white race, while the out-groups are perceived as deviations of the white race. This polarization between the different colours of people benefits the in-group, because it becomes indicative of the social, cultural, and moral inferiority of the out-groups. Hence, the in-group has the power to create associations between certain skin colours and negative attributes and characteristics, while their own skin colour is deemed pure, good, and natural. 13
Therefore as Isaacs recognizes, supposed physical indicatorç of race, corne to differentiate the in-group from the "other". "They" are those who look and appear different. 'They" are unclean, dirty, and smell offensive, and "they" have sexual organs of unusual size and unlimited sexual energy (Isaacs 1975:50). These are some of the social constructions that accompany certain racial groups. Hence the "other" often becornes identifiable by racial category, and race is determined by some sort of assurned physical or primordial criteria. The in-group affirms its superiority through social cornparisons with the out-groups, which serve to indicate its own racial superiority and the racial inferiority of the other groups.
Thus. the Blacks' facial features, haïr textures, and especially their dark skin colour were markers that enabled the in-group to categorke them as "apes",
"monkeys", and "orangutans". Also. the skin tone, eye shape, hair colour, and physical stature of the Japanese were some of the elements used to designate the Japanese as
"chinks", "yellow man" and "slant-eyes". Whatever the basis, both the Blacks and
Japanese were viewed as unassimilable and physically, rnorally, and culturally inferior, based on their racial characteristics. Hence, notions of "race" can be created and maintained by those in power, or the "in-group", in order to exclude other groups from access to power or privilege (Bolaria 1985115). Though the contents of the conceptualizations of the "out-groups" may change over time, they consistently aim to create an image of the out-groups as undesirable, inadequate, and different. This serves to legitimize their exclusion and thus, perpetuates the in-group's domination and authority. Although difficult to quantify, the Japanese endured more legal acts and legislation restricting their rights and privileges, especially during the World War II era.
Blacks also suffered exclusion, although since 1833 blacks occupied the same general legal status as other Canadians. They were entitled to vote, and they had full rights in court (Davis 1971:44). This was not the case for the Japanese. The harsher treatment of the Japanese in Canada, rnay be due to the greater economic threat they posed to white Canadians. Prior to the Second World War. they achieved great success in many industries and represented a much greater menace to the white workers, than the
Blacks ever had. During the significant black settlement in Canada in the Nineteenth century. there was an overabundance of cheap white labourers willing to work for low wages, who were hired instead of black workers. Hence, the economic and industrial success of Blacks was hampered. The white labourers rallied much more intensely in order to impel the government to draft laws and reforms to limit the Japanese's economic progress.
The harsher treatment of the Japanese was also in response to Japan's successful military expansion commencing in 1905. The in-group in Canada has, in the past and even today, linked Japan with those of Japanese descent living in Canada, including those born here. The combined effect of the Japanese Canadians' success in a few industries and Japan's increasing military might, served as fertile ground for the incredible hostility against them, which climaxed during the Second World War.
Aside from asserting that bath the Blacks and Japanese suffered discriminatory treatment, and the restrictions against the Blacks and Japanese have an economic or labour-cost basis, it will be suggested that one group was able to overcome its exclusion. While the Japanese may have experienced more restrictive legislation, compared to the Blacks, this group was also able to persevere, survive, and succeed to a greater extent, especially in the post-WWII period. One may assume that benefits such as inherited wealth or property aided in the success of the Japanese in Canada.
In actuality, the Japanese came to Canada as peasants, agricultural workers. and poor
rural dwellers. Prior to WW II. they were segregated in manual. primary, and low status occupations, and they did not enjoy high econornic or occupational prestige. However,
unlike the Blacks, the Japanese did possess one feature that gave thern a decided advantage: they had a very strong ethnic community and identity. especially prior to the
Second World War.
LYON'S "RACIAL" AND "ETHNIC" GROUPS
While sociobiologists. such as Rushton, would use the success of the Japanese compared to the Blacks as evidence of their racial theories, a primary aim of this thesis is to explain the prosperity of the Japanese using Michael Lyon's (1972) conceptualization of racial and ethnic groups. 50th racial and ethnic groups involve beliefs about ancestral origins that justify cultural traditions and sustain a distinctive appearance of the group. However, Lyon formulates a distinction between an ethnic group and a racial group.
Lyon's conceptualization of an ethnic group contains three characteristics. The first is a historic ancestry, and he contends that ethnicity requires an allegiance to a cornrnon ancestral descent. Ethnic affiliation is also usually recognizable by cultural, instead of p hysiological sig ns, because ethnic minorities maintain a distinctive cultural identity. The second characteristic is a distinctive pattern of interaction to guide behaviour and associations. Finally Lyon adds to his definition of an ethnic group, the characteristic of collective organization. Ethnic groups rely on organizations based on shared and coherent beliefs and values, which allow the collective pursuit of common goals. He daims an ethnic group must contain collective aspirations. which are created when its members identify with their distinctive culture (Lyon 1972:257).
The importance of Lyon's theory arises from the crucial difference between ethnic and racial groups. He contends that while ethnic groups must self define based on presumed cultural ties. the identification of a racial group is not maintained from within the group, because racial groups may not assume a distinctive culture. Thus, a racial group is "other" defined, because their racialism is enforced from outside the group, by the in-group. Lyon asserts that a ethnic group can also be regarded as a racial group by the in-group, because an ethnic group may be the object of categorization using physical criteria. By constructing a group as a racial "other", the in- group is able to maintain its power through the exclusion of out-groups who are vying for rights, privileges, goods, and opportunities. However unlike ethnic groups, racial groups may not presume a historic common culture. so they can not be "ethnic".
Therefore, racial boundaries are necessarily enforced from the out-group and create an excluded category, while ethnic boundaries are self-maintained and are based upon a cultural collectivity (Lyon 1972). 17
Lyon's theory suggests that because a subordinate racial group does not possess collective characteristics or unifying elernents, it lacks the means to resist the racial categorization by the in-group. Hence, a racial group may be unable to escape its minority positbn, because it lacks a uniting past, culture, or special ideologies, other than what the in-group has forced upon members in the name of "race". However, an ethnic minority may be more resistant to discrimination and able to break out from the racial barriers imposed by the in-group. An ethnic minority may be able to organize collectively, which is something a racial group may not be able to. Therefore, he argues that compared to ethnic groups, racial minorities, because of the nature of their exclusion. have less control over their subjugated position (Lyon l972:258).
Lyon's ideas provoked criticisms. For example. Miles acknowledges that the distinction between ethnic and racial groups is difficult to maintain. He contends that it is possible for cultural boundaries to be "othef-defined and racial boundaries to be self- defined. Miles argues that the historical record demonstrates that cultural and phenotypical criteria are often used together. For example. supporters of the scientific racism of the nineteenth century insisted that there was a relationship between phenotypical variation and cultural difference. Racial categorizations, using real or imagined phenotypical variation, consistently entailed reference to cultural criteria. This demonstrates that both phenotypical and cultural categorizations can be applied by the in-group, and usually they are applied together (Miles l978:53).
Miles' criticisms are valid; however, his objections can compliment Lyon's theoretical perspective. It will be afFirmed that the Blacks and Japanese were "other" 18 defined as both a racial and an ethnic group by the in-group. The in-group used the physical and racial characteristics of both populations to categorize them as racial groups. The in-group also constructed the Blacks and Japanese as ethnic groups, with presumed common ancestry and culture, distinctive patterns of interaction and behavior, and collective organizations. Both the racial and ethnic perceptions were used by the in-group to legitirnize their exclusion from society.
Hence, it will be argued that the ethnic identity of the Japanese in Canada served to unite them, to create solidarity, to allow them to combat the animosity that was created in the labour market, and to enable them to overcome the racial conceptualizations imposed by the white Canadians. While Blacks have been racialized by the in-group and have been treated as comprising a single group or community, and although certain segments of Blacks have formed collectively, it will be suggested that the black population as a whole, has never defined themselves as an ethnic group. In actuality there is no such thing as a single Black community, culture, or ethnic group in Canada, and any attempt to homogenize Canadian Blacks in this way will end in failure. For unlike the Japanese. Blacks in Canada are divided among the locally-born, those who migrated from the Caribbean, from different parts of Africa. and even from the US. The cultural difference among these four vast regions of the world need no elaboration, but as areas that contain significant numbers of Black people, the uneducated eye has come to perceive them al1 as the same and to presume that their culture is one.
The dynamic nature of the construction of the "other" is evident in an 19 examination of the Japanese Canadians in the post WW II era. After the War, the
Japanese in Canada were dispersed throughout Canada, and they effectively
integrated into the greater society. Thus, many of their ethnic communities and affiliations were lost or destroyed, so it could be argued that since the War, there no longer exists a strong Japanese identity among those of Japanese descent. At the same tirne, the restrictive legislation implemented against the Japanese was also removed, so while the Japanese ethnic cornmunity was diluted, it was no longer fundamental to fulfilling the economic and social needs of the group. Through successful integration into Canadian society, the Japanese in Canada enjoyed
advancement in educational spheres, mobility up the occupational hierarchy, and
increased income levels.
Throughout the thesis, references will be made to Appendix 1, a content analysis of the Toronto Star newspaper conducted to demonstrate the construction of Blacks and Japanese in Canada today. It is hypothesized that newspapers serve as an indicator of the in-group's perceptions of out-groups, because the media can be regarded as a means of the in-group's maintenance of power. Research is cited in
Appendix 1 to demonstrate that the perceptions of out-groups in the media often concentrate on their deviance, problems, criminality, and dependence. This serves to further the in-group's domination, because it legitimized the exclusion of the
"undesirable" groups. However, not every out-group is conceptualized in the media in the same manner, because an in-group may wish to exclude some out-groups more than others. According to theorists such as Bonacich, the out-groups the in-group wish 20 to exclude the most, can be detenined by antagonisms in areas such as the labour market. Thus. under different circumstances and at different times, certain groups appear to pose greater threats.
Therefore, the primary aim of this thesis is to explain the greater success of the
Japanese, compared to the Blacks in Canada. Although both were constructed as out- groups by the in-group, the ethnic identity of the Japanese protected them and allowed their success. Also, the contrasting contents of the conceptualizations of the Blacks and Japanese will be examined, and it will be argued that the notions accornpanying the Japanese "othet' aided their success. while the notions of the Black "othet' prevented them from overcoming their exclusion. Chapter two: Blacks as the "other"
BLACKS AS THE "OTHER" BEFORE COLONIALISM
This thesis will contend that the in-group's domination of the Blacks and the
Japanese in Canada has origins in European colonization of the New World.
Colonialisrn, with its accompanying processes of subjugation, exploitation. and degradation, assisted in the establishment of the in-group's domination in Canada.
Many writers agree that it was through the institutions of colonialism and slavery that ideologies concerning Blacks as the "other" fiourished. However. when the colonization of the Americas began in the Fifteenth Century, the Europeans already had expectations of the characteristics of the people they would encounter (Miles 1989: 12).
For centuries prior to colonization, Europeans had been exposed to traditions of mythology (Walvin l984:ll8;Davidson l992:Zl), which served to formulate an
"imagined black othei' in the mincis of the Europeans. From the beginning of the in- group's conceptualization of the Blacks. they constructed the Blacks of Africa as both a physical "other" and a cultural "other". The physical characteristics of the Blacks became indicative of the Africans' social customs, organizations, and lifestyles.
Several classical authors in the Greco-Roman society began creating images of
Blacks, which had little basis in the realities of African life. Writers described the
Africans as bizarre creatures with dogs' heads or no heads and eyes in their chests.
The author Rabelais stated that "Africa always produces new and monstrous things".
The Africans' uncivilized sexual habits, social customs, family organizations, and social --33 life accompanied their hideous physical appearance (Walvin 1984:119). These images of the Blacks would continue to be prevalent in the coming centuries.
In 1455 a papal decree approved the subjugation of "infidels" by Christians. The effect of this official sanction was to enable the enslavement of Blacks, Indians, and others for "their own salvation" (Montagu 1964:38). This served to increase the
Europeans' contact with "other" populations of the world (Miles 1984:21). The
Europeans carried with them their conceptualizations based on the mythology of the classical era and the printed accounts of foreign travel that were beginning to circulate.
Hence, the "imagined other" and the "experienced other" of the Africans melted together, and the English concluded that their preconceived images of the Africans were confirmed. The traditional constructs of the Blacks were reinforced with their explicit na kedness, savagery , polygamy, and their un-European family and kins hip structures (Walvin 1984:120; Miles I98Z:W).
By the Sixteenth century, Africans were common in the major ports of Europe, and they were frequently seen in courtly entertainment and English Iiterature.
Generally black characters were portrayed as villains and untrushivorthy people. Also reinforced from classical times was the portrayal of the black man as driven by powerful sexual urges. From the Sixteenth to the late Twentieth Centuries the construction of the black man as the "physical othern relied greatly on his supposedly unusually large penis and his potent sexuality (Walvin 1984: 120). EXPLANATIONS FOR THE "OTHER"
Over the Centuries of European contact with the black population, various
ideologies and doctrines predominated to explain the physical and cultural black
"other". The conceptions of the Greco-Roman period were expanded and passed into the medieval European tradition. Because the Christian doctrine dominated European thought. the scriptural insistence on the single origin of mankind was also popularized
(Horsman 1981 :46; Montagu l964:45;Walvin 1984:121). Hence in order to explain
how the black population, who was also part of rnankind, developed such dark skin and
contrasting features, Europeans turned to biblical explanations.
In Greco-Roman society, the terni "monstran, meaning dernonstrations or
revelations, had been used to describe unusual and individual anomalous births, which were believed to be signs from God. This notion was extended in the Middle Ages, but
included entire populations instead of just individuals. Thus the black "monstra" group that was so physically different, signified God's anger (Friedman 1981: 179). The
Africans' skin colour was believed to be the result of God's curse on Ham and Cain, so that black skin was officially associated with sin. This provided a simple explanation for the Europeans and rernained a potent force (Walvin 1984:121; Allahar 1993:46).
Although ail humans shared a common origin, the Christian doctrine allowed for an ordering of groups in the "Great Chain of Being". This asserted that although God created al1 beings, groups could be organized in a hierarchy, and because their black skin colour represented sin, the Africans were ranked lower than the Europeans
(Montagu 1964:46; Banton 1967: 19). 34
By the late Eighteenth century, the belief that the black skin was the result of biblical sin no longer predominated. The period of Enlightenment in Europe at this time led to the decreased influence of the church and an increase in secular doctrines.
Commencing in the Seventeenth Century until the end Eighteenth Century, environmental theories also gained importance (Horsman 1981:45; Miles 1984:29;
Montagu 1964:45). The most commonly used explanation was that Black skin was an environmental reaction to heat and sunlight, and this trait was believed to be an inherited attribute of the African population. There developed an Enlightenment view of the hierarchy of al1 beings, with Europeans still dominating, and the differences between the ranked groups continued to acknowledge the Christian notion of monogenesis or a common human origin. Furthermore environmental justifications implied that the Africans could be modified or enlightened through civilizing missions
(Miles I984:Zg; Horsman 1981:45). lt will be shown that the environmental doctrine assisted in the justifications for the colonization of the New World and the use of slave labour.
COLONlALlSM AND SLAVERY
In the first half of the Seventeenth Century, the English merchants gained control of a substantial area of the Caribbean. Throughout historical discourse, the European colonization of regions, such as the Caribbean, has been associated with the enslavement of the African people. Many intellectuals identify colonization with the creation of racism because of its reliance on the slave trade. However, the Africans 25 became the predorninant source of labour not as a result of racist European ideology, but because of production needs. In fact, the black slaves were not even the
European's first choice of labour, as the indigenous populations were initially enslaved.
The indigenous workers were subject to diseases brought to the region by the
Europeans and excessive labour on the plantations. Hence, the entire population was virtually decimated within twenty years (Williams 1970:51; Stevenson 1992:36).
The second labour source used by the British, was indentured labour from
England and also English convicts who were deported to the New World and forced to work. The British abandoned this form of labour, because the white workers were required to work for only a short-term basis, and they were protected by laws and customs of the home country for bonded servants. Furthermore, by the 1660's the employment of white labour became a problem for Britain with threats of under population and the need for workers in the rnother country. At the same time, the great increase in the production of sugar created a huge demand for labour in the Caribbean
(MeFarlane l994:l33).
Thus, the British turned to slave labour from Africa, not because their skin was black, but because their labour was economically advantageous (Lewis l985:96).
Production by slaves was much more efficient compared to the previous forrns of labour, because it was cheaper and allowed greater coercive control. Africa had a huge pool of potential slaves, who could be bound to life-long hard labour (Williams
1970:60). Colonialism and the "other"
The ideological effect of slavery was the reproduction of traditional religious and
philosophical justifications for slavery based on prior concepts of the Blacks. The
conceptualization of the black physical and cultural "othef was expanded and given
new meanings in the colonies (Miles A984:98). The environmental explanations that
were popular in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. served slavery well.
Supporters of these theories proposed that because the Africans' skin colour was the
result of heat and sunlight, they were better suited to work in tropical climates. Also,
because the environmental doctrines assumed that the Africans could be modified and
altered. they supported the notion that harsh labour was the means to salvation and
civilization for the Africans frorn their own savagery (Montagu 1964:47;Walvin
l984:lZ4;Horsman 1981:45).
In the late Seventeenth Century. literature of the planter class written by English
men with interests in slavery in the New World, was the vehicle for cornmunicating the
construction of the black physical and cultural "other" (VValvin 1984:125). The dominant theme of the planters' writings professed that the Negro was incapable of enjoying freedom. The slave owner was depicted as a "generous rnaster" and the black slave was viewed as an "ungrateful ward" and a "soulless beast". Thus the enslavement of the Africans was regarded as the "rnerciful rescue" of the Blacks (Lewis 1983:7).
As Britain's dependency on slave labour began to escalate in the Eighteenth
Century, a new conceptualization of the Blacks was created. The Blacks were
increasingly regarded as property, a commodity, and an abject to be bought and sold. 27
Because of the influence of environmental theories in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Centuries, which were based on the belief in monogenesis, Africans had been regarded as humans. However, as the black slaves came to be treated as property, they becarne dehumanized, and they lost some of their human status (Miles l982:lOï).
Debate over slavery and the "other"
A major alteration in the image of the Blacks occurred at the end of the
Eighteenth Century. By the 1770's the slave trade had increased in huge proportions.
It was also during this period that the supporters of slave labour faced the first serious opposition. Debates about the legality and humanity of slavery flourished in the English courts, press, journals. and literature (Montaugu l964:48;Walvin 1984: 127). lronically the fight against the enslavement of black labour resulted in a reaffirmation and an increase in the negative images of the Blacks, because the supporters of slavery needed to ideologically rationalize the use of black labour (Lewis 1983:98).Thus, anti- slavery agitation necessitated the developmont of justifications for the institution of slavery, and this took the form of the systematization and elaboration of the existing imagery of the Blacks (Miles 1982: 107). The pro-slave trade and slave lobby escalated their notion of the inferior, non-human black population in order to defend their interests.
The plantocracy literature was supported by similar sentiments in British philosophy. David Hume wrote in 1748, "1 am apt to suspect the Negroes... to be naturally inferior to the whites ...there are Negro slaves dispersed al1 over Europe. of 28 which none ever discovered symptoms of ingenuity ...". Cornmencing from the mid-
Eighteenth Century popular literature also echoed negative images of the Blacks.
Through their readings of accounts of life in Africa and the New World, writers created dehumanising images of the black Africans. Popular books cited the Blacks as, "proud, lazy. treacherous, thievish, hot, and addicted to al1 kinds of lust... incestuous, brutish, and savage, cruel and revengeful, devourers of hurnan flesh ..." (Walvin 1984:126).
Edward Long wrote in the Eighteenth Century on his impressions of the Blacks after spending five years in Jamaica. He compared the Negroes to orangutans, who were void of genius, destitute of moral sense, and incapable of rnaking progress in civilization
(Montagu l964:48).
Even those who were fighting against slavery served to popularize negative images of Blacks. They succeeded in linking the "Negro", with the concepts of the archetypal savage, primitive, yet pure and unspoilt. The image of "the noble savage", was just as demeaning as "the inferior, non-human savage". Hence, the abolition movement gave new power and meaning to the conceptualization of the Blacks and served to focus the attention of the literate population on the writings about the
Africans. In the Nineteenth Century Britain experienced a gradua1 growth of literacy and the appearance of cheaper forms of published literature, which facilitated the spread of negative images of the Blacks in Britain (Miles 1982: 1 08). Therefore, throug h the abolition movement, the conceptualization of the physical and cultural black "other" gained increased popularity.
The sympathy and compassion of the Abolitionist movement had evaporated by 29 the late 1860's and were replaced by the traditional stereotypes of the Blacks. However the conceptualizations gained a potency with the creation of the new school of
"scientific racism", which found a favourable breeding ground in the political clirnate of
England. Uprisings, such as the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865 in Jamaica, called into question the control of the British authority (Walvin 1984:133). The scientists intervened in the political debate over abolition, clairning that the uprisings were excellent confirmation of their racial theories. These acts of revolt confirrned the inherent savagery of the Africans, that could only be contained with the rule of the white race (Miles 1982:llZ). Also large proportions of disillusioned British subjects were directing increased hostility towards the Blacks. With the abolition of slavery, there was a flight of former slaves to England. The English soon labelled them "lazy Blacks", unwilling to work, and this led to revivals of the negative constructions. Many people who had supported the Abolitionist movement soon expressed their disappointment in the free black slaves (Walvin 1984:133).
SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT OF RACE & THE PHYSICAL AND CULTURAL "OTHER"
Commencing in the Eighteenth Century and widespread by the Nineteenth
Century was a rise of the significance of science, especially anthropology (Horsman
1981:44; Banton 1 9??:l4). Science had a substantial effect on the black population, because it created the notion of the biological entity of "race". The "othef became interpreted as being a difference in race, and the black physical "other" transformed into the racial "other". Science was able to prove that the hierarchical relationships 30 produced in slavery were natural (Walker, l985:13), and races as actual groups were inherently unalterable (Miles 1984:31; Horsman 1981:50). Distances between races were presented, as in the Eighteenth Century with the dorninance of environmental doctrines. in a hierarchy scaling different groups of people. Unlike the environmentalkt perspective, the doctrine of science began to presurne a polygenetic view of human origin, so all groups did not originate from the same descent (Banton 1967:26).
People from a variety of intellectual backgrounds such as historians. p hilosophers, lawyers. physicians. anatomists. and craniologists were willing to make comparisons in order to pronounce the inherent differences between the varying races as objective, scientific facts (Miles 1984:31;Miles 1982:ll). As mentioned, a group's identity and feeling of superiority and security are made possible in cornparison to other groups. Science provided the empirical tools and rneans for the comparisons of groups. and in order for the British to affirrn their rnembership in the superior race, they had to identify the groups that lacked the qualities of the white race. For the British intellectuals, the black Africans became the most noticeable and obvious corn parison group (Walvin 1984:121).
Skin colour was an important marker in the classification of people. and the
Africans' black skin colour provided the English with a striking visual indicator in their group comparisons. Black skin was so drastically different compared to the Europeans' white skin colour, and the colours white and black came to symbolize the contrasting cultural values between the Europeans and the Africans. Upon encountering Africans, the British interpreted their black skin as the antithesis of European ideals. Blackness 3 1 came to represent evil, dirtiness, sin, carnality, ugliness, and wickedness, which al1 posed a threat to purity, chastity, and beauty, the signifiers of the colour white (Allahar
'i993:48).
Many writers have investigated the roots of the dichotomy between the colours black and white. Nancy Leys Stepan states that it was in the Middle Ages that a binary opposition between blackness and whiteness formed. With the influence of Christianity, blackness became identified with sin, ugliness, evil, God's curse, and the devil, while whiteness represented virtue, purity, and holiness. Throughout the biblical and
Christian writings, there were examples of this colour opposition. The black skinned populations became indicative of the dichotomy, and from the beginning of substantial contact between Europeans and Africans, the blackness of the Africans' skin colour opposed and challenged the virtues and beliefs the English associated with whiteness. lndividuals such as Stepan and Allahar contend that the associations with blackness and whiteness successfully survived the declining domination of Christian doctrines. In the Nineteenth Century, supporters of the scientific notion of races effectively integrated the already existing colour symbolism into their constructions of the black and white race (Stepan 1993; Allahar 1993).
Scientists such as Johann Friedrich Blumenbach divided mankind into categories that named the Caucasians as the "most beautiful race". The other races were labelled as degenerations from the superior white race. This classification refused to believe that other people who were deemed "savages" could be from the same ancestors as the white Europeans (Horsman 1981 :50). 32
Although race was a biological category. it was accompanied by behavioural characteristics and tendencies. The varying psychological and social attributes of the black population that had been identified and described in the past were expanded and new conceptions were added (Walker 1985: 13). These capacities became associated with the specific black race and were like the racial categofies thernselves. inherently fixed, natural, and unalterable (Miles l984:3Z). The cultural or ethnic "other", using
Lyon's terminology, reinforced and supported the racial "other". For example, Georges
Cuvier. a respected zoologist. divided humanity into a hierarchy of three races. The
Caucasian race created the most civilized nations and exercised dominion over others.
The Mongolian race was less civilized than the Caucasians, but the Negro race had always remained in a state of complete barbarism (Banton 1967:28).
The interrelated concepts of biological type and hierarchy remained a constant feature of "race", but the forrns of the classification and the determination of race changed over time. Inconsistencies would develop in certain schemes, so failed classifications would be replaced. Between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries the classification was based on phenological characteristics. Scientists used cornparisons between cranial capacities. facial angles, and other p hysical features to distinguish between different races (Horsman 1981 :53;Walker 1985: 13). Until the
1840's phrenology enjoyed great prominence. and conclusions about differences between races were made by studying the skulls and heads of people. The races that were acknowledged as morally, socially, and intellectually superior had larger skulls and thus larger brains (Stepan 1993,363). This served to distiriguish Blacks from Whites. and the white race was viewed as superior and justified in ruling over the black
"smaller-headed" individuals (Horsrnan 1981:59).
At the end of the Nineteenth Century racial classification was influenced by the importance of the evolutionary theory. In 1859. Charles Darwin's "On the Origins of
Species by Means of Natural Selection", was published for the first tirne. He claimed that differences among humans were superficial, thus; there was no truth to the idea of originally distinct species or races. Darwin's theories laid the groundwork for the complete rejection of the theories of the polygenists, but his work was still used to advance the notion of race. Many people applied Darwin's concept of "natural selection", as a mechanisrn in the production of superior human races (Marger
1994:32). At the end of the Nineteenth and in the early Twentieth Centuries, Social
Danivinism flourished. The basic concepts of this theory centered around the idea that species changed or evolved over time; an individual's characteristics were inherited from his ancestors; and the notion of selection, prernised on the belief that certain individuals, because of accidental variation would be favoured by the selective process
(Banton 1977:90). Darwin's theories were used to further the notion that certain races were in a less advanced stage, because they were still in the process of formation
(Banton 1967:42).
By the decade afier the Second World War, there was no meaning attributed to typologies based on phenological criteria and pure environmental theories. However, the discovery and development of genetics presented another explanation for the phenotypical differences between races, and races became distinguished by genetic 34 variation. After 1945, with the expansion of blood-group analysis, genetics research into racial differences increased. For instance, the discovery of sickle-cell genes appeared to serve as an indicator of the racial origins of Blacks; although, after time the gene was also found in subjects from India, Arabia, and many Mediterranean countries who were not Black. However, the identification of new genes still contributed innovative ideas to racial groupings (Banton 1967:51). For example, Dunn wrote in the late twentieth century, that "a race is a population which differs from other populations in the frequency of some of its genes". Dobzhansky wrote in 1971, "Races may be defined as populations which differ in frequencies, or in prevalence, of some genes"
(Miles 1982: 1 5).
It is important to note that the varying scientific conception of race did not
replace the earlier notions of the "other", and the reproduction of the concept of the
"other", was continuously evident. Images, with origins in the Sixteenth Century were
re-used in the late Eighteenth Century and given new significance and meaning with the importance of science (Miles 1982:108). The Blacks were still regarded as savages and barbarians. but now they constituted a racial group. So "savageness" became a fixed, predetermined condition of the African "race" (Miles 1984:33). Science gave the construction of the Blacks precision through specialized vocabularies, new technologies, and empirical observations and comparisons (Stepan 1993,363). Thus, beliefs and attitudes towards the Blacks that had existed for Centuries were merely
legitimized. AFRICANS AS AN ETHNIC GROUP
Although -the British conceptualized the Blacks as a cultural group with common origins, codes of behaviour. patterns of interaction and association, the Africans did not selfdefine as an ethnic group according to Lyon's criteria. The slave merchants who supplied the New World with African slaves, went to Africa to capture Africans. They were violently kidnapped and dragged ont0 the ships by the merchants, and because many were fleeing starvation and famine in their countries, they were easily captured.
Many Africans were sold into slavery by their own governments, while others were sold by family members for money. In the New World, the Africans were separated from their families and kinship groups (Manning 1990:91),and they were brought to countries with alien cultures and languages. Furthermore, although the slaves came from Africa, they originated from various areas of the continent, and they often did not corne from the same region. speak a common language. or have common traditions or rites (Ujimoto 1985:164). This effectively prevented the formation of a cultural or ethnic community.
CANADA AND COLONIALISM
To understand the in-group's perceptions of Blacks, as well as al1 visible minorities in Canada, it is imperative to investigate the historical connections between colonialism and patterns of racial domination and exploitation. Victor Ujimoto and B.
Singh Bolaria contend that it is necessary to draw historical connections between international colonialism, as a system of racial domination and exploitation. and the 36 treatment of visible minorities in Canada. They believe this is crucial to understanding the historical roots of the dominant ideology of white racial superiority, and they identify the process of colonialism with the reliance on racial ideologies to justify the exploitation of colonized people (Bolaria 1985:160; Ujimoto 1985:123).
Canada has a shared colonial history with regions such as the Caribbean, because both regions were utilized in order to earn profits for the European countries.
However, they were treated as different types of colonies. The colonies in plantation societies of the New World were "colonies of exploitation" and were not intended for settlement or development, but served to fulfil the European demand for agricultural products. In order to secure the areas, the Europeans successfully conquered the indigenous populations that inhabited the area. Labourers and slaves were then imported into the region to work on the plantations (Allahar 1995:132).
In contrast to colonies of exploitation, Canada was a "colony of settlement". The colonizers were intent in establishing permanent settlement in the country; however, they first had to effectively subdue the indigenous populations (Allahar 1995:132). With the same brutal manner as in the plantation colonies, the French and British colonizers successfully contained the indigenous people. Thus, regardless of the type of colonial settlernent, colonialism was always a process that entailed entering and destroying people's domains. Colonization was a form of conquest in which people of one society oppressed al1 or a part of another society and maintained the role of the dominant group. Methods of disciplinary control were developed and various techniques were used to take control over the land. This resulted in violent, brutal techniques which uprooted and destroyed whole cultures (Stevenson 1992:28; Marger 1994:54).
Encounters between the indigenous populations and non-indigenous people in
Canada began in earnest in the 1500's. Although the Europeans were entering land that was not theirs, the relationship between the Native peoples and the colonizers from the time of initial contact until the 18001s,has been described as "accommodatingn.
The two populations established military and trade alliances, and there were many
exchanges of goods and products. The colonizers were interested in earning profits,
and the indigenous people were vital to the trapping and fur trade (Marger 1994:484;
Dept. of lndian and Northern Affairs 1996).
In the 1800's the relationship between the lndigenous people and the colonizers
was no longer "accommodating". The number of settlers was increasing, while disease
and poverty were decimathg the indigenous population. The fur trade was dying, and the Canadian economy was turning to timber production, mineral extraction, and
agriculture. Thus, the settlers needed [and. The federal government established
treaties with the indigenous people to take over their lands, and the Native lndians were
placed on reserves (Marger 1994:484; Dept. of lndian and Northern Affairs 1996). The colonizers constructed images of the Natives as "savages" and "heathens" which
legitimized the Europeans' teaching their "civilized" ways to the Natives. However,
because the reserves could not support hunting and fishing economies, the lndians
became increasingly dependent on the state (Marger IgW484). Definition of the in-group
If this thesis asserts that the in-group defines populations such as the Blacks and the Japanese as the "othef' or as out-groups in Canada, it is important to define the mernbers of the in-group. The concept of the in-group will also be referred to as the
"dominant group" and the "elite group". Because the formation of Canada depended on colonialism, it is through this process that the in-group is identified. The in-group may be defined in nurnerical terms, so the group with the most members has dominance. By 1812 the number of Europeans outnumbered the number of indigenous people in Upper Canada by a ratio of ten to one (Depart. of lndian and Northern Affairs
1996). However, the tendency to define dominant groups in numerical terms is not adequate. Although in Canada the same group dominated both numerically and in terms of power. in other countries the most powerful group may not be a numerical majority. An example. would be the Caribbean region or South Africa, where the colonizers were the minority in terms of population size (Marger 1994:49; McFarlane
W94:139).
Thus, the dominant group wi!l be defined in relation to power. Max Weber defined power as "the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance". Frank Parkin elaborated Weber's original notions of power with Weber's concept of "social closuren,which refers to the various processes by which social groups restrict other groups from access to power.
One basic form of social closure is exclusion, which is the prime method by which the dominant groups denies other groups valued resources, privileges, or opportunities (Grabb 1990:165).
Power is an important concept in defining the in-group, because a group can be dominant only if it has the power to achieve and maintain its position. lntellectuals such as Gerhard Lenski state that although force is the most effective fom of power, enduring systems of domination must minimize violent upheaval. Those groups that control the use of force attempt to officialiy entrench and formally establish their power.
They do this by creating or rewriting laws to protect their interests, so exclusion is formally established in legal rules and regulations. Thus, exclusion becomes an exarnple of authority, using Weber's interpretation, because it is an example of the domination of the in-group that is legitimized in the laws and policies (Grabb 1990:62).
In Canada, the domination of the in-group creates a structured systern of stratification based upon the unequal distribution of resources. Racial or ethnic origin can also be used as a basis of stratification, and it will be suggested that the in-group in
Canada in the past and present, has been cornposed of white individuals. However, it cannot be assumed that al1 white populations have equal access or amounts of power or privilege. For instance, there have been white groups, such as the Irish and Italians, who have also been constructed as out-groups by the in-group. If racial or ethnic attributes can be used as deteminants of stratification, one must question how some white segments who share "racial" characteristics with the in-group, can lack power or privilege. This is where the concept of "class" is important. Class will be treated as a relational concept, so that classes exist in association to other classes. Just as an in- group can only exercise its power if there are other out-groups to overpower, there 40 exists a ruling class only if there are other classes that the ruling segment can dorninate
(Allahar 1997: 11).
Marx contended that the dominant class in society derives its power from
property ownership, because ownership guarantees the right to control products of ownership and the labour of non-owners of property. However, Weber expanded
Marx's conceptualization of class by suggesting the existence of sources of power which do not involve property ownership. Thus. power and class formation can be
based upon bureaucratic and political positions achieved on "cultural capital", acquired skill, knowledge, formai education, peer-acknowledged accomplishments, and charismatic or public appeal (Allahar 1997:16).
In Canada, in-group power and its ability to exclude out-groups, is not acquired solely on property ownership. Instead, in-group domination is maintained through a complex system of interlocking directorships on the boards of industrial and commercial enterprises, banks, trust, mortgage and investment cornpanies, and in other economic and political sectors (Allahar 1997:26). Hence social institutions such as the government, the econorny, the media. the educational system, and religious organizations operate to insure the position of the dominant group in the hierarchy.
This inequality can be regarded as well-established, stable, and persistent for many generations. Studies have demonstrated the concentration of power in very few hands in Canadian society, which creates a process of structured inequality, where groups with particular attributes are better able than those who lack the attributes, to control opportunities for their own beneft (Marger l994:lO). Therefore, while initially 41 colonialisrn entailed the violence, domination. and suppression of the indigenous population by the dominant group, eventually the power of the in-group was maintained structurally and systematically.
It is also important to understand that the in-group does not necessarily include only those in position of power such as politicians, administrators, corporate directors, or government officiais. lndividuals can benefit from the stratification structure if they share some sort of valued commonality, membership. or affiliation with the in-group.
Thus, certain white individuals who may not be rnembers of the elite class can still benefit from the privilege that white people have in Canadian society. It will be asserted that the antagonisms between the white Canaaians and the Blacks and Japanese stemmed from the hostility white workers felt for the Blacks and Japanese who worked for cheaper wages. The white workers, who were not members of the elite class, were able to motivate the exclusion the Blacks and Japanese by bringing their cause to the government and those in positions of power.
The exclusion of out-groups should be viewed as a cornpetitive relationship between members of the in-group and out-groups, because in order for the in-group to maintain its power, it is important to justify the exclusion of other groups who want access to valued resources. The members of the dominant group successfully identify in the out-groups the attributes, characteristics. and credentials that differentiate them, so that the in-group is justified in excluding the groups, because they are different or they are inadequate. This is where concepts of the "other" are significant. It will be demonstrated that the in-group created and maintained certain images of the Blacks 42
and the Japanese in order to exclude them first from wage labour and then from various
aspects of life.
60th Britain and France established colonies in North America in the early
Seventeenth Century. The two powers fought for continental control for over a century.
In 1759, the British victory on the Plains of Abraham marked the end of French
colonialism in North America. After the victory. the British dominated the political and
economic spheres and the social institutions in both Upper and Lower Canada, the
regions that later became Ontario and Quebec. However, the French remained a
distinct cultural group, and the British and the French became the two charter groups of
Canada (Marger 1994:467). Although Britain eventually relinquished its colonial control
over Canada in 1867, theorists such as John Porter contended that Canadian society
was still dominated by a homogeneous and exclusive group of Anglophone. Protestant
males of British. upper-class ancestry (Ogmundson IWO: 166). Therefore, those of
British origin were still recognized as the dominant or elite group.
BLACKS IN CANADA Who is Black?
Just as it was necessary to identify the in-group in Canada, it is also important to determine who was classified as "black". As mentioned, race is such an arbitrary classifier of people that it is difficult to visually determine, through physical attributes, someone's "race". Race is a human invention, and in heterogeneous societies. people often take whatever they perceive to be important physical differences among people 43 and build racial categories. However, different societies use a variety of criteria to assign people's races (Marger 1994:24). In comparing different societies, it teaches us that the same "racial" word may have different meanings. and that terms such as
"white", "coloured", or "black" do not always mean what one's own experience suggests they should (Hoetink 1985:82).
"Black" or "whitencan be used to describe a range of skin colour from very light to very dark. It can also describe people with physical features such as short, Rat or long, broad or angular noses; thick or thin lips; and a variety of hair textures (Alexander
1996:28). Because race is a social invention, it is difficult to list the physical characteristics or attributes that the in-group identifies as the make-up of a black individual. However, what is important to note is that the in-group identifies certain physical attributes as representative of the black race and the black ethnic group.
James Walker recognises that many Blacks, especially those born in Canada, were not always easily differentiated from mainstream society by linguistic barriers or cultural differences in dress. food, family structure, or religion. However, Blacks can be distinguished on the basis of their skin colour (Walker 1985:7).
Hence, many in-group conceptualizations of the Blacks in Canada in the past and present centered on the colour of their skin. The first recorded black slave transported directly from Africa and sold in New France, Oliver La Jeune, communicated eloquently the image of the Blacks in the minds of the Europeans in
Canada. In response to a Jesuit missionary who claimed al1 men were one when united in Christianity, La Jeune has been recorded as responding, "You Say that by baptisrn I 44 shall be like you: I am black and you are white, I must have rny skin taken off then in order to be like you" (Hill 1991:3; Tulloch l975:72).
Several authors have discussed the establishment of a colour line, in regions such as the Caribbean, based on shades of black skin, established early in colonialism.
Descendants of Blacks who procreated with white people were lighter skinned, which gave them more privileges than those with darker skin (Alexander l996:186). H.
Hoetink states that through colonialism, a pattern evolved in which a mixed, coloured group was regarded by itself and the white group as a separate socio-racial category.
This group could aspire to a social status and an economic position traditionally closed to Blacks, and they received preferential treatment from the dominant Whites. Although never accepted as social equals by Whites, in time some Coloureds succeeded in obtaining positions of a certain prestige (Hoetink 1985:70).
This colour line is still evident in the Caribbean today. In his persona1 history,
"Black like them", Malcolm Gladwell describes an account by his mother. In her native countv (Jarnaica), Gladwell's mother was "light-skinned" and she was referred to as a
"Jamaican middle-class brown". She had always enjoyed a sense of privilege because of her lighter skin colour. However. when she and her husband were searching for an apartrnent in England one day, the landlady of the apartment ordered thern out because
Gladwell's mother was "Black" (Gladwell 1996:8O). Thus in Jamaica, Gladwell's mother had been classified as brown or light-skinned, while in England she was not distinguished from other Blacks. Her shade of colour did not offer her the status or privilege in England, that it did in Jamaica. In the historical readings of Canadian 45
Blacks, there was also no distinction found between light-skinned Blacks and darker-
skinned Blacks, they were just described as "Blackn or as "Negroes". Because
perceptions of race are socially situated and constructed, the colour line that is evident
in some areas may not exist in Canada.
The black "other" as property in New France 8 British North America
There has been much dispute of the exact year that black people first set foot in
Canada. However substantial numbers of Blacks did not arrive in Canada, which was then a colony of France, until the last decades of the Seventeenth Century. On May
1.1689 royal permission was granted by Louis XIV for the importation of Negro slaves.
French settlers had petitioned for permission to fulfill needs of labour (Tulloch 1971:74;
Bertley 1977:Xll). By 1759 there were approximately 4000 slaves in New France. The black slaves in New France were regarded as property, and they were sold with the
livestock and anirnals (Winks 1971: 15).
However slavery did not develop into a large enterprise in New France for a variety of reasons. France was involved in several wars in 1689 and in 1702, which made sea routes too dangerous for the transporting of slaves. But, the main reason why slavery did not prosper in New France was because it was not a profitable or worthwhile endeavour, as slaves were very expensive to purchase. There were no plantations of cotton or sugar. and the major industries in Canada at this tirne, the fishing and the fur trade, did not require slave labour (Tulloch 1975:74; Bertley
1977:Xll). 46
When the English replaced the French as the colonial power in 1763, the Treaty of Paris allowed al1 slaves to remain possessions of their masters. In 1791 the former
New France was divided into the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and the
British parliament reaffirmed the right to hold and enjoy property (Winks 1971:26;
Tulloch 1975:77). The most important legal protection of slavery was an Imperia1 Act of
1790 which encouraged immigration to British North Arnerica and allowed the importation of all "Negroes, household furniture, and utensils" (Winks 1971:26;
Greaves 1930:ll). Thus, slaves were treated like the property and possession of their owners, which demonstrated their dehumanized status.
Slaves of Loyalist settlers and free black settlers
In 1759 the British government offered land ta settlers from New England. The first major influx of Blacks to the Maritimes occurred because many loyalists had owned large plantations with household slaves and field hands. Approximately 1500 black slaves arrived and most settled in Nova Scotia with their loyalist masters. The British government also opened its offer to free Blacks, and almost 3500 black settlers, with the majority going to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, came to Canada (Alexander l996:4l).
In 1789 the British government encouraged the siaves in the US. to desert their masters, and they were promised freedom in British North Arnerica. Three thousand free black migrants had arrived in Nova Scotia, and they were segregated from the
Whites in their own communities (Hill 198130; Tulloch 1975:79; Walker 1985:g). The black settlers expected the same benefits as those offered to the Loyalists, but most were not given the land promised to them. If they were granted land, they received smaller amounts of land than the white settlers. Even when the Blacks received their land. they often had to protect it frorn unscrupulous Whites who tried to take it away
(Tulloch 1975:79;Bertley l977:4l; Clairmont l974:42).
Abolition in Canada
As mentioned. the abolition movement served to increase and support the negative conceptions of the Blacks in Britain, and this was also true in Canada. Upper
Canada was the first province in Canada to dispute the use of slaves and passed a bill for the gradua1 abolition of slavery in 1793. Commencing in 1800 the courts placed limitations on slavery in Nova Scotia and Lower Canada. and on August 28, 1833 an
Act of the Imperia1 Parliament abolished slavery completely. However those who supported slavery in Canada did not remain silent. Reverend David Smith contended that the bible upheld slavery, and that Negroes "were like children" who needed parental guidance. Emancipation would do the slaves "untold injury", and would lead to their idle and abandoned lives, that would tempt them into lives of crime (Winks
1971:104).
Refugees and the Fugitive slaves
In April of 1814 the commander of the British fleet on the Atlantic Coast promised al1 residents of the U.S. who came to ships or posts, a choice of military service or free 48
transportation to British colonies as free settlers. Over two thousand Blacks, who were
called refugees, chose to corne to Canada as "free settlers" (Tulloch 1975:lOO;
Alexander 1996:42).
Another segment of the black population in Canada comprised the fugitive
slaves. Between 1815 to 1861, the Underground Railroad, which has become a legend
in Canada, was the rneans by which many black slaves escaped their enslavement in the U.S. However the Underground Railroad also served an ideological and moral
purpose, because it became a means in the reinforcement of the "self-congratulatory
attitude" and "moral purity" of Canadians' treatment towards Blacks even into the
Twentieth Century. The actual number of Blacks assisted by the Railroad was highly exaggerated. In 1956 a journalist, J.C. Furnas. asked people to estimate the total
number of fugitive slaves who entered Canada, and the average reply was 270 000, with some guessing a million (Wnks 1971:240). A conservative guess of the actual
number of fugitive slaves who escaped to Canada through the Underground Railroad is
30 000 (Hill 1981:31). Many of the fugitives settled in Upper Canada, where the total black population increased to 40 thousand (Alexander 1996:60).
Because of legacies such as the Underground Railroad, Canadians compared themselves favourably with the immoral, slave-ridden U.S. Commencing in the late
1860fs,not a year would pass, without a flood of accounts, editorials, and memoirs in
Canadian newspapers, proving Canada did not share in "the racial virus" of the US
(Boldon 1971:25). Canadians seemed to disregard that slavery had existed in Canada and did not prosper only because it was not advantageous economically. The 49
industries in Canada at this time did not require gang labour as they did in the U.S
(Winks 1971:3; Tulloch 1975173;Ujimoto 1985366).
BONACICH'S SPLIT LABOUR MARKET AND THE BLACKS
According to Edna Bonacich, ethnic antagonism, defined as intergroup conflict demonstrated through ideologies, behaviours, and institutions, first germinates in a labour market split along ethnic lines. She uses the term ethnic rather than racial, as a generic term to refer to groups sharing a common ancestry which is inherited or ascribed, "whether or not members are physically or culturally distinctive". This can be applied to the Blacks, because the in-group was able to define the Blacks as a single ethnic group, due to their assumed origins, behaviours, interactions, and organizations, based on their "racial characteristics". In order for a labour market to be split, there must be at least two groups of workers whose price of labour differs for the same work
(Bonacich 1972:548).
The free settlers, refugees, and fugitive slaves served as a source of cheap labour in Canada. However, the Blacks' presence created antagonisms between the black and white workers, and the Blacks were excluded from labour. As the living conditions of the Blacks worsened, they became increasingly dependent on assistance, and this popularized their image as lazy, unmotivated burdens. Bonacich's argument is crucial, because it aids in explaining why the Blacks were excluded from the labour market, which increased their poverty and suffering. The white Canadians then integrated prior notions of the Blacks as slaves to further the belief that the Blacks were responsible for their own conditions.
Bonacich identifies the level of living or economic resources, as an initial factor that can be used to explain the price of black labour. An ethnic group in the labour market may be drawn from different economic systems from abroad or within a conquered territory. For an ethnic group to be rnobilized, there must be an incentive for economic betterrnent. Generally, the poorer the economy of the potential labourers, the less inducement required for them to enter the new labour market to sel1 their labour (Bonacich 1972:550).
Bonacich's observation can be applied to the Blacks, because rnost of the
Blacks who came to Canada were fleeing the U.S and their lives as slaves. They had a great incentive to relocate to Canada because the Underground Railroad fostered a myth of the "North Star" which created an image of Canada as an escape route from slavery and an access to freedom, equality, and the "Promised Land" (Walker 19856).
Coming from slavery, the Blacks were easily transformed into a pool of cheap labour.
In fact, this was the intention, because the British governrnent offered settlement tc the settlers, refugees, and fugitive slaves with the hope that the Blacks would become a ready source of cheap manual labour. While the Blacks were waiting in vain for their promised land or trying to live on their meagre settlernents, they suffered because they lacked varied skills and organized experience. due to their prior enslavement. Thus, the
Blacks were not employed in a variety of occupations, and they congregated in low- paying manual labour jobs. If the Blacks were given land, they still suffered, because most of the Blacks were from the wârmer states and did not know how to farm the thin, 5 1
rocky soi1 found in parts of Canada. Milethe government often provided funds for
new black settlers, this system was not adequate and did not guarantee long ten
support. Hence, they easily came to be a pool of cheap labour to be exploited by
employers (Tulloch 1975:80;Bertley 1977:41; Alexander I996:U).
Bonacich claims that conflict develops between three key classes in the split
labour market. The first is the ernployers, who aim for a cheap and docile labour force
to compete with other businesses. A second category is the cheaper labour, which is
the group that the employer uses to underrnine the position of more expensive labour.
Bonacich's last category is the higher paid workers, who are very threatened by the
introduction of cheaper labour. Bonacich stresses the importance of cornpetition,
especially when there is cheaper labour in areas of the economy where higher paid
labour is not currently employed (Bonacich 1972:554).
White settlers immediately protested against the black settlers in Canada, as the
Blacks were drifting to towns in the provinces and working for low wages. Thus. Blacks became the focus of anger of unemployed white workers, and this was demonstrated in the Birchtown incident in July of 1784, which was the first Canadian race riot.
Birchtown was a black community and Shelburne, the largest, most prosperous town in
Nova Scotia at the time, was mainly white. Hundreds of disbanded white soldiers had tried unsuccessfully to gain possession of the better Birchtown lots, and their agitation increased when they could not find work in Shelburne because employers preferred to hire free Blacks at cheaper wages. They directed their anger at the free Blacks of
Birchtown, and during the riot, they pulled down twenty Negro houses (Walker l985:lO; 52
Bertley 1977:4 1; Ujimoto 1 985:1 67).
By November, 1814, with the increased number of refugees entering Canada frorn the Southern US, the British government was expressing its concern. The
Refugees had just added to the population of suffering former black settlers, who were being excluded from the labour force. At the same time the refugees were arriving cheap white labour was plentiful with disbanded soldiers, unemployed fishermen, and immigrants eager to work (Winks 1971:177). It has been mentioned that in group formation, individuals form collectivities based on shared attributes, and those without the characteristics of group membership are excluded. This can explain why white employers preferred to hire those individuals who possessed a cornmon signifier of group membership, for instance, white skin colour, who would also work for cheap wages. Thus, the Blacks were not a necessary source of labour, because as long as white labour remained cheap, the employers preferred to hire white workers.
BLACKS AS A CULTURAL OR ETHNIC "OTHER" Blacks as a burden
The situation of the Blacks was worsened because the entire country was experiencing much hardship. There was a province-wide crop failure in 1815, the winters had been especially harsh in 1815 and 1816, and there was also a plague of mice in 1815 (Clairmont l974:42; Ujimoto 7985:168; Walker 1985: 10). Furthermore, by the 1840's protests were also heard against the entrance of the fugitive slaves. The
Blacks were unable to improve their conditions, and because they were unable to 53 survive without land or on poor soil, and because they lacked employable work skills or they were paid meagre wages, many Blacks fell into a state of starvation and deplorable living conditions. Most of the Blacks became unwilling charges of white communities, the province, churches, and charitable associations (Walker 19859;
Winks 1971:36; Bertley 1977:41). Between the late 1800's until the 1930's. the conditions of the black Cariadians continued to worsen, especially in Nova Scotia.
They were trapped in a "vicious cycle" because they were badly educated, physically ill, and unable to find employment (Clairmont 1974:94).
The rising numbers of dependent and unproductive Blacks increased the level of hostility and anger of the white population. The majority of Canadians viewed the
Blacks as responsible for their own dismal situation. Many stereotypes flourished about the Blacks in the minds of the white Canadians, and the economic conditions of the black settlements were attributed to personal characteristics. Blacks were lazy, they lacked motivation and ambition (Ujimoto 1985: 1 68):
Locked in poverty, denied the means of self-improvernent the Blacks suffered from an image of helplessness and lack of industry which in turn reinforced white stereotypes. Discrimination was fulfilling its own prescription. Traditions established in slavery, exacerbated by the haste and limited resources.. .had resulted in a prescribed economic position for Blacks which was reflected in their social status, and which fixed them at the lowest level of the class hierarchy. Their colour was a label announcing their inferior position (Alexander 1996:34).
It is ironic that when the Blacks entered Canada as free people they lost some of the protection they had been given through their status as slaves. Canadians had 54 regarded the abolition of slavery as an urgent moral task, but they had no interest in the future of the Blacks (Greaves l930:43). Negative images of free Blacks flourished because they did not have the advantage of being in need of sanctuary from the slave states. Thus, Blacks were no longer "inferior" because they were slaves, but they were stigmatized because of their black skin colour which represented slavery. While other groups such as the Irish and Scottish immigrants also were dependent on assistance, they passed out of their early stages of despair, while the Blacks did not. The colour visibility of the Blacks provided a badge of their class, which was associated with the degradation of slavery and was used ta legitimize their poverty and suffering. "A place had been defined for Blacks, and there was no room for them to move beyond it"
(Walker 1985:12).
Blacks as criminals
The Blacks lived in segregated, identifiable comrnunities, and they remained unassimilated and unwanted. Slums developed and black settlements became stigmatized as "deviance service centres", and "havens for underachievers" (Clainont
1978:94). Because many Blacks lived in a state of grinding poverty, to survive they often resorted to begging and petty thievery. Throughout the country Blacks were believed to have higher crime rates than other groups, and it was claimed that chicken coops and laundry lines needed protection wherever there were black men Wnks
1971:249).
Sexual images of the Blacks also supported the contention that Blacks were 55
criminals. Both black men and women were viewed as oversexed and promiscuous.
Black females were blamed for prostitution, and people feared for white women's safety
around black males (Bertley 1977: 126;Winks 1971;249). This was expressed in an
Imperia1 Order of the Daughters of the Empire petition, which claimed that white women would be unsafe from black sexual aggressiveness (Walker 1985: 14).
Before the 1850's. it was claimed that Blacks were over represented in
institutions catering to deviants. It was believed that there was a disproportionate
number of Blacks in prisons. jails, and insane asylums. In 1851 the "Reports of
Penitentiary Inspectors" emphasized the high percentage of Blacks incarcerated. It
noted the fugitives educated only to slavery were more prone to petty crime. These
statistics and daims were never supported with empirical fact or proof, but every offence committed by Blacks received major publicity, and the press was full of warnings concerning the Blacks. Public opinion believed that the Blacks were not
punished often enough for their crimes because of the sympathy accompanied from
prior slave status (Winks 1971:250).
Blacks as objects of humour
Although the Blacks were viewed as deviants, they were also a source of amusement and mockery. Blacks were regarded as minstrel-type caricatures found in romantic cornedies, and the stereotype of the happy Negro, singing and dancing was popular (Alexander l996:93). Minstrel shows were common, and the "Callender's
Coloured Minstrels" filled every seat in Halifax in 1884. In their ridicules and humour 56
"Watermelon Man" and "Haverly's Mastodon Minstrels" purported to represent the
Negroes. Blacks were viewed in many srnall towns as "pets" spending their tirne telling youngsters tales of slavery, singing Negro spirituals, and playing the fiddle. They were affectionately referred to as "Lemon John", "Black Bill", "Pop Eye", "Old Shack", and
"Black Sam" (Winks 1971:295). These constructions of the Blacks as entertainers and objects of humour, supported their image as slow witted, unintelligent, and incapable of supporting themselves.
The lack of a black ethnic group
The entrance of the Fugitive slaves and the legend of the Underground Railroad served to homogenize the black population in Canada. because Canadians assumed that al1 Blacks in Canada were former slaves. In hornogenizing al! Blacks, it was easier for Canadians to identify the Blacks as an out-group and to direct resentment and discrimination against a single social unit. To Canadians, the Blacks were a single group because of their shared colour and presumed origins, and they possessed negative social, behavioural, and cultural tendencies. This created a perception of the
Blacks as an ethnic group.
However, the Blacks themselves, did not self-identify with each other. Although groups such as the Coloured Women's Club of Montreal (1902), the Canadian
Brotherhood of Railway Workers (1925), the United Negro lmprovement Association
(1940's). the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
(1950'~)~ and the Negro Citizenship Association (1954) were fonned by black 57
individuals, they did not successfully unite Blacks in Canada into a cohesive group
(Alexander 1996:135). There was no affiliation among the Blacks based on a common
origin or distinct patterns of interaction and behaviour. Although many of the Blacks
were suffering similar experiences, the former slaves of the Loyalists, the settlers, the
Refugees, and the fugitives neglected to form a unified front in order to better their
conditions. For instance, the black slaves brought by the Loyalists thought of
themselves as among the founders of the nation. They resented the Refugees of the
War of 1814, because they had become free men, they did not want to associate with the former slaves. The two groups also worshipped different faiths and practised
different customs, and this perpetuated their fragmentation. Thus. although the Whites
regarded the Blacks al1 as one group of descendants of slaves, there existed no unity
amongst them (Tulloch 1974: 101; Winks 1971: 141 ; Winks IW8:363).
BLACKS AS THE PHYSICAL OR RACIAL "OTHER" Blacks as inferior
Antagonisms between the Blacks and Whites were fuelled by the rise of
"science" in the Nineteenth Century, and although the ideology of racism came from
outside Canada. it found fertile soi1 in the country. The study of race as a scientitic category served to organize the stereotypes of the Blacks in Canada. The conceptualization of the Blacks as inferior was widely popularized, and the Blacks' disadvantages were deemed to result from their in herent inferior nature (Walker
l985:14). In 1851 an anonymous writer wrote in the Halifax monthly paper, The 58
Provincial that. "The insufferable arrogance and uncleanly habits of colonial Negroes make it almost impossible for us to hold association with them ....We have no hesitation in pronouncing them for inferior in morality, intelligence, and cleanliness" (Winks
1971:185).
These sentiments led to the conclusion that there was a need to limit black immigrants, because they were "undesirable immigrants" who could not assimilate readily. For instance, a large number of Blacks from the U.S. entering Western Canada in 1911, caused great concern for the white residents (Bertley 1W7:I 24; Ujimoto
1985:169). Settlers in the West claimed the Blacks would bring "serious social and political conditions", and black immigration would discourage white settlement in the vicinity of black farms and depreciate the value of property (Bertley 1977924). The
Secretary of the Edmonton Board of Trade demanded that al1 Blacks be barred from entry, and a rnember of government in Alberta, with the support of the Winnipeg Board of Trade, suggested that a head tax be applied to the Blacks. There were false reports suggesting that as many as seventeen thousand Blacks entered Canada. A member for Lanark North predicted that "Negroes would swarm by tens of thousands and told government ofkials, "they must preserve for the sons of Canada the lands they proposed to give to niggers" (Winks 1971:311).
While Canadians also accepted the racial "truths" that were popular in Britain. they were able to add their own unique doctrine. Blacks were believed to be unable to stand the cold Canadian climate, so they should be barred from Canada for their own well being (Alexander I996:W). The British Assembly warned against the settlement of 59
Blacks because the interests of the province were not being served by welcoming in "a
separate and marked class of people, unfitted by nature to this climate or to an
association with the rest of His Majesty's colonistsn. The belief in the Blacks' inability to
survive Canadian climate continued well into the Twentieth Century. The Immigration
Act of 1952 gave the rninister the power to prohibit immigrants based on unsuitability to
climate (Mnks 1971:437).
Commencing in the 1930's scientific theories were also used to explain the
academic achievements of the Blacks. Intelligence tests were administered to prove
scientifically that Blacks were inferior. Most of the Blacks had dropped out of school,
especially in Nova Scotia. by the end of the sixth or seventh grade (Wnks 1971:389).
In 1960 one third of the Blacks in Nova Scotia had intelligence quotients in the low
normal range or below. Thus by objective standards, Blacks appeared to be inferior in
educability. The underachievernent of the Blacks was well known, and rnany believed that there was something inferior about their intellect (Alexander 1996:22).
SEGREGATION AND DISCRIMINATION
Along with exclusion from wage labour, the Blacks were also excluded from
many spheres of society, and white citizens frequently opposed black settlements.
However, unlike the US, Canadian legislatures did not officially enact discriminatory
anti-black laws, with the sole exception of legislation legalizing segregated schools. By
1850 legislation in both Upper Canada and Nova Scotia, permitted the establishment of separate schools for Blacks. If separate schools did not exist, black children could 60
be forced to attend classes at different times from Whites or to sit on segregated
benches (Walker, 1985:1 1 ; Hill 1981:100). White parents would not allow their children
to rnix with black children, because Blacks were thought to be uneducable, half-human,
dirty, overly sexual, and "mysterious savages". Discriminatory education legislation
rernained in the statute books until the 1960's (Alexander l996:?'?; Davis 1971:45).
Although Blacks were not legally excluded from most areas of society, there was
much informal and individual exclusion created to oust them. In the late 1830's many
churches restricted Blacks to the back gallery, which was labelled "nigger heaven".
Blacks were not allowed to be buried in the churchyards in some cities (Hill 1981:104).
A white church-goer was quoted as stating, "it is a sin not to recognize the distinction
between the races that the creator made" (Alexander 1996:63). In the 1850's city
directories began to designate residents and businesses owned by Blacks. Employers
refused to hire Blacks, and the federal government allowed racial restriction in its hiring
and promotion practices (Walker 198516). Hotels in Hamilton, Windsor, Chatham, and
London refused black guests (Winks 1971:248).
The segregation continued into the Twentieth Century. In 1915 in St. John's and
in i917 in Hamilton, Blacks were not allowed into some restaurants and theatres. In
1924 Ontario courts found it legal for restaurants to deny service on the grounds of
race. and in Edmonton, Blacks were banned from public parks and local pools. In
Truro, Nova Scotia, the white viligance cornmittee ordered Blacks off the streets at
night, and in 1940. the Supreme Court of Canada determined no fault with the Montreal
Forum tavern's refusal to serve a black man (Davis 1971:48; Walker 1985: 16). 6 1
However segregation was not uniform across Canada, because in some cities
Blacks were allowed positions as aldermen and city officiais. This created an image of
Blacks as half free and half slaves. Unlike in the United States where Blacks were sure where they could and could not go, Blacks in Canada faced great uncertainty. The absence of total legal prescriptions against the Blacks, made it difficult for them to unite in cornmon cause, because they endured different experiences in different areas
(Alexander 1996:Z).
REPATRIATION OF THE BLACKS
Although restrictions were suggested to control the influx of Blacks into Canada at various times, the Blacks who had settled in Canada also were subjected to schemes geared to "return thern back to where they belonged". The first of such designs occured in 1791 and was repeated in 1800, and over a thousand Blacks from British
North America returned to Sierra Leone, Africa, from Nova Scotia. even though many had never been there (Winks 1971:77; Ujimoto l985:'î67;Tulloch l975:83;Greaves
1930:23).
The black settlers were not the only group of Blacks to be repatriated from
Canada. The Maroons were descendants of negro slaves who had been freed by
Spain when Britain captured Jamaica in 1655. The Maroons became experts in guerrilla warfare, and they defeated the British settlers and soldiers repeatedly in the
1730's. However in 1796 the Maroons surrendered to the British under the agreement that they would be resettled on free land. The British then shipped the Maroons to Halifax (Tulloch 1977:68). lnitially the Maroons were admired for their legendary reputation as warriors, however the Maroons suffered because they were not accustomed to the cold climate and to farming in non-tropical environments. Within months of the arriva1 of the Maroons, the Governor of the province was receiving complaints frorn residents that the Maroons had plural wives, burial customs that were bizarre and unhealthy, and they "swaggered" about in military garb, were arrogant, rude. heathenish, and superstitious. Therefore the majority of the white settlers in Nova
Scotia wanted the Maroons to be removed, and over five hundred Maroons left for
Sierra Leone in August of 1800 (Greaves l930:82;Hill 1981: 1 12).
Attempts were also made to relocate the black refugees who entered Canada in the Nineteenth Century. The government tried to impel the refugees to resettle in
Trinidad, but only ninety-five agreed to go (Ujimoto 1985: 168). Therefore, the government initially wanted Blacks as a source of labour, but protests from white workers, the large supply of cheap, white labourers, and poor economic conditions resulted in the exclusion of the Blacks from the labour force. The Blacks experienced extreme poverty and became labelled as degenerates and burdens; thus, the government repeatedly tried to remove them.
BLACKS IN CANADA TODAY
Appendix 1 contains the results of a content analysis of recent newspapers exarnining the construction of Blacks and the Japanese. and it is suggested that Blacks are still regarded as an out-group today. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that the images of the racial and ethnic black "other" have similarities and origins in the
conceptualizations that existed in the past. These images will be linked to the current
experiences of Blacks in Canada.
The in-group today
Many researchers, such as Brym (1989), and Lautard and Guppy (1 990). have
asserted that ethnic and racial inequality in Canada is declining. The relationship
between race andlor ethnicity and social class is no longer as sharp, and class differences within particular ethnic or racial groups are as great as the differences
between them (Marger 1994:488). However, if stratification between ethnic or racial groups has decreased, it should also be evident at the elite level. Elites are those who dominate key decision-making positions of society, so inequalities in a stratification systern may be greatly pronounced at the level of elites (Ogmundson 1992:228).
John Porter's "Vertical Mosaic". published in 1965, has been labelled "the most important book written by a Canadian sociologist" (Ogmundson 1990:166). Porter concluded that Canada is characterized by pronounced ethnic and racial stratification especially at the level of elites. He studied seven elite groups during 1940 to 1961 and found thern to be dominated by the Charter groups, especially those of British origin.
Just below them were other white ethnicities, such as the Dutch. Germans and
Scandinavians, while other ethnic groups such as the Italians, Central and Eastern
Europeans were at lower positions of the socioeconornic ladder. At the very bottom were the visible minority groups, such as the Native Peoples, Blacks, and Asians (Herberg 1990:207;Ogmundson 1992:288).
R. Ogmundson and J. McLaughlin, have conducted a couple of studies investigating whether Porter's findings are still valid today. They conciuded that there was a trend for less exclusive class and ethnic origins in the political, public service1 bureaucratic, mass media, intellectual, religious, labour, and business elites. Therefore, the Canadian elite possessed more heterogeneous social characteristics. and the days of domination of the Canadian elites by those of British ancestry were coming to a close. (Ogmundson l99O;l992). However, the researchers cautioned that a remarkably high proportion of the non-British elite were of Jewish origin, and their success may obscure the d ifficulties still experienced by other ethnic or racial groups
(Ogmundson 1992:237).Thus, although ethnic or racial inequality may be declining, it is only decreasing for some groups.
If elite positions are stratified less by ethnic or racial origins, the question remains whether there has been a decrease in stratification at a more individual level.
In a study conducted by Victor Satzewich and Peter S. Li, they examined the relationship between ethnicity and race and stratification by studying the effect of ethnic and racial origin on occupational status and earnings of immigrants who entered
Canada between 1969 and 1971. Their conclusions supported the general observation about the declining effect of ethnic origin on occupational status, but they asserted that the gross effect of ethic and racial origin on income for the same period remained consistent. Also, there was a ranking of ethnic groups by both occupational status and income level, with immigrants frorn European countries and the United States having a 65 definite advantage due to their origin. Therefore, they concluded that there existed income discrimination on the basis of country of origin, despite controlling for occupational differences, and despite a trend in less occupational dissimilarity
(Satzewich 1987:239).
Edward Herberg in his study examining census data from 1981, argues that
British are no longer at the top of the educational hierarchy, and post-secondary schooling arnong ethno-racial groups has increased. Furthermore, the income of British
Canadians had been the highest in 1940 but by 1980 had stumbled to eighth place. and no other group exhibited such an economic deflation. However, in educational and occupational standings, only the Jewish and "white" ethnicities, such as Scandinavians,
Ukrainians, and Czechoslovakians, retained their preeminent standing. Blacks were at the lowest end of the income scale, even though they had educational and occupational resources that were better than the income positions they held (Herberg 1990:216).
Thus, it appears that the British "in-group" and the prosperity of those of British origin may have diminished but may have just been replaced by other white groups.
Regardless, the in-group or the elite, and those who benefit from the in-group's dominance, are still white.
Blacks today
In 1962, the Canadian Immigration Act stipulated individual skills as the chief criterion for admission and eradicated race or national origin as reasons for exclusion.
The effect was the immediate entrance of highly qualified applicants from Asia, Africa, 66 and the Caribbean. By the mid 1970's,over 40 percent of al1 immigrants came from
"Third World" regions. In the 1981 census there were over 200 000 West lndians in
Canada, compared to 68 000 in 1971. Fifty thousand Blacks from Africa also arrived in
Canada during the same period. Thus, black descendants of the early twentieth
Century migrants comprised less than 15 percent of the total black population (Walker l985:l8; Alexander l996:1995). In the 1980's there was also a wave of black refugees from Somalia and other African countries (Foster 199651). However, in 1981 the black population in Canada was still under 1% of the Canadian population (Statistics Canada
199174). A high proportion of the Blacks were concentrated in Toronto and Montreal. but there were also black communities in other cities and regions across Canada
(Christensen 1993:32).
Blacks and poverty
Because of changes in immigration legislation in the 1960's. a great proportion of the black population in Canada are immigrants and possess high skill levels (Walker
I985:q 8). However, as mentioned in prior studies, evidence has demonstrated that
Blacks receive lower wages relative to their skill level (Christensen 1993:31). Cecil
Foster cites several reports to dernonstrate that Blacks are clustered in lower status and service sectors. A governmental immigration review in 1974 discovered that Blacks enjoyed less upward mobility than other groups. A recent report by Karen Kelly for
Statistics Canada notes that black Canadians are employed in disproportionately low- paying menial jobs in manufacturing, the hotel and tourism sectors. medical services. 67 and in domestic positions. In 1992, a study for Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada examined the occupations of Blacks in the Greater Toronto area, which has 75 percent of the Canadian black population. The largest job classification for Blacks were in clerical, manufacturing, and services (Foster 1996:24).
In the 1986 Canadian Census, the average income for those of black origin was
15 475 dollars. This was substantially lower than the Canadian average income of 18
682 dollars (Statistics Canada 1986:63). Also, Blacks also have higher unemployrnent rates than the local average, and in Toronto in 1992, Blacks had higher rates of reliance on government assistance as a sole income than many other groups (Foster 1996:24).
Blacks and job discrimination
Because of the past conceptualization of Blacks as lazy. unrnotivated, dependent, and intellectually inferior, the Blacks' disadvantages in income may be attributed to the beliefs employers have of Blacks as potential workers. Appendix 1 demonstrates that unlike other groups such as the Japanese, Blacks are presented in the sections, articles, and pictures that deal with sports, entertainment, crime, and conflict. They are not concentrated in the sections and themes of the newspaper that deal with business, entrepreneurship, technology, or industries. Therefore, Blacks may endure discrimination in employment and thus, economic hardship and poverty, because they are still viewed as unsuitable and incapable workers.
Research by Frances Henry and Effie Ginzberg examined racial discrimination in ernployment. They discovered that Blacks and Whites were treated differently because 68 often the white applicant was preferred to the Black. There were also wage differences, because there were occasions where the black tester was offered less money than the white tester for the same job. Thus, the study formulated An Index of Discrimination at a rate of 3 to 1, so that Whites had 3 job prospects to every 1 that Blacks had (Henry
A 993:359),
Blacks have also suffered under temporary foreign workers schemes. A domestic systern was created in 1955. This scheme entailed workers being brought into Canada on a contractual basis with fixed conditions and terms, and many fernales from the Caribbean participated (Tulloch 1975:181 ; Ujimoto 1985: 179; Winks
1971:440; Henry l968:83). A temporary foreign workers scheme was also created with the Caribbean Seasonal Workers Program in 1966. The temporary workers endured harsh conditions and they were vulnerable to exploitation, through long hours. low wages, and deplorable work conditions (Ujimoto l985:177). Thus, Blacks were used for the work that had undesirable conditions, low wages, little value, and that native Canadians refused to do. The workers were in a vulnerable position, because they had a tenuous legal status, and they were dependent on their employers for wages, housing, and continued permission to remain in the country. As in the past,
Blacks were viewed as a good source of cheap labour, but not as suitable permanent residents (Ujimoto 1985:178; Foster 1996:50).
Blacks and the educational system
Although legislation segregating black students in schools was eradicated in the 69
1960's. Blacks in the Canadian educational systern are still suffering. A study using the
1986 Canadian Census 2% Public Use Micro-Data File examined the current
educational situation of the Blacks in Canada. It was revealed that both male and
female Blacks lag behind the Canadian average in high school graduation. college
entrance. and the successful completion of a BA. According to Christensen. this
contrasted with earlier patterns. when the black population's education exceeded the
Canadian average. This could be due to the influx of highly educated and skilled
Caribbean immigrants in the 1960's. The highest level of education for foreign-barn
Blacks, especially those aged 20-24. fell behind other foreig n-born populations. The
Canadian-born Blacks 15-19 years old, had an even worse rate of completion of high
school and less of a foothold in university (Christensen 1993:37).
There has been a growing number of government-initiated public inquiries and task forces investigating the roots of the educational disadvantages experienced by
Blacks. In 1992. a report of the Four-Level GovernmentlAfrican Canadian Comrnunity
Working Group gave evidence of the negative educational experience of black youth in
Toronto. Black students had higher drop-out and truancy rates, and they legitimized their behaviour through their feelings that they had inherited a legacy of social marginalkation and entered the school system as "undesirables" (Henry 1995:175).
Thus. while schools have the task of determining students' needs, cultural bias can influence assessments. For example, there occurs a streaming of immigrant and racial- minority students. In 1985 a North York Board of Education study revealed that 55% of white school children were in advanced classes and 15% were in the basic program. 70
For Blacks, they were in the advanced stream at 4% and in the basic program at 60%
(Christensen l993:3l).
The Toronto Board of Education also conducted two major studies, and they
discovered a dramatically higher percentage of Blacks in basic school programs
emphasizing vocational. instead of academic training. One of every 33 Asian students
and 1 in 10 of the white students were involved in the basic level, while 1 in 5 of the
Blacks were in the basic level (Henry 1995:184). Hence, many Blacks daim that some
educators and administrators rnay foster traditional beliefs that assume Blacks are
inferior in intelligence (Foster 1996:l29; Alexander 1996:236).
The results of Appendix 1 which reveal that Blacks are concentrated in sections
and items dealing with sports, entertainment, crime, and confiict rnay support this claim.
Blacks rnay be constructed in the newspapers as able perforrners and athletes, and as
criminals and arousers of confiict, which ignores their intellectual capabilities. Thus,
those who serve as teachers, administrators, and other decision-rnakers in the
education system rnay integrate these images of Blacks, which could hamper the
success of black students in academia.
Blacks and crime
The criminal justice system can reflect and promote the interests of the more
powerful groups in society. For example, the ingroup rnay diminish the priority given to the persecution of the type of criminal activity that they are more likely to engage in, for
example white collar crime. However, there rnay be an increased priority given to battling "street crimes". which are cornmitted by less advantaged groups. This is referred to as "over policingnl and is evident when the police contribute to the criminalization of marginalized groups by selecting "high risk" criminal behaviour (Henry
1995:113).
But not al1 of the disadvantaged and visible rninority groups in Canada experience such high participation in the criminal justice system as do the Blacks.
Although Blacks make up only 1 percent of the population, they are over-represented in the criminal justice system. For example, Blacks are over-represented in Canadian
Federal Prisons at a percentage of 5.3 (Correction Service of Canada 1996). The Race
Relations and Policing Task Force in 1989 stated that black youth are more likely to be stopped, searched, and shot by the police compared to white civilians (Henry l995:ll3).
In order to explain the high participation of Blacks in the criminal system, it has been alluded that those involved with the justice system harbor beliefs and images of the black population. The results of Appendix 1 show that Blacks are still associated with criminal acts, as both victims and perpetrators. The high number of headlines using terms describing murder and violence indicates that just as in the past, the public may perceive Blacks today, as more prone to criminal acts.
In 1996 the "Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Justice System" concluded that the justice system was biased against Blacks (Alexander 1996:17).
Thus, just as in the past, Blacks in Canada are associated with criminal behaviour.
Stephen Lewis, a former Canadian arnbassador to the UN, was appointed to a 72 government inquiry investigating race relations in Toronto in 1992, and he stated, "By some unspoken societal consensus, a generalized negativity towards Blackness
persistently links Black skin to criminality ... too frequently Black skin colour becomes the initiating catalytic factor which jettisons Black people into the criminal justice system". The association of Blacks and criminal behaviour has led to the suggestion that Blacks are often accused of crimes they did not commit. Blacks allege that
identities are not carefully checked, and that to the white police, "all Blacks look alike"
(Henry l995:ll3).
There is also substantial evidence of sentencing disparities between Whites and
Blacks. A study in Nova Scotia in 1981 researched eight dependent variables, including race, for over 1000 people who faced Criminal Code non-driving offences.
Blacks accounted for 15% of the defendants but less than 2% of the population of the province. The study suggested that sentencing patterns were significantly associated with the defendant's race, and white defendants received discharges in 23 percent of the cases, while a black first offender never received a discharge. These assertions were confirmed a decade later in the Marshall inquiry, with a sample of 177 cases of convictions for theft. Eleven percent of the Whites received absolute discharges, but no
Blacks did. Blacks with a lengthy criminal record were also more likely to be incarcerated compared to non-Blacks with similar records (Henry 1995: 144).
Blacks as an ethnic group
The in-group has classified the Blacks as an ethnic group in the past, assuming 73 they have common origins, patterns of interaction and behaviour, and associations and organizations. It has been acknowledged that since the first black settlers entered
Canada, they have al1 been viewed by the majority population as one common group.
Wth the influence of legends such as the Underground Railway, white Canadians united al1 Canadian Blacks into a single social unit because of their common colour and presumed origins as slaves.
The tendency to homogenize the black Canadians has continued into this
Century. Bertram Boldon daims that Canadians have consistently "lumped" al1 black individuals into one category on the basis of colour, which ignores cultural and national differences between the different black groups (Boldon 1971:34). Hence, many Blacks, especially those born in Canada. share citizenship and language with the majority, and they can not be excluded on the basis that they were socialized in foreign cultures, ate strange and exotic foods, or wore outlandish clothing from their mother-countries.
However, while the other European immigrant groups could easily integrate and pass as "Canadians", especially after generations in Canada, the Blacks could not. It did not matter how many years they had spent in the country or whether they had been born in
Canada, because Blacks could not shed or hide their skin colour (Walker 1985:16).
Blacks are still viewed as descendants of slaves, and people treat new immigrants and the indigenous black Canadians. as one group. with one common trait. "they sold themselves into colonialism" (Foster 1996:24).
However, Blacks in Canada in the past and present still have not self defined as an ethnic group, and a familiar assertion made by Blacks is that they cannot be treated as a hornogenous whole. Milesome Blacks may classify themselves as
"African Canadians", analogous to the more common and popular term "African
Americanl' in the US, Blacks in Canada are not organized as a whole. Foster writes,
"...as descendants of Africans ...we have been so scattered over the globe before coming together in Canada, we are so culturally different and dispersed ...there is no real bond or common denominator among us. Beyond... the superficiality of skin colour ... " (Foster 1996:21).
This fragmentation and diversity has impeded the black population's solidarity and mobilization. In 1995, a black activist Robert Upshaw commented, "The greater
Toronto area ... must deal with the entire black diaspora ...What do tens of thousands of people from African nations have in common with recent West lndian immigrants or the indigenous black community?..it is often diffïcult to build coalitions (Alexander
1996:212). Newly arrived immigrants, who are often prepared to do unskilled work for lower wages. are looked upon with hostility by the Canadian born Blacks (Greaves
193056). Those who have been in Canada for generations feel that they have worked hard to establish themselves. After being socialized in an industrial country such as
Canada, they do not want to be associated with or mistaken for the immigrants who are willing to do menial work. The Canadian-born and the West lndian immigrant populations have also suffered rifts. In Community Contact, a Montreal black newspaper, it was stated in August 1995:
In my interactions with Caribbean Blacks, I constantly hear derogatory statements about indigenous Black Canadians (Nova Scotians). For example, Canadian Blacks 'don't know how to cook' and are 'soft' 'do nat fight for their rights' and Nova Scotian women are 'cheap and easy'. I have found that the majority of people I have met from the [Caribbean] islands are ignorant about the history of Canadian Blacks ...( Foster IW6:23).
There also exists divisions among Blacks from the Caribbean, because there are differences by language, culture, and traditions, and stereotypes and conceptualizations concerning each Caribbean island flourish. For example, those from
Barbados are supposedly law-abiding and less likely to break the law, while those from
Jamaica are more prone to criminality. There are also rivalries among those from
Africa, based on language, cultural, and religious differences (Foster l996:21-22).
Therefore, there are groups within the black population itself that have also formed conceptions of the "other" concerning other groups of Blacks. In order to distinguish themselves from the other black groups and to counter the majority group's notion that "al1 Blacks are alike", certain groups feel the need to set themselves apart.
Hence, just as the in-group maintains its superiority over out-groups by differentiating and excluding them, specific black groups based on national, political, or social origins also engage in the sarne social constructions.
Thus, because of the numerous divisions within the black population, it is understandable why they have not united into one ethnic community. Although there exists many separate organizations, instead of having one voice, the Canadian Blacks have relied on many voices that are often not in harmony. Associations are formed based on specific interests, issues, or national origins. For instance, in the 1970'~~ there was an increase in the creation of black associations, such as the Canadian 76
Negro Women's association, the Congress of Black Wornen of Canada, and many
West lndian sports clubs were formed in response to the increased number of
Caribbean immigrants. However, the Black associations in Canada were not able to unite the black population on common causes (Alexander 1996:224), and many organizations prefer to seek aid from white-led associations, instead of other black organizations (Winks 1978:366).
Another reason for the lack of unity amongst the black population, may be found in the ineffective black leadership in Canada representing the entire group. Thus, while each community has its own, able, spokespersons, there is not a leader for al1 Blacks, transcending nationalities or differences. There has been no "Canadian Martin Luther
King", or a national figure to bond the Blacks together (Davis 1971:50).
Because the greater society views Blacks as a homogeneous group, Blacks face many similar disadvantages. The lack of a Canadian black community. which effects al1
Blacks regardless of origins, cultural practices, or language, has resulted in their inability to form a unified ethnic community to fight discrimination in occupations, income earnings, the educational system, and in the legal system. Chapter Three: The Japanese as the "other"
ORIENTALS AS THE RACIAL AND ETHNIC "OTHER" The imagined and experienced "other"
Just as the white Canadians did not encounter the Blacks in Canada without preconceived notions of their characteristics and attributes, they also had perceptions of the Japanese before actual contact between the two populations. The Western conceptualization of the Japanese was based upon fleeting observations. rumours, and second-hand accounts formulated before the mid-Nineteenth Century. This was because there was no direct contact between Japan and the rest of the world, while
Japan was in a state of seclusion (Ward 1990:97).
The seclusion of Japan
Japan had engaged in colonking activities in the South Pacific and Mexico, but in 1637, under the rule of the powerful warrior family. Tokugawa, Japan entered a period of self-seclusion that lasted for two hundred years. This put an end to the country's expansionary activities and to al1 contact with the outside world. The
Tokugawa regime wanted to preserve the Japanese institutions from foreign influences, especially traders and Christian missionaries from Portugal, Spain. England, and
Holland. Thus, the Japanese government did not allow foreigners into the country and
Japanese were not permitted to leave Japan (Adachi 1976:3;Japa.Cen.Comm
1978: 12; Young 1939: 1).
On March 31, 1854, Japan signed the Treaty of Kanagawa which officially ended 78 the period of seclusion and opened its ports to American ships. Trade unions were also established with Britain, Russia, and Holland. In 1867 rebels in Japan seized the reigns of the government in the name of Emperor Meji, and a new government gained control of Japan. In contrast to the former Tokugawa regime, this government concentrated on catching up with the technologically advanced West. Thus, it encouraged the adoption of Western ways and the travelling of Japanese to other lands
(Adachi 197618;Young 1939:4). By the end of the century, there was a great volume of
Japanese emigration to the US. Canada, South America, Hawaii, and Australia (Young
1939:5).
lmmediately after the end of the Japan's seclusion, direct contact with the population did not dispel former impressions of the Japanese. During most of the
Nineteenth Century, there was no distinction made between the different Asian societies in the formation of the "imagined other" of the Japanese. All of Asia was believed to be mysterious, over-crowded, and backward by Western standards vard
1990:98).
THE JAPANESE RACIAL AND ETHNIC "OTHER"
By 1870 a distinctive Japanese "other" formed because of developments Japan was undergoing. The Mejii Regime had adopted the policy Fukoku-kyohei, which is translated as "enrich the nation and strengthen the militaryn (Japan.Cen.Comm
1978:12). From this point onward, the Western observations of Japan emphasized
Japan's progressiveness. The nation's seclusion had been a sign of its backwardness, but once the period of isolation ended, the rapid modernization of Japan attracted growing attention. The Meji regime exerted al1 of the nation's energy and resources into transforrning Japan into a modern country. Japan's industrial expansion and technical development, two processes valued by the West, and the nation's educational, bureaucratic, and political reforms, impressed rnany outside observers.
Furthermore, by the late Nineteenth Century, the militarîzation of Japan was also noted by those in the West (Ward 1990:98).
lnitially rnany praised the nation's militarism. because it was concentrated on
"backward China" in the Sino-Japanese War in 1894. However, after Japan's victory over Russia in 1905, there was a rising alarm, because Asians had successfully defeated Europeans in battle. This caused a reassessment of the conceptualization of
Japan, and the nation was no longer viewed as an "antique empire" in early stages of development. The victory of Japan over Russia created a distinctive, separate image of
Japan from the other Asian countries. Japan was now modern, aggressive, expansionary, and a military challenge ta Western nations. As the country re-entered the world, newspapers, periodicals. school books, and popular literature wi-itten by merchants, missionaries, diplomats, travellers, and journalists spread images of the
Japanese to a vast audience. Thus, at the same time those in Europe and North
America were exposed to these impressions of Japan, they were also encountering an increasing number of Japanese immigrants Nard 1990:99;Broadfoot 1977: 1). JAPANESE IMMlGRANTS TO CANADA
Japanese immigration to Canada began in earnest in 1885. The province of
British Columbia was the selected site of landing, because it was the first area reached by the Japanese. Virtually al[ of the Japanese rernained in B.C, because they did not have the funds to travel elsewhere in Canada. Many of the first Japanese immigrants also planned to return to Japan, so they wanted to remain as close as possible to their home land (Broadfoot lWi:l2). There were also econornic incentives ta remain in B.C. with a boom in industries between 1896-191 1. By 1908, the Japanese population engaged in permanent settlement, and they established families and roots in the province. The settlement patterns effectsed their conceptualization as an out-group, because the Japanese were visible in highly segregated communities in the lower mainland of the province and on Vancouver Island (Young 19397; Adachi 1976:36).
BONACICH'S THEORY OF THE SPLIT LABOR MARKET & THE JAPANESE IN CANADA
Bonacich's hypothesis that ethnic antagonism can first arise in a labour market split along ethnic lines, can be used to contend that the Japanese's presence as cheaper wage labourers precipitated the antagonism between the Japanese and the white British Columbians. The hostility that originated because of the differences in the price of labour between the Japanese and white Canadians, which continued when the
Japanese entered independent, entrepreneur endeavours such as agriculture and small businesses, eventually spread throughout the entire country. 8 1
As rnentioned, Bonacich lists several initial factors that effects the price of labour of groups, the first being the level of living or economic resources. She asserts that the poorer the econorny of the homeland of the recruits, the less inducements required for them to enter a new labour market and seIl their labour very cheaply (Bonacich l972:55O). This can be related to the Japanese. because between l897-I9lO1the 15
289 early immigrants were lower class farmers, fishermen, and peasants. Their motivations for leaving Japan arose from the country's emphasis upon rnodernization and industry, which neglected agrarian interests. While the capitalist merchant class gained in prosperity, peasants suffered. Many Japanese came to Canada in the hopes of finding the economic opportunity they could not have in Japan (Adachi 1976:16).
Bonacich also discusses the significance of temporary work status on the price of workers. Temporary workers cost less to employ than permanent workers, because they are only working for a specific time period. Often temporary workers are males who accept a lower standard of living than other labourers, and they are more willing to put up with undesirable work conditions, which enables them to secure employment readily (Bonacich 1972550). The early Japanese immigrants who arrived to Canada were mostly male transient settlers. They remained in the country for a temporary period and then returned to Japan, so they had no intentions of settling perrnanently in
Canada. Thus, they did not invest in comforts, luxuries. or the means to make their lives or appearances more attractive. Their goal was to corne to Canada to make money quickly and then return to Japan (Takata 1983: 13).
A 1902 Royal Commission discovered that the Chinese were being displaced by 82
Japanese workers in several industries, because of the Japanese's aggressiveness and willingness to work for lower wages (Young 1939:XXIV). The employers rationalized the paying of lower wages to the Japanese, by asserting that the Japanese had such dismal standards of living that they did not need higher wages (Adachi
1976:48). However. in reality their lower standard of living was understandable because many of the Japanese supported families in their homeland. lnstead of spending, they chose to accumulate their savings to send to their dependents (Ward l99O:l5).
According to Bonacich, a second factor effecting the price of labour is information. Because immigrants may be pushed into signing contracts out of ignorance, the opportunities to exploit them are obvious (Bonacich 1972:550). The
Japanese in Canada worked in the fishing, mining. and lurnbering industries in organized "gangs". They were organized by Japanese immigrant leaders, who negotiated the work contracts for the groups, often at very low wages. While this maintained their sense of groupness and solidarity, it also facilitated the establishment of the Japanese as exploitable sources of cheap labour (Adachi 1976:32),
The third factor is political resources, which refers to the benefits a group may have from organization. This can occur at the level of labour or at higher levels. such as a home government that helps organize and protect its emigrants (Bonacich
1972:551). Until 1924, Japan exercised a degree of control over Japanese living in
Canada if they had dual citizenship. Thus the Japanese government continued to speak for those individuals who had not renounced their Japanese citizenship and 83 those who had not become Canadian citizens. This was legally justifid in a treat~ between Britain and Japan (Young 1939: 133). The Japanese were often protected by the Japanese government's intervention in Canada's treatment of the immigrants.
Bonacich claims conflict may develop between three key classes in split labour markets, because of the factors that lead at least one group to be paid cheaper wages
(1972553). The first category, the employers, eagerly hired the Japanese instead of the Chinese, because the Japanese would work for lower pay. The employers were very content with the Japanese as a source of cheap labour, and they affirmed that the
Japanese were independent, energetic, aggressive, reliable, industrious, adept, intelligent, and full of integrity. Owners of canneries "marvelled at their skill and ease"
(Adachi 1976:48; Takata 1983:14). Although the employers may have commended
Japanese labour, they still did not prefer to hire Japanese workers if it was not econornically beneficial. In 1925, a Minimum Wage Act was enacted, but employers would not pay the Japanese workers the required wages, because they believed only the white workers were entitled to higher wages (Adachi 1976:148).
The second class involved in the conflict in the split labour market is the cheap labour, and tensions often arise between this group and Bonacich's third category, the higher paid labour. The latter group is very threatened by the introduction of cheaper labour. thus they may attempt to exclude the cheaper workers frorn wage labour
(Bonacich IWZ;552). Within al1 of the industries that the Japanese entered, they experienced exclusion The Japanese men had permeated industry after industry and became well-organized, efficient, and highly concentrated. For instance. their involvernent in the fishing industry was substantial by 1901 (Broadfoot 1977:6).
Japanese fishermen were eventually found in al1 important fishing areas of the
Canadian Pacific Coast (Young 1939:37), by 1919, the Japanese immigrants had almost half of the fishing licences (Ward 1990:llO).
In B.C as the Japanese's involvement increased in the fishing industry. there arose protests and cries for exclusion. The first signs of agitation began in 1893. when other fishermen united in a strike to demand a reduction in the number of licences to the Japanese. There was no resolution. and further strikes occurred in the new century. In 1920 and 1921, the Dominion Department of Fisheries instructed the
Vancouver Fishery Commissioners to limit the number of licences to the Japanese.
There was a reduction in the number of licences to Japanese between 1922 to 1933, and an increase of 118% of licences issued to white and lndian fishermen (Young
1939:39; Takata l983:6l).
In response to their exclusion from the fishing industry, in the late 189OVs,the
Japanese became employed in the lumbering industry in high numbers, because they worked for such low wages. As in the fishing industry, agitation against the Japanese workers commenced. Operators on provincial lands were threatened with the loss of their licences if they ernployed Japanese. Japanese were not able to retain or renew lumbering licences. In 1925, the Minimum Wage Law was passed by the legislature of
British Columbia, with the aim of restricting further Oriental employment in lumbering
(Young 1939:48). This Act instituted a statutory minimum of 40 cents, and because the
Japanese were earning 25 cents, the Japanese were dropped from payrolls. The 85
Japanese were also found in the mining and railroad industries, and their involvement in both fields peaked in I9Oï. However, their number decreased after 1907, because of the success of legislation implernented to oust thern (Adachi 1976:50;
Japa.Cent.Comm 1978:50;Young 1939:49).
After being restricted from wage labour in several primary industries, fatmiiig became a recourse for the Japanese in the middle 1920's (Japa.Cent.Comrn 1978:51).
The Japanese prospered in this industry, because farming allowed the Japanese independence and an escape from wage and employment restrictions. There was a great availability of land, and the Japanese had experience from their prior farming in
Japan. They cleared the land with amazing efkiency, and it was estimated that by
1934, the Japanese produced 85 percent of the berries grown in the Fraser Valley. and they eventually dominated small fruit and vegetable operations in the Fraser Valley
(Adachi 1976:149; Ujimoto 1985:134).
Expectedly, the Japanese presence in agriculture did not occur without opposition. Just as white Canadians wanted the Japanese excluded from earning cheap wages in industries. they wanted the Japanese excluded from owning and running their own businesses. White farmers began a widespread program of opposition to Japanese land ownership, through petitions and letters. They asked for legislation to prevent the Orientals from owning, selling, and leasing land. In 1926, the
Vernon Board of Trade informed the Federal government of the inconvenience and detriment to white settlement, caused by the sale of land to Orientals (Roy 1976:244;
1989b:250). 86
In the 1920's.there was also an increase in the commercial activities of the
Japanese in Vancouver. lnitially they were limited to operating small stores and groceries, which barely survived and were only able to function with the use of unpaid family labour. However, economic expansion slowly occurred, and many Japanese worked themselves from the bottom of the economic ladder to competing with businesses owned by white merchants (Broadfoot 1977:31; Adachi 1W6:? 52). This created agitation from the white business men, especially at the end of World War 1, and they launched a campaign to motivate the Provincial Board of Retail Merchants'
Association to endorse Oriental exclusion from commercial enterprises (Ward
199O:l25).
THE JAPANESE ETHNIC "OTHER" VS THE CHINESE ETHNIC "OTHER"
In order to effectively exclude the Japanese from al1 economic spheres, both wage labour and independent business, the in-group constructed certain images of the
Japanese. The Japanese involvement in the industries of British Columbia became a stimulus for the conceptualization of the Japanese as an ethnic "othef. The conceptualization of the Japanese as a threat. because of their success and domination in few industries. interacted with and expanded the already-believed notions that Japan was a potential menace because of its increased industrialization and militarization.
Although both the Chinese and the Japanese were "undesirablenout-groups, often at different time periods one group was perceived as a greater problem or threat.
However, the white Canadians had difiiculty distinguishing between the Japanese and 87
Chinese, because they physically or "racially" resembled each other. For example, during the anti-Japanese agitation in the Second World War, Chinese people in the province would often Wear badges saying "1 am Chinese", in order to affirm that they were not Japanese. Chinese store owners also placed cards in their windows stating it was a Chinese store (Broadfoot 1977:71).
Thus, the in-group contrasted constructions of the Japanese and Chinese ethnic
"other" against each other in order to differentiate between the two populations. The conceptualizations depended on which group the in-group wished to exclude. The first hostilities against the Japanese did not occur until 1891. because before this the
Chinese were viewed as the greater threat. This was because of the higher number of
Chinese in the province employed in raiiroad construction, and also gold strikes in 1858 had brought substantial numbers of Chinese frorn California (Broadfoot 1977:4). At this time the conceptualization of the Japanese was positive; for example, in 1884 a newspaper article stated the Japanese were industrious, quiet. sober, and intelligent, and that the Japanese were "preferred over the Chinese" (Adachi 1976:40). Thus, when the Chinese were the greater perceived threat, positive images of the Japanese were used to highlight the negative images of the Chinese.
However, the positive conception of the Japanese was short-lived, and as their numbers increased and the numbers of the Chinese decreased. the preferred group was reversed. The number of Chinese had been reduced substantially through restrictive legislation, and because the majority of the Chinese in British Columbia were male, there was Iittle natural increase. The Chinese were also confined to a few 88
industries, while the Japanese continually entered different spheres. Thus the Chinese
were no longer viewed as the greater menace (Young 1939:XXIV). As Japan's
industrialization and rnilitary activities received increasing publicity at the end of the
Nineteenth Century, the ethnic "other" became the easiest way to differentiate the
Japanese from other Oriental groups.
Aided by the belief in Japan's superiority over China in industrialization,
rnilitarization. and education, the Japanese were believed to be more cornpetitive,
aggressive, independent, and capable compared to the Chinese (Young 1939:98;
Ujimoto 1985: 126). It was stated by many in the province, that the significant
difference between the Chinese and Japanese, was that the former wanted equal
status with the white people, and they were ready to fight for econornic and political
equality. In the Vancouver newspapers the Colonist and the Times, it was published
that because the Japanese were more intelligent than the Chinese, their efforts to
integrate the economic and social arenas of the province were much more dangerous
(Roy 1989b:22).
Japanese racial and ethnic "other" as a threat to white workers
The conceptualizations of the Japanese aimed to exclude them from the
industries. based on the menace they posed to the well-being of the white workers. A
Royal Commission on Orientai Immigration appointed in September 1900, revealed that
although the Japanese were still in small numbers, they had managed to "permeate" the province's major industries within a few years. Because the Japanese were concentrated in so few industries, they appeared as a huge, visible, threatening group.
This gave the white workers a homogeneous, targeted group against whom to direct their hostilities (Ward IWO: 116).
The efficient work habits and the startling ability of the Japanese to succeed in industries formed a large part of their conceptualization as an ethnic "other". Images of the Japanese that were intertwined with the supposed trait of aggression that was intrinsic to the Japanese character created an illusion of the Japanese workers as being "frighteninglyn productive. They were described as "robots" that operated with cheap, machine-like efficiency. Phrases such as "Cunning. Tricky. Money-Mad.
Greedy. Always trying to do the white man in" were used to describe the Japanese workers (Broadfoot 1978:9). It was felt that the Japanese would replace white labour, because they worked for such low wages and were so efficient (Adachi 1976:65; Ward l99O:l5).
As the Japanese prospered in agriculture, white farmers warned the province of the danger of the Japanese. The editor of a the "Farrn and Home" publication wrote:
In California the Oriental Situation is becoming more serious everyday. Slowly the Japanese are taking charge of the agricultural industry. In certain districts where American faners in other districts where American farmers in other days lived and brought up splendid families. today the brown skinned sons of Nippon control the land ... (Roy 1976:245).
ln the 1920ts, as the Japanese presence increased in commercial activities in
Vancouver, the Japanese became known as "the Jews of the Orientn. Although at this time their involvement was minimal, they were still cited as "swampingnthe city and taking over (Adachi 1976:152).
The Japanese racial and ethnic "other" as a threat to the white race
The conceptualizations that were created by the white workers. business owners, and farmers effectively justified the exclusion of the Japanese from many spheres of economic life. However, what began as a concern in industries. became a provincial and national issue. Eventually, the desire for the exclusion of the Japanese was transferred from the economic spheres to al1 areas of daily life. Hence, as
Bonacich asserted, divisions and conflicts in the labour market created ethnic antagonism throughout society. In accordance with Bonacich, Charles H. Young and
Helen K.Y. Reid propose that initially objections to the Japanese were centred only in the fishing, lumbering, and mining industries. But as the Japanese moved out of certain industries and into others, the farmers and small businessmen joined in the protest.
They al1 spoke their grievances and demanded protection from the foreign-born, alien labourers, fisherrnen. and business men who deprived them of their profits. The authors suggest that the bitter feelings of the white workers in a few industries took their cause to the larger white comrnunity through newspapers, meetings, and organizations
(Young 1939:136).
In the early 1920's, many associations gave the white workers vehicles to express their collective opinions in the province. Patriotic organizations, such as the
Native Sons of Canada, took up the cause and anti-Japanese organizations, such as the Anti-Asiatic Exclusion League, were forrned . These groups called for a control to immigration and the preservation of white dominion and control. Financial and industrial leaders in the province also lent their support. Politicians in the province campaigned for a "white British Columbian, and demanded the constitutional power ta bar Orientais from land interest, ownership, employment, and immigration (Ward
IWO:130).
Initially, the rest of the community was indifferent to the Japanese problem, as they had little direct contact with the group, but to publicize the economic threat that the
Japanese posed to white workers, the "racial" threat the Japanese represented to the white race was intensified. (Ward 1WO:I5). The antagonism between the Japanese immigrants and white workers that was generated in specific occupations, became diffused through the white community. It was then that the belief of the "Japanese menace" became crystallized (Young IWO: 142).
The Japanese "other" as the 66yellowperil"
The construction of the Japanese as a dangerous race was greatly facilitated by their label as a "yellow peril" that stood poised to "engulf the livelihood and security of the white population". Although the "yellow peril" did not exclude other Asians, such as the Chinese, in the early twentieth century the greatest hostility was against the
Japanese. Commencing in 1905, because of the success of Japan in the war with
Russia, suspicions of Japan's intent to invade 6.Cfiourished. Quite quickly, in the eyes of many British Colombians, the "quaint country" of Japan was transformed into the sinister "Yellow Peril" (Adachi 1976:44). 92
Ken Adachi presents the origin to the irnagery of the "yellow peril" in his work,
"The Enemy that Never Was". He states that in 1895, Kaiser Wilhelrn coined the terni as he was brooding over the rise of Japan's military strength. Wilhelm's motivation for creating the image was to create a war between Japan and the United States, with the hopes that England would support America. He succeeded in planting the idea of the
"yellow peril" which became the catch-word in speech and in print. especially concerning the Japanese problem on the West Coast of North America (Adachi
1967:67).
An illustration of the ability of the white workers to spread their cause to the rest of society occurred in 1907, when the outcry against the "yellow horde" peaked in a riot.
1907 was the year that more Japanese than ever before entered B.C. There was an incredible anti-Japanese feeling among industrial workers, who protested the use of cheap Oriental labour in the press. The provincial politicians also became involved, because they realized the political potency of the issue. Through propaganda such as a supposed systematic scheme to "flood the market with cheap contract labour" and the uncovering by the Conservatives of a false "liberal plotnto import 50 000 Japanese, hysteria spread in the province (Adachi 1976:65; Roy 1989:186).
This led to a huge Anti-Oriental demonstration in Vancouver on September 7,
1907, which began with 2000 men waving banners reading "Stand up for a white
Canada". The nurnber of paraders quickly increased to 8000, and a mob proceeded to
"Little Tokyon and began to break windows and to destroy shops. However, the
Japanese retaliated and "tore into the mob with rocks, sticks, clubs, and knivesn. The 93
rnob was dissipated, but the Japanese resistance just served to increase the Whites'
resentment of the Japanese. The newspapers stated that "the Japs are out, 5000
strong, armed, and ready for a fig ht" (Broadfoot 1977:6; Japa.Cent.Comm 1W8:3 1 ).
Quite quickly, the threat of the Japanese in Canada surpassed an economic or
racial issue, and they came to be perceived as a militaristic threat. In 1908, an
Canadian intelligence officer reported even though there was no substantial evidence:
I cannot but regard his [a Japanese] presence in Canada as a menace to the Country and to the Empire. Their aggressive patriotism renders it out of the question that they can every populate the country as Canadians, but they are certainly taking possession of it as Japanese. They are established al1 the way up the coast and throughout the interior in a manner that enables them to obtain the fullest information of the country (Ward 1990:105).
In 1909 and 1910, "The Pacific War of 1910" was published as a serial work of fiction, and the writings depicted a well-planned, unprovoked Japanese attack on British
Columbia. However, the rumours of the Japanese threat diminished with the First
World War, because Japan served as a Canadian ally (Adachi 1976: 104; Roy
1976:243). There was also a serious labour shortage during the war, so the Japanese were integral to filling and remedying the shortage. But, as soldiers returned home, the animosity and exclusion returned. Bonacich acknowledged that the presence of cheaper labour in areas of the economy where higher paid labour is not currently employed creates an increase in tension and antagonism (Bonacich IWZ:554). The
Canadian economy was suffering in the post-war era, so that the massive economic malaise of the Depression provided the climate for the increased hostility of the white 94
population against the Japanese in the province. The Canadian soldiers believed the
Japanese workers were preventing their employment, and agitation was intensified
because it was well known by white Canadians that while so many white labourers were
suffering, very few Japanese needed relief assistance (Broadfoot 1977:l).
The former cries of the economic threat of the Japanese, became intertwined,
once again, with daims of their threat to Canadian nationality. But during the interwar
years, they were intensified, especially through the media. Daily the newspapers
published reports of the inflated numbers of Japanese arriving. The press popularized
the notion that "unless checked, the extremely aggressive" Japanese would control the
province and an "alien race" would secure a foothold in Canada" (Adachi 1976:67).
During the inter-war period, the bittemess towards the Japanese was heightened
by Japan's aggression in the Far East. As Japan annexed Korea, Formosa,
Pescadores, South Manchuria, and Shantung, the image of the Japanese became
increasingly threatening. The ernphasis on Japan's militarism was at its greatest in the
1930's. It was believed by many, that Japan had designs upon North America and had the military strength to achieve victory. Alamied by Japan's expansionism, the
Canadian media and politicians maintained the image of Japan's aggression as a persistent theme in popular thought. In 1921, the Vancouver Sundav Sun read, "Japan is no longer thousands of miles away across the Pacific ocean ...Thanks to the flying machine, every nation at every moment is within striking distance of each othef (Ward
1990: 1 02).
The image of the Japanese as a military threat, fed off the belief that the Japanese Canadians were still linked to Japan. The Japanese immigrants were
believed to be "Japanese nationalists, steadfast and loyal to the Emperor and disloyal
to Canada" In 1924, a provincial newspaper claimed: 'Of al1 the people on the globe,
the Japanese are perhaps the most intensely patriotic. Their idolizing of rnilitary
prowess and sacrificial patriotism is extreme ... still burns hot in every son and daughter
of Nippon, no matter [in] what country they ben (Ward 1990:104).The statement. The
Japanese is always a Japanesenwas frequently heard from many white British
Colombians. Professor Black of the University of British Columbia contended, "The
Japanese in B.C. are as loyal to Japanese national traditions as Japanese anywhere in
the worldn (Young l939:l65).
The economic success of the Japanese was also attributed to the financial
support they received from their native Japan. It was a commonly held perception by
the white population that logging and sawmill operations run by Japanese people, were
supposedly controlled by large business corporations in Japan (Adachi 1976:147).
Furthermore. although there was no factual proof, these industries were purposely developed in "strategic areas", which demonstrated Japan's intent of invasion (Ujimoto
1985:134). The schools that were operated by Japanese immigrants to teach children the Japanese language, were identified as the vehicle used by the Japanese to teach the "budding Canadians" that Japan and her people were superior to the white race and would someday "rule the Pacific with a rod of iron" (Ward 1990:104;Broadfoot
1977:38). Japanese "other" as inferior
The natural inferiority of the Japanese in assimilating to Canadian life, was used as a justification for their exclusion from economic activities and also many spheres of daily life. A Vancouver worker in 1902 was quoted, "My principal objection to them is that they do not assimilate, cannot assimilate, with our racen(Ward l99O:lO6). The notion that the Japanese posed a threat to health was used as proof of their inability to assimilate to Canada. Because the first Japanese settlers to Canada, were in the country temporarily, they did not invest in luxuries of permanent settlement. The
Japanese's standard of living appeared to be much lower than the white Canadians. In
May 1900, 2167 people from Vancouver signed a petition sent to the Governor General of Canada, to warn him that the province was being "flooded with the undesirable class" of Orientals, which was a "menace to healthn. By 1908, the Japanese had pemanently settled in Canada, but the image of the "dirty Jap" prevailed (Adachi 1976:43).
Furthemore, included in the conceptualization of the Japanese Canadians as unable to assimilate was the belief that the Japanese did not want to be part of larger society. From the beginning of Japanese settlement, the Japanese had little association with the white comrnunity, so they did not need to learn English even afier being in Canada for an extended time, and they aften were not familiar with the
Canadian customs and mores. This served to handicap them in contacts with the white community, as well as demonstrated they were not true Canadians (Adachi 1976:29).
The "clannishn settlement patterns of the Japanese, which was in actuality also a reaction ta the exclusion from white society, were also used as an indication of their 97 refusai to be a part of Canadian society. By 1931, three quarters of the Japanese in
British Columbia were within 50 to 75 miles of Vancouver in the inter-war period. They were highly concentrated in a small area, so that 95 percent lived in a few populous sections of one province (Broadfoot 1977: 1; Ward 1990: 114). It has been speculated that if the Japanese had been scattered throughout Canada or even B.C, the hostilities towards them many not have been as great. Many of the white Canadians interpreted the dense settlernent of the Japanese as evidence of their "sinister naturen and their intentions of devious and treacherous activities (Young 1939: 167).
However, many of the Japanese, especially those born in Canada, did try to adapt and blend into Canadian society. They were willing to adopt Canadian ways in clothing, furnishing, religions, and even the worshipping of Hollywood heroes. They were model citizens with astonishingly low crime rates, and they were not dependent on any form of public support. Prior to the commencement of the Second World War, the
Japanese in Canada donated over 4000 dollars in voluntary donations to the War fund.
By 1941, they had given 340 200 dollars to the Victory Loan Drive, even though they were aware that war with their native country was pending. Many second-generation
Japanese wanted to enlist to fight for Canada. They underwent the required medicals, but they were not called for service (Sunahara 198: :15; Adachi 1976:188).
Even if the Japanese could become assimilated through the retention of the
English language and Canadian norms, values, and standards of living, the distance between the white and Japanese race was believed to be too great to allow for the real assimilation of the Japanese. lnfiuenced by science, it was believed by many that the 98
Japanese were genetically incapable of cornmitting to the Canadian way of life and to
British values and institutions (Sunahara 1981:Il). Hence, while the Japanese wanted equal status with the white race, their racial inferiority meant that their ambitions were unrealistic. and the true unassimilable character of the Japanese was found in their physical, "racial" characteristics (Young 1939: 164).
The Japanese "other" and the "peaceful penetration"
Although the Japanese in Canada were believed to hold sinister intentions of wiping out the white inhabitants on the West Coast, the threat of the group did not just derive from militaristic expansion. An important component of the Japanese's image was the central belief in their "peaceful penetration". According to the general public, proof of the peaceful penetration was found in the Japanese's expanding economic control, ascribed aggressiveness, and inability to assimilate. However, Japanese immigration, especially illegal immigration, was believed to be one of the main means af the peaceful penetration. In 1906, according to rnany white Canadians. the rising number of Japanese immigrants to Canada was evidence of Japan's expansionary motives, and they were labelled as the weapons in Japan's mission to colonize white
British Columbia. This was cited as "peaceful" because the immigration of the
Japanese into Canada, which appeared legitimate, was in actuality a subtle, sinister, and sly method of taking over Canada. Thus, there was great concems of the supposed hundreds of illegal Japanese immigrants infiltrating the country (Ward
1990: 145; Roy l976:243). 99
Even more indicative of the peaceful penetration of Japan was the birth rate of the Japanese in Canada. Prior to 1907, the Japanese who entered the country were mostly unmarried adult males. However, through restrictive legislation, the entrance of males was effectively reduced. There was no lirnit enforced on the immigration of
Japanese females, and beginning in 1908, a large group of young females began to migrate under the "Picture Bridensystem. A scherne had been formed, involving relatives in Japan arranging for females to be sent to Canada. Hence, between 1908 and 1929, the number of fernales entering Canada from Japan exceeded the number of men (Ujimoto 1985:128). The consequence of this was a sudden high birth rate within a relatively short period. By the 1920's. the population composition greatly contrasted the composition during the beginning of the century. The birth rate of the Japanese, became three times higher than al1 other groups in Canada (Roy 1989:289).
This contributed to the perceived threat of the Japanese, because they were
"fiooding the Pacific coast with babies". Since legislation had effectively curbed the entrance of Japanese immigrants, the birth rate of the Japanese in Canada came to be the new threat. A writer stated, "Asiatic Canadians, with a high birth rate, are creating a new problem for British Columbia. More than 600 brown-skinned babies are opening their little black eyes for the first time in B.C. every year" (Young 1939:25).Thus, the natural increase of the Japanese was endangering the "whiteness" of the province. It was repeatedly reported that the Japanese "were breeding so quicklyn that their growth outnumbered the white people. Although the high birth rate phase of the Japanese was over by 1931, the propaganda and hysteria continued for years (Adachi 1976:85). 1O0
LEGISLATION CREATED TO EXCLUDE THE JAPANESE
The conceptualizations of the Japanese as an ethnic and racial "othef by many white British Columbians, were also used to legitimize the attempts to impose legislation to restrict the Japanese's rights and privileges. The first protests against the
Japanese in B.C occurred in 1891, and although the provincial government instigated its own provincial restrictions, they demanded further restrictions at the federal level.
However, the federal government refused to implement many of the policies that the provincial governrnent requested, including a proposed head taxing of the Japanese.
The reason for the federal government's reluctance did not stem from its rationality or compassion; instead, it was the resuit of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of
1894, which determined that the subjects of Britain and Japan had the full liberty to enter, travel, and reside in the other's dominions. The treaty was renewed in 1902 and
1905, which served to perpetuate agitations in British Columbia (Adachi l976:4l;
Young 1939:12).
Although many of the proposed legislations restricting the Japanese were not enacted, in 1895 the federal government allowed an extension of a clause in the
Provincial Elections Act, to exclude naturalized citizens and children born in Canada of
Japanese descent from the tight to vote. The justification for the exclusion of the
Japanese from the franchise, rested on the assertion that the Japanese were undesirable citizens. The Newspaper the Colonist, reported Canadians were,
". ..relieved from possibility of having polling booths swamped by a horde of Orientais who are totally unfitted either by custorn or education to exercise the ballot, and whose voting would completely demoralize politics.. ." (Roy 1989:290).
The legislation was damaging to the Japanese, because exclusion from franchise also prevented Japanese from working in provincial or municipal services or as school teachers, lawyers. or pharrnacists. Therefore although the Japanese were
not exernpted from the Taxation Act or lncome Tax Act. they were unable to exercise many of their rights as Canadian citizens. This assigned the Japanese the status of second class citizens (Young 1939: 145; Ujimoto 1985:133).
In 1920, the Dominion Elections Act was implemented. and the Japanese were excluded, on the grounds of race, from voting in federal elections in British Columbia
(Roy 1989:292). The restriction of Japanese immigrants, remained a vital aim of
Canada. In 1922, Prime Minister King began negotiations to further decrease the number of immigrants from Japan to only 150 per year. There was also an end to the picture bride system, but this did not quiet the protests and demands from the province's citizens and politicians (Young 1939:6).
SEGREGATION OF THE JAPANESE
The provincial government also attempted to deny the Japanese's entrance or access to many areas of daily life. In 1914, a group of white British Columbians demanded that the Japanese children be segregated frorn white pupils in the public schools. Segregation was deemed as necessary, because Japanese students would
"corrupt" the white children. and parent-teacher associations claimed that the Japanese pupils were infected with skin diseases, which posed a menace to health (Adachi 102 l976:lO7). Those of Japanese descent were often not allowed to sit in certain sections of rnovie theatres or could not swim in public pools. Furthemiore, because the white public homogenized the Japanese as al1 being foreign-born, they did not distinguish between naturalized citizens and citizens by birth. The second generation Japanese just became "another Jap" (Broadfoot 1977:74). Hence even those individuals who had never set foot in Japan, were still treated as aliens and undesirable citizens.
JAPANESE CANADIANS AND W II
The Japanese had at first been an economic threat, then a racial threat, then a militaristic thrsat, and finally they came to be a threat to national security. It can be asserted that World War II motivated the climax of the white population's hatred for the
Japanese in Canada. On December 7.1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, and this marked the beginning of the nightmare for the Japanese in B.C lmmediately after the bombing, the arrest and internment of 38 Japanese nationals was deemed necessary for "national security" (Sunahara 1981 ;162; Takata l983:llO). On December 16, 1941, the government announced that the registration of al1 of Japanese origin, regardless of citizenship status, was required. This served to lump together Nisei and naturalized immigrants as the "enemy"; however, the Germans and ltalians were not required ta register (Broadfoot 1977:53; Takata 1983:1 10). The 1200 fishing boats owned by
Japanese fishermen, al1 of whom were Canadian citizens, were impounded. The 59
Japanese language schools and 3 Japanese newspaper offices were closed (Sunahara
1981:28; Ward 1WO:I 50; Japa.Cen.Comm 1978:77). 1O3
The treatment of the Japanese Canadians was justified as "precautionary rneasuresn. The weeks imrnediately following the attack on Pearl Harbour, was a time filled with fear in Canada because of Japan's military activities. Japan's startling number of targets, speed of military expansion. and ease of victories surprised and frightened many West Coast whites. Canadians feared a Japanese attack on British
Columbia, and in the first week of war, there were air raid precaution units ready for duty and nightly blackouts were enforced. The front page of the press emphasized
Japan's strength, and it was reported that fifth column activity had played a vital role in
Japan's conquests. Thus, there was a cornbined effect of Japan's rnilitarism and the province's legacy of racial tensions. to intensify the old image of the yellow peril. There was an increase in rumours of espionage, and military intelligence officers in the province, revealed in mid-January. that the Japanese in Vancouver had fixed infra-red and ultraviolet beacons on their roofs to guide enemy planes (Ward 1990:157).
To reduce the racial hostility in B.C, in January 1942. the federal government announced the "partial evacuation" of 1700 male Japanese nationals, aged 18 to 45 from the coast. Their removal stemmed from the belief that the Japanese planned to make a landing on the coast (Ujimoto l985:137; Japa.Cent.Comrn l978:77). The partial evacuation of the Japanese did not effectively calm public hysteria, but served to heighten fears. It created the notion that because certain classes of Japanese were considered dangerous enough to be evacuated, it would be impossible to distinguish between the loyal and disloyal. Sensational rumours of Japanese activity along the coast increased, and Canadians frantically wrote letters to newspaper editors 1O4 demanding immediate action against the Japanese. Mass meetings held by anti-
Japanese groups, politicians, labour unions, farmer organizations, business associations, and "Patriotic" associations called for the evacuation of the Japanese
(Takata l983:ll4; Sunahara 1981:3l). As in the pre-war period, there was no distinction made between the naturalized and Canadian-born Japanese. It was stated at an annual meeting of the Conservative Association in January 11, "every little slant- eyed Jap will have the flag of the Rising Sun if his country men invade the Coast"
(Adachi lW6:213).
Hence. on February 24, 1942. the first of a series of orders-in-council announced that al1 persons of Japanese origin, regardless of citizenship status, would be forcibly evacuated and detained. This was said to be "necessary for the security and defence of Canada". Some of the Japanese were sent to work on sugar beet farms in Alberta,
Manitoba, and Ontario (Ujimoto 1985: 137; Japa.Cen.Comm 1978: 1 11 ), but the majority of the Japanese were held in six camps in the interior of the province. On September
11, 1942, the federal government enforced a curfew from sunset to sunrise, censorship of mail, monitoring of long distance phone calls, and the impounding of al1 cars of
Japanese Canadians. They were prohibited from purchasing liquor and forbidden from beer parlours (Ujimoto 1985:137; Sunuhara 1981:3; Broadfoot 1977:82). Those individuals of German and ltalian descent living in Canada, even those who were foreign-born, remained free throughout the war (Takata 1983:117).
Even though it was publicly announced that the Japanese were to be expelled from an area without a trial and based solely on ancestry, and although the largest 1O5 portion of the group was bom in Canada, there was not one cry of protest from political opponents of King, newspaper editors, churches, or civil rights advocates. There were also no criticisms heard from outside of British Columbia. The evacuation received little mention in the press in other parts of Canada, because the media was preoccupied with the events of the global warfare. However, it was evident that the other provinces did not want the Japanese in their area. and it was reported that vigilantes were ready to "ward off any possible Japanese arrivais" (Adachi 1976:219).
Although the acts against the Japanese were justified as necessary on the grounds of "national security", there was no basis of truth to this concern. On August
4, 1944, Prime Minister King publicly acknowledged that no acts of sabotage had been committed by any Japanese Canadians. The real motivations for the acts against the group, stemmed from racial anirnosity, caused by economic and political insecurities
(Takata 1983:1 15; Sunuhara 1981:33). The foundation of the notion of the Japanese menace in Canada, originated in the traditional images of the Japanese held by the white population in the province. The conceptualizations were effectively distorted and inflamed during the war (Takata 1983:161).
In 1943, an order-in-council directed the dispersal of al1 Japanese property that had been confiscated when they were evacuated. This was a clear betrayal of the agreement the government had made, because the Japanese had been reassured their property would be protected in the care of a custodian. The government did this to motivate the dispersal of the "undesirables" to all parts of Canada. They hoped that if the property of the Japanese were sold. the Japanese would not have a reason to 1O6 return to the West Coast (Takata 1983:141 ; Sunahara 1981: 163; Broadfoot 1977,100).
In 1945, Labour Minister Mitchell stated that "al1 persons of Japanese race sixteen years or over must report to the RCMP to signiw their intention concerning
"repatriation" to Japann. Those who did not choose repatriation, were impelled to CO- operate with the government, as evidence of their "loyalty" to Canada, by moving East of the Rockies (Broadfoot 1977:308; Japa.Cent.Comm 1978304). Wth this announcement. the hostilities and conceptions of the Japanese became increasingly evident in the other provinces. Most of the people outside of 6.C had never seen a
Japanese person before. Their conceptualization of the "imagined othei' of the
Japanese was formed under the influence of sinister characters in movies and popular literature(Takata 19833 53). The evacuation served to stigmatize the entire Japanese population. because it demonstrated that the federal government assumed al1
Japanese were dangerous to "national security" and had to be removed from the Coast.
The Canadian public concluded if the Japanese were a danger to the coast, then they must also be dangerous inland (Adachi 1976:280).
Although the Japanese Canadians hoped that if they left British Columbia, they would enter a less hostile Canada, the racial prejudice in B.C. had spread over the whole of Canada. In 1943, a Gallup Pol1 revealed that 54% of Canadians favoured the sending back of al1 residents of the Japanese race back to Japan. The stereotypes that had thrived in B.C. were accepted by the rest of Canada (Adachi 1976:286). Therefore, the antagonisrns which began as economic cornpetition between the white and
Japanese labourers had spread throughout Canada. Because of the reception faced in Eastern Canada, 10 000 of the 21 000
Japanese decided to sign up for repatriation back to Japan (Takata 1983:142). On
September 2, 1945, Japan unconditionally surrendered, and this became an important date for the Japanese in Canada. If evacuees had applied to repatriate affer this date. they were "disloyal to Canadanand would be deported. However. many of those who were to be deported had no desire to retum to Japan but had been forced to sign because they were il1 or looking after family mernbers (Japa.Cent.Cornm 1978:105).
Surprisingly, the newspapers. churches. civil liberties organizations, labour unions, professional associations and many individual citizens protested the forced deportation of the Japanese. With the dramatic, defeat of Japan, the social construction of the Japanese in Canada as a great military threat lost some of its potency. Many
Canadians claimed the deportation orders defied 'principles of civil liberties". King had not expected the cumulative force of the opposition to the deportation orders, and in
January 1947. he repealed the orders (Sunahara 1981,134; Takata 1983: 148).
However, 4000 people of Japanese descent had already voluntarily left for Japan.
When a man was questioned as to why he was returning to Japan, he stated, "The white people hate us, and we have no other place to go". For those who did return to
Japan, the country was not the same as they had remembered. After defeat, Japan was devastated from bornbings and there was a lack of food and supplies.
Furthermore, over half of the people who returned to Japan were Canadian born, so they entered a foreign, war-torn land (Adachi l976:336).
Although there was some public syrnpathy and support for the Japanese across 108
Canada. in 1946 British Columbia asked the federal government to declare the province
as "a permanent protected zone". Both the liberal and conservative politicians in the
province warned of the bloodshed on the pacific Coast, "if 40 000 to 50 000 Japanese
under the domination of the Japanese consul. who still worshipped the emperor. were
allowed back". Thus while the anti-Japanese hostility East of the Rockies subsided
after the war, it did not in British Columbia. It was ruled that persons of Japanese
descent could not enter the coastal area of 0.C unless they had a permit from the
RCMP. This was rigidly enforced; for instance, when a man returned to his farm in the
province, he was arrested and imprisoned for a year for travelling without a permit
(Adachi 1976:337).
In March 1948, the controls against the Japanese were lifted, and they were
allowed to vote in federal elections. However. although the Chinese and East lndian
peoples were given the vote in 1947, the Japanese were still disenfranchised in B.C.
until January 1949 (Japa.Cent.Comm 1978:l38). On April 1, 1949, the removal of the
last federal government restrictions was accomplished (Takata 1983:153; Sunahara
19811149). But it took much longer for the elirnination of the belief in the "unassimilable
Japanese" from the immigration legislation. On August 4, 1944, King stated that no
immigration from Japan would occur after the war, because of the difficulty of
assimilation of the Japanese in Canada. On May 1, 1947 he reaffimied this with his
assertion that Canada was within her rights to select "desirable future citizensn. Thus the Japanese were still regarded as unassimilable, and this sentiment remained in the
policies until 1962 (Whitaker 1991: 14). 1O9
Furthemore, it was not until September 1988, that the acting Prime Minister.
Brian Mulroney, publicly apologized for the treatment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. He stated the apology was necessary, "To put things right with the surviving members...with their children, and ours. ..burdened by neither the wrongs nor the grievances of previous generations" (Kordan 1993:5). It was at this time that the govemment ratified an agreement that the National Association of Japanese
Canadians had been pursuing for years. Although surviving internees were to receive
21 000 dollars, the recipients of the redress repeatedly asserted that the financial gain was not what was important. They had fought for the agreement in order to right a terrible wrong, to regain their honour, and to bring a painful chapter to a close. lncluded in the agreement was a payment of 12 million dollars to the Japanese Canadian community for educational, social, and cultural activities, and 24 million dollars for a funded Canadian Race Relations Foundation to foster racial harmony (Omatsu
199220).
The funding for the revival and support of the Japanese community was important, because the events of the war had effectively dissipated the ethnic solidarity of the Japanese. The Federal government's dispersal policy had been fonulated as a prevention to the "ghettoisation" of the Japanese. Hence, in Toronto, there was a four year ban on Japanese settlement (Takata 1983:155). But after the ban in Toronto was lifted, there was a dramatic surge of Japanese into the city. Toronto would eventually have the largest Japanese population in Canada (Makabe 1978:lO7; Japa.Cen.Comm
1978:129). There was relatively little hostility or anxiety created in Toronto with the 110 increased number of Japanese. They merely melted into large urban areas, especially the younger individuals of Japanese descent (Takata 1983:155). By the early 1950's those of Japanese descent were spread over a larger area and integrated into the white community. This aided in reducing their image as a threat (Ward 1990:166).
THE JAPANESE AS A SELF-DEFINED ETHNIC GROUP Prior to WII
Unlike Blacks in Canada, the Japanese have self-defined as an ethnic group, and there has been substantial research concerning the reaction of those of Japanese descent to the discrimination they endured. It has often been asserted that although the Japanese in Canada experienced various means of exclusion in employment, social institutions, and in virtualiy al1 spheres of daily life, as a group they still persevered and prospered. It is suggested that the Japanese surpassed al1 of their negative experiences because of the strength they received from the Japanese ethnic community.
According to Lyon's propositions, an ethnic group must have an assumed comrnon descent or ancestry. Prior to the end of the Second World War, the Japanese
Canadians were either born in Japan or descendants of those born in Japan. The
Japanese who settled in Canada, relied upon identification with their mother country for aid and cornfort, and even those born in Canada adopted some aspects of the traditional Japanese culture. They gained strength and solidarity from their belief in the superiority of Japanese values and ethical codes. They created their own in-group 111 and looked down upon other groups such as the Chinese. They had great dignity and pride in their origins and a sense of superiority especially over those who rejected them
(Broadfoot 1977: 13).
Because the Japanese were so highly segregated in areas of British Columbia, they easily maintained their Japanese ties and codes of behaviour and interaction.
From the beginning of their presence in Canada, the Japanese demonstrated a priority to the collectivity. In their villages in Japan, the Japanese had lived in a cohesive community, held together by complex rituals and traditional values, which they carried with them and were able to maintain upon immigrating to different countries (Ujimoto
1976:82). For example, in response to discrimination and hostility from others, the
Japanese ofien uttered "Shikata-ga-nai", which was Japanese for "it can't be helped".
The Japanese based their responses to the constant discrimination they faced on this sentiment, and this explained why most Japanese did not rebel or oppose their treatment. The Japanese accepted their experiences as beyond their control, so that the only recourse they had was to continue surviving and struggling (Broadfoot
19773 99). Therefore, this was an illustration of one of the components of the
Japanese's ethnic identity which offered them protection and a means of overcoming the racial conceptualizations created by Whites.
More than any other immigrant group, the Japanese depended upon the group instead of upon individual action. Ujimoto states that the pre-war Japanese community was a large, cohesive group, and a well unified collectivity. The Japanese community was self-sustaining and survived on policies of sharing and group consciousness. Social relations were based upon principles of social and moral obligation and traditional Japanese practices of mutual assistance (Ujimoto 1976:82). The family and primary ties were more important than the individual in the Japanese community.
Immigrants transferred from their homelands, the significance of the family as a social unit (Young 1939: 101). The family for the Japanese was extremely patriarchal and served to bind members together in extended networks of kinship relations. This linked the Japanese immigrants in Canada to relatives still in Japan (Ward l99O:ll2).
Because they spoke the same language and practised the same customs, the homogeneity of the Japanese immigrants allowed social organizations to flourish.
There were language, religious, occupational, and friendship groups and associations.
In 1934 there were 84 such organizations in Vancouver. They served to promote cohesion among the group and kept informal social networks intact in the community.
Japanese individuals in need, could get social and financial help from the associations.
This allowed the early immigrants to survive and to adapt to Canada. As discrimination against the Japanese immigrants increased in the province, so did their reliance on these organizations (Ujimoto 1976:86). The Japanese in Canada continually turned to their own associations to supply the religious, social, and econornic functions that were denied to them by the larger society. The associations fulfilled a definite purpose and aided in combatting the discrimination experienced in the various industries. Hence, these organizations led to a cohesive, well-unified collectivity with a high degree of cornpetitive power in the economic sphere of the province (Sunahara 1979:3).
For example, organizations provided assistance to individuals which allowed 113 them to rernain in business. As the number of Japanese who owned farrns increased. so did the importance of CO-operativeassociations. They aided the famiers in cost sharing, joint renting of equiprnent, and also served as a benevolent society catering to members' needs in social life, education, legal problems, and in times of crisis (Takata
1983:69). There also existed Fishermen's Benevolent Associations and mining and forestry clubs. Mernbers of these groups contributed to welfare and educational funds.
The Japanese Fishermen's Hospital was founded in 1895 and was instrumental in combatting the yellow fever and typhus epidemics in the early 1900's. Members paid fees and were entitled to free medical treatment, and this probably represented the first fon of medicare on the continent (Japa.Cent.Comm 197825).
Although the Japanese in Canada created many different organizations, the associations, clubs, and services were all based on similar codes of behaviour, interaction, and conduct that were transported from the Issei's (Japanese-born) mother country. Hence, al1 the Japanese were striving for the same goals, priorities, and collective pursuits. The organization that might have had the greatest effect on the lives of the Japanese Canadians was the Canadian Japanese Association, later known as the Japanese Canadian Citizens' League, formed in Vancouver. In 1940. there were
4000 members. Their main goal was to fight for franchise, so they could vote, and they went to Ottawa repeatedly to demand their rights (Sunahara 1979:4; Broadfoot
1977:ll).
In the pre-war period, the organizations that operated in the Japanese Canadian community were al1 led by Issei. The selection of leaders and his duties conformed to 114 traditional customs adopted from life in Japan. The leader's purpose was to advice the group. until consensus was reached. The procedures of Canadian organizations. such as the majority rule, were unimportant. Group consensus was the natural product of group conformity (Sunahara 1979:4).
The Japanese as an ethnic group during WWll
Although the Japanese Canadian associations and communities were fonerly dissipated with the evacuation, there existed fragments of viable communities in various camps. This helped create communities within the camps, and evacuees recognized former community leaders as camp leaders. In the sugar beet farms, the beet workers organized cornmittees to negotiate for better conditions, by relying on men who had led associations before the war. The associations and cornmittees formed during the interment of the Japanese Canadians continued the leadership and conformity of the population. This served to create a sense of normality for the Japanese. by preserving the social and economic relations within the group (Sunahara 1979:8).
The declining significance of the lssei 8 the integration of the Nisei and Sansei today
It has been contended that the white majority viewed the Japanese Canadians as a hornogenous group of foreigners or aliens. However, as in the black population in
Canada. there existed divisions among the Japanese Canadians. The most significant fragmentation was bebveen the lssei (Japanese-barn) and Nisei (first generation 115
Canadian-born), and there had existed intergenerational conflict between the two groups from the 1930's. The Nisei were in a dificult position. They had been born in
Canada. and the majority were Canadian educated, so the Nisei had abandoned much of the culture of their parents and adopted the culture of the province. This created confiict and tensions between the two generations, as the Nisei often rebelled against the authoritarianism of their Issei parents. The Nisei wanted to fit in with other
Canadians, but they were excluded from mainstrearn society. Their Issei parents could look back to Japan for security and a sense of identity, but most of the Nisei had never even been to Japan, and they felt like "exilesnin their own land (Ward 1990:114;
Makabe I978:M;Baar l978:344;Japa.Cent.Comm l978:65).
Expectedly, the Japanese Canadians were distressed by the news of the evacuation; however, they did not rebel, and they agreed to CO-operate. The motivations for CO-operatingwith the government differed for the lssei and the Nisei.
The Japanese-born lssei still valued the Japanese personal traits of obedience, compliance, conforrnity, and the respect for authority. They reacted to the news of the evacuation in the same manner they had reacted to the prior acts of legislation that had excluded and discriminated against them. They accepted the authority of the Canadian government without protest, because they maintained their cultural ideal that compliance was the only solution. Although the Nisei also did not challenge the evacuation order, they CO-operatednot just because of the retention of norms and values from Japan. They did not rebel, because they wanted to prove to the government and to the rest of Canada, that they were truly "Canadiann by their loyalty to the country (Adachi 1976:226).
This was one of the many ways that the Nisei tried to demonstrate that they were
Canadians and that they could assimilate to Canadian Iife. The evacuation and the
relocation of the Japanese Canadians aided the Nisei in their goal of assimilation. The events of the Second World War served to break up the Japanese settlements on the
West Coast. destroyed the power of Issei organizations and leaders. and extended
power to the Nisei (Adachi 1976:355). Many Nisei demonstt-ated leadership in resisting family separations, and a Nisei nucleus was created. For instance, the Japanese
Citizens League (JCCL) was formed in 1938 by a group of Nisei to fight for the civil
rights that were denied to the Japanese Canadians in B.C. Reflecting the acculturation of the Nisei to the Canadian ways, the organization demanded that leaders be democratically elected. In 1942, the Nisei Mass Evacuation Group was forrned to protest the intent of the government to separate families in the evacuation process.
They succeeded in forcing the federal government to allow the re-uniting of families
(Japa-Cent-Comrn1978:65; Sunahara 1979:7).
Unlike the Issei, many of the Nisei during internment, looked for opportunities
East, instead of waiting in the camps with hope of relocating back to B.C. The Nisei quickly developed Nisei organizations and also new networks of social ties with white people in the community. Thus, while the leadership in the camps was mostly Issei, the leadership in the rest of Canada was Nisei. The issue of repatriation brought Nisei leadership to the forefront, and Nisei organizations actively dominated the protesting of the deportation orders and demands of property compensation (Sunahara 1979:Q). 117
As the funds of the evacuees in the camps diminished. they became reliant on the Nisei who had resettled in Eastern Canada and were able to send money to the camps. This began the dependency of the lssei upon the Nisei, because of the inability of the interned Japanese comrnunity to support its members, as it had done in the past.
The lssei were at retirernent age, and they ascended to the Nisei as the sole providers.
Thus, by the mid 1950'~~the transfer of leadership was complete, as the Issei became economically dependent on the Nisei (Sunahara 1979:13).
The relocation of the Nisei also broadened their opportunities, and the post-war
Nisei quickly adopted the outward signs of middle class status, at a rate that has not often been equalled by other groups. Their advancement was facilitated by the expansion of the Canadian economy in the post-War years, and as barriers to their economic mobility were weakened after the War, the Nisei rapidly secured status in fields such as medicine, science, health, the arts, engineering, accounting, drafting, commercial artists, dentistry, architecture, law, and teaching. Before the war, Japanese in these professions was unheard of (Makabe 1978:107;Baar 1978:349; Japa.Cen.
Comm 1 978:l39; Adachi IW6:355). In 1936, less than 1 percent of the Japanese in
Canada were professionals, but over one third of the Nisei aspired to enter the professions. They completed high school and attended university, but they could get employment only in menial or service jobs. The 1971 census data revealed that the
Nisei in Metropolitan Toronto had achieved this goal (Broadfoot 1977:33).
Although the Nisei may have integrated into the white community, it can not be denied that the traditional values passed down from the lssei have effected thern. 118
Values such as restraint, perseverance, respect for authority, and the belief in Shikata- ga-nai assisted the Nisei's survival of traumatic events and perseverance in resettlement. They are regarded by many white Canadians as a "mode1 minority"
(Adachi 1976:356).
For the Japanese Canadians, much of their success is attributed to their level of education. The importance their lssei parents placed on education and hard work influenced the Nisei to remain in school and to succeed. The survey in 1936 revealed one third of Nisei aspired to professional or highly skilled occupations, despite their knowledge of the low percentage of Japanese in such occupations, because provincial legislation prevented their entrance. The Nisei aspired as if they were enjoying full citizenship, while in reality they knew they were second class citizens. Discrimination banned many of the Nisei from jobs and employment, but this just inflamed their detemination to succeed. Thus, the Nisei refused to accept the majority's definition of themselves, and they still regarded thernselves as Canadians (Baar 1978:344). By
1971,70 percent of al1 Canadian-born Japanese had a high school diplorna, and a high proportion had a university or post-secondary degree (Ramcharan 1982:67).
Rather than grouping together, families integrated into white communities, consciously avoided congregating. because they sought to blend in as inconspicuously as possible (Japa.Cent.Comm 1978:133; Baar l978:35O). In the 1971 census tracts, there did not exist one residential concentration of Japanese Canadians higher than 1 percent (Ramcharan 1982:37). Over time, Nisei residential patterns have approximated and a social class model, so their distribution is like those of their social class (Baar, 119
1978:350). However, the Japanese in Canada today are a very small component of the
population. In fact, those of Japanese descent are not even classified in much of the
census data.
The Sansei (second-generation Canadian-born), have been effected the greatest
by the dispersion of the Japanese Canadians, as they have a very slight Japanese
identity. While the Nisei had lived in segregated cornrnunities and grew up with
Japanese spoken in the household, English is the mother tongue for the Sansei. And
while the Nisei found protection from discrimination in families that were economic and
social units, the Sansei rely less on the family, because they experience less exclusion.
The Sansei have merged into wider society greatly, because they have experienced a
low degree of "othef-imposed social distance. They have been raised in non-
Japanese comrnunities and have great contact with non-Japanese people. The
economic status of the families in which the Sansei were raised and the higher class
position, have affected their socialization. They have low rates of participation and affiliation with formal Japanese-Canadian organizations (Baar 1978:352;1980:353).
Sansei also have a high rate of intermarriage. In 1941. the Japanese Canadians' 99
per cent endogamy rate was the highest of al1 groups. By 1971, the Sansei had a 86 percent of interrnarriage. This percentage is higher than the rates of intermarriage for other third-generation ethnic group populations in Canada (Baar IW8:352).
The Japanese as an ethnic group today
The consequences of the successful integration of the Japanese, especially the 120
Nisei and Sansei, has been a lack of a strong Japanese community today. It has been
argued that in order for the Nisei to achieve their degree of economic success, they had
to sacrifice ethnic distinctiveness. Many of the Nisei in the post-war period became
indifferent to Japanese ties and traditions. Some had been brainwashed by the
wartime hysteria, so they rejected links to Japan (Ward 1990:1 14). The number of
Japanese institutions that were common before and directly after the war have
declined, and there exists no centralized organizations or agencies uniting the
Japanese Canadians. Some of Japanese descent even view Japanese groups or
organizations as "dangerous" because they revive the image of the "non-assimilablen
Japanese. Thus, after the Second World War, many Japanese Canadians consciously
rejected the idea of ethnic organizations, because they did not want to attract
unfavourable attention that would hinder their assimilation (Japa.Cent.Cornm
1978: 133).
Participation in the Japanese organizations has also declined because their functions are now performed by non-Japanese institutions. Thus, the Japanese no
longer need the protection and support of Japanese based organizations, because the discriminating legisfation against Orientais has been removed. Although there still exists a small number of associations, within these groups, traditional patterns of social
relations of the lssei culture have been de-emphasized (Baar I980:35l).
In 1966 a Canadian visa office was established in Tokyo, with an advertising campaign to attract highly qualified technical and professional people. There was a three fold increase in immigration that year; and unlike the postwar period, immigrants were no longer sponsored by relatives. The effect of the change in the type of immigrants from Japan, was that most Japanese immigrants were highly educated and skilled and did not have to rely on the social organizations of the Japanese cornmunity for financial and social support (Ujimoto 1976:95). Therefore, unlike the pre-war period. the Japanese Canadians now virtually ignore new Japanese immigrants to
Canada (Adachi 1976:351).
Japanese Canadians are now a diverse group, divided into the Issei, Nisei,
Sansei, and new immigrants. Those of Japanese descent in Canada no longer share common codes of behaviour, conduct, or interaction (Ujirnoto 1976:83). The Japanese
Canadians no longer think in terms of "we". but thrive on individual bettement (Adachi
1976:356). Because of decreased residential and occupational concentration, institutional completeness has also declined. The Nisei and Sansei and their offspring, do not have the rich cultural and linguistic experiences provided by the pre-War communities, and the sense of community among the Japanese Canadians has weakened significantly. There no longer exists a distinctive ethnic comrnunity, with the presence of clubs, choirs, classes that are ethnically exclusive (Baar I980:35O).
The results of the content analysis in Appendix 1 support the notion that the
Japanese Canadians no longer have a strong ethnic community. Of the few numbers of articles, pictures, and writings concerning the Japanese in the newspapers, the representation of the Japanese in the newspaper dealt mostly with the people and occurrence in the country of Japan, instead of experiences in the Japanese Canadian community. This demonstrates the success of the post-War dispersal of the population 122 into society and the accompanying dissolution of the once strong Japanese community and identity.
The Japanese as the "other" today
The Japanese Canadians may have effectively integrated themselves into the greater community and assimilation seems to be complete. However, although the
Japanese may no longer define themselves as an ethnic group to the extent they did in the past, it is suggested that physical characteristics still mark the Japanese Canadians as the "other", and the white majority continues to create a distinctive Japanese ethnic identity. Despite the mobility achieved by many Japanese Canadians, there still exists a sense that the majority-irnposed social distance persists and that they will never be fully accepted by the rnajority. A Nisei comrnented. "so long as our slanted eyes and yellow skin result in our categorization as Japanese Canadians, we will be burdened with a responsibility to that racial group" (Baar 1978:351).
The content of the in-group's perceptions of the Japanese population rnay have facilitated the success of the Japanese Canadians, because the majority of the news items concerned the business enterprises. trade, industries, and economies of the country of Japan. Hence, because of the "racial" characteristics those of Japanese descent in Canada share with those in Japan, the in-group may view this group as capable, productive, and intelligent, which could facilitate their success in the education system and occupations.
However, the capabilities and success of the Japanese in Canada can also be 123
negatively constructed. Since the end of the Second World War there has been an
alteration in the conceptualization of the "other" regarding the Japanese Canadians.
The Japanese may no longer be regarded as a militaristic mass ready to take over the
white race. but during the post-war era, Japan began to produce products and goods of
superior quality. Hence, Japan was rediscovered not as a military enemy, but as a
highly refined society, capable of competing in the technical age. Japanese companies
and products now represent a cornpetitive threat to North American goods and products
(Adachi 1976:353).
There has also been another kind of Japanese invasion in the salesmen and
investors who have been creating apprehensions in Canada. For instance, in 1974, a
Company from Japan invested 300 million dollars in the B.C1s extractive industries. In
Toronto, the Japanese have invested in the Prince Hotel and have effectively increased the number of Japanese tourists (Adachi 1976:353). Appendix 1 shows that the greatest nurnber of items dealing with Japanese business activities referred to
Japanese economic and industrial expansion into regions, such as North America. This
could demonstrate the new threat the Japanese represent to the industries, products,
and technology of other countries. Chapter Four: Conclusion
The intent of this thesis was to acknowledge that although Blacks and Japanese suffered similar experiences in Canada, one group was able to prosper and overcome its exclusion. However, unlike the ideologies of the sociobiologists, it was not suggested that the differing successes of the two groups were the result of differences in intelligence, morality. and capabilities. detennined by "racial" characteristics.
Instead, it was argued that both Blacks and the Japanese were socially constructed by the in-group as "racial" and "ethnic" groups to create an image of both populations as undesirable, inferior, different. and unsuitable Canadian citizens. In this thesis the in-group referred to those whites who enjoyed privilege, prestige, power. or prominence in Canadian society. Although in the past this group referred mainly to those of British origin, other white ethnicities have more recently ascended to the in- group position.
The theories of Bonacich were implemented to show that the antagonism between the in-group and both the Blacks and Japanese, found a catalyst in the labour market. Thus, because both groups were willing to work for lower wages, the more expensive white workers became agitated and hostile. White labourers successfully campaigned for the exclusion of Blacks and Japanese from the labour force, and both groups were eventually excluded from many areas of daily life.
Hence. Blacks and Japanese in Canada have many shared ordeals, and both groups suffered hostility, riots, segregation, restrictive legislation, discrimination, and repatriation schemes. For both the Blacks and Japanese, the acts and policies implemented against them were legitirnized based upon their undesirable racial and ethnic identities. However, although the Blacks and Japanese in Canada have similar experiences, there are very important distinctions between the two groups which have impacted their levels of success and integration.
Even though the Japanese were conceptualized as a much greater threat and menace than the Blacks, they also have had much greater success as a group in the past and present. It has been suggested that the Japanese were able to obtain their high level of achievement because while both Blacks and Japanese were viewed as racial and ethnic groups by the in-group, unlike Blacks. the Japanese did self identify as an ethnic group. In accordance with Lyon's theories. the Japanese ethnic community enabled the Japanese to thrive in their economic endeavours prior to World War II, even though they encountered severe hostility and restrictions in every field they entered. The Japanese ethnic group also fulfilled many social, academic, health, and welfare needs. Thus, the Japanese in Canada were able to successfully endure the racial discrimination they faced from white Canadians.
Because the Blacks in Canada lacked an ethnic community, they have suffered since the onset of black settlement. However, it is not suggested that the many disadvantages of Blacks are their own fault or choice, because it has always been very difficult for Blacks to unite as a common group. The Japanese in Canada originated from the same countiy, with a common culture, traditions. beliefs, and patterns of interaction. However, Blacks have consistently migrated from different countries of 126 origin, and they have been fragmented along national, religious, linguistic, class, and cultural lines. Therefore, while the in-group in Canada has continuously homogenized al1 individuals of Japanese descent and al1 individuals they view as Black. the black population in Canada has not considered itself as one ethnic group.
The greater success of the Japanese in Canada has also been attributed to the differing contents of the Black and Japanese "other". Blacks were conceptualized as prone to criminality, lacking in intelligence, dependent, sexual, and many of these images had roots in the ideologies that fiourished before and during slavery. The
Japanese were perceived as ruthless, clannish, sinister, and too ambitious and capable. These images were fed by the success of the Japanese, with the aid of their ethnic community, in virtually every economic field they entered. The in-group's construction of the Japanese in Canada as an economic threat, also found fuel in the military and expansionary activities of Japan, especially just prior to and during World
War II. The important distinction between the content of the conceptualization of the
Blacks and Japanese, is that the intellectual, productive, and economic abilities have always formed a great part of the Japanese other. But while the Japanese were viewed as too able, the Blacks were perceived as lacking the intelligence, motivation, and abilities to succeed academically or economically, which has hampered their success within the areas in which the Japanese have prospered.
Ironically, while the War stimulated the climax of the anti-Japanese hostility in
Canada, it also provided the opportunity for the Japanese to integrate into Canadian society. Thus, while the ethnic community prior to and during the War offered 127
protection for the Japanese Canadians, after the War, it was the dissipation of the
Japanese ethnic community that facilitated their greatest successes. With the defeat of
Japan in the War, the Japanese in Canada were no longer viewed as such a great
militaristic and national threat; thus, in the post-War period the construction of the
Japanese as an out-group was de-intensified. The restrictive legislation against the
Japanese was eventually destroyed and the Japanese were allowed rights and entrance into the occupations. neighbourhoods, and organizations that they had been denied. It has been demonstrated that the Japanese Canadians have lost much of their ethnic identity, due to the government's dispersal scheme after the War, but also because the Japanese Canadians themselves have chosen to surrender their ethnic identity. Many Japanese Canadians intentionally avoided forming an ethnic community, in order to assimilate and easily integrate into Canadian society.
In Appendix 1 it was argued that the press' representation of certain racial and ethnic groups concentrates on negative issues such as confiict, crime. and deviance, in order to facilitate and justify their exclusion. The content analysis demonstrated that the Japanese in Canada are not constructed as an out-group in the same manner and intensity that they were prior and during the Second World War. Thus, the significantly few items recorded that dealt with the Japanese in Canada may be indicative of this group's successful integration into the greater society. Furthermore, of the few items recorded dealing with those of Japanese descent, the majority were situated in Japan and not Canada. Hence, there was little indication of a Japanese Canadian identity or community in the newspapers. 128
However, although there were only a few items dealing with the Japanese in the content analysis, some of the sarne conceptualizations of the past exist today. Mile the Japanese may no longer be viewed as dangerous, threatening, menacing, or overzealous to the extent they were in the past, the concentration of the Japanese news items in the areas of business. technology. and automobile production indicate that the Japanese are still regarded as intelligent, ambitious, hard working, and capable. Hence, it can be argued that just as in the past. the content of the construction of the Japanese centred on their capabilities and intelligence.
In Appendix 1, it was shown that many of the items regarding Blacks dealt with issues such as crime, violence, racism, and their victimization. Hence. Blacks may still strongly represent an undesirable out-group. The high number of items regarding
Blacks as athletes and entertainers can also illustrate that. as in the times of slavery,
Blacks are still noted for their physical and performing capabilities. Sol while the
Japanese may be known for their intellectual abilities, Blacks are not. It was revealed that Blacks experience much discrimination in employment, education, and the justice system, because those in control may foster the traditional negative images of Blacks as criminals, physically strong but not intellectually capable, and dependent. Hence, the wider society may be reluctant to allow the integration and mobility of Blacks based upon similar conceptualizations that fiourished during slavery.
An interesting topic for further study would be the observation that the Japanese in Canada have been constructed as an impersonal group threat in the past and present, because they have always been linked to the actions and circumstances of the 129 country of Japan. Therefore, the Japanese Canadians have been regarded as a military and/or economic menace, with the real threat arising from the Japanese as a group, an anny, or a mass. Although Blacks are constantly homogenized by other
Canadians, there was never a threat of a Black military invasion into Canada, because they cannot be linked to the acts and intentions of just one country.
Furthemore, the notion of a black group opening a business in Canada does not create the same agitation or hostility that may fomi when a group of Japanese "invade" or "take-over"a Canadian Company. Instead, Blacks are constructed as a more personal and physical threat to other Canadians. Milea white Canadian may not fear a group of those of Japanese descent walking down the street, hefshe may certainly be afraid of a "gang" of Blacks approaching. Therefore, the Japanese may have posed a threat to national security and the economic prosperity of Canadians, but the Blacks represented a threat to the physical safety of Whites because of their high crime rates, deviant behaviours, and lack of morality.
In conclusion, the cornparison of Blacks and Japanese in Canada has demonstrated the impact that an in-group's imposed racial and ethnic identities can have on the successes and failures of out-groups. Because both racial and ethnic identities can be socially created and defined, they serve as powerful tools of the in- group's maintenance of power. However, as illustratecl by the Japanese in Canada, it is also possible that an out-group's self definition as an ethnic group can act as a powerful protector against the in-group's racial and ethnic constructions. The relevance of this thesis was to show how categories such as race and ethnicity can be constructed on presumed and even false origins. and yet, still possess social significance. This social significance is obvious when groups, such as Blacks, experience similar disadvantages today, that Blacks endured centuries ago. while other groups, such as the Japanese, were able to overcome the in-group's negative conceptualizations and achieve immense success in a matter of decades. 131
Appendix 1: The Media's Role in the Conceptualization of the "Other"
A content analysis of a Canadian newspaper has been chosen as the method of deterrnining the representation of the black and Japanese "other" today. Research has documented that access to the media is generally controlled by elite groups, such as
leading members of government, political parties, large business corporations.
professional groups, or journalists (van Dijk 1987:360):
Essentially, it is also the (white) elite that controls public information and communication in society. Research consistently shows that television, the networks and their programs, cable enterprises, radio stations, the press. the leading magazines, book publishing, the film industry, advertising, acadernic research, and their sustaining technologies are nearly exclusively controlled by 'white' corporations or institutions, directed predorninantly by white (and male) elites (van Dijk l988:223).
In al1 Western countries alrnost al1 leading positions in the media are occupied by certain white individuals, and they control the contents and structures of the definition of the ethnic hierarchy. They have control over the organization of news beats, definitions of newsworthy events, discretion over press releases. allocation of assignments given to reporters, the nature of interviewing, and portrayal of events. In al1 levels of news reporting, structures of social, economic, and cultural power relations are indirectly reproduced, so that the elitels version of the facts sustain the white population's domination of the non-elite-groups (van Dijk 1991 a:4O). WHO IS THE MEDIA ELlTE IN CANADA?
Research conducted by the Library of Parliament in 1994 examined the ownership of Canadian newspapers. In 1988 there were 11 1 daily newspapers with an average combined daily circulation of just under six million copies. Ail but twenty-seven of the daily newspapers were controlled by newspaper chains. By 1991, the largest five chahs-Thomson, Southam. Hollinger, Toronto Sun and Quebecor- held 81 per cent of the industry (Shaw i994:7). A content analysis of the Toronto Star was chosen because Toronto has the largest population of both Blacks and people of Japanese descent. The Toronto Star is Canada's largest newspaper and has a weekly circulation of 468 279 and 715 790 on the week end (Card Media 1997:23).The Toronto Star is owned by Torstar Corporations, which is controlled by Honderich Holdings Inc
(Statistics Canada 1996:242).
In the previously mentioned article published by Ogmundson and Mclaughlin in
1992, they discovered that the dominance of the anglophone media in Canada by those of British descent had decreased. However, 69.1 per cent of directors of newspaper chains were still of white European origin (Ogmundson 1992:229). This is evident when one identifies those who control the Toronto Star.. This newspaper was founded by
Joseph E. Atkinson and after iiis death in 1948, the heads of five Canadian families, including Atkinson's son, united to purchase the Toronto Star. These families and their descendants had substantial power and control over the Company that continues today. "The five families in the trust owned more than ninety-two per cent of Torstar's voting shares, making it more like a private Company than a public one" (Posner 133
1993:50). One of the owners of the paper, Beland Honderich, became the publisher. president. chief executive, and chaiman of the board. In 1994. Beland Honderich's son, John Honderich, was appointed the sixth publisher of The Toronto Star. The transferal of power and control through the ranks of the original five families was described by a "veteran" in the publishing business:
John ahnrays had the inside track ...The name gave him that ...When Hamy Hindmarsh [head of one of the five families] was a force at the Star, the Hindmarsh name meant everything. When Beland Honderich was publisher, president and chairman of the board. the Honderich name meant everything (Posner 1993:55).
THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA
The mass media influence daily life in many ways, because much of Our social and political knowledge is created from the news reports we read. see, and hear each day (van Dijk 1991 b:110). Ideally, the main role of the media is to report happenings or events to the public objectively (Henry 1995:231). However. the media represents an intermediary stage in the communication of life events to the public, because the news that the public is given is a refiection of what other people Say or write (van Dijk l987:llO). lnevitably the creation of daily news is a subjective process, which is affected by the beliefs, impressions, and attitudes of the writers. Thus, the media have substantial influence on the general population in Canada, because it serves as
"gatekeepers of informationn, and the content of the media determines what is important in society (Wilson 1995: 151). 134
THE REPRESENTATION OF "THE OTHER" IN THE MEDIA
If the in-group controls the generation of news to the general public, it also contributes to the perceptions the public has of racial ana ethnic groups. News reports in the press play a very significant role in the communication of information about racial or ethnic groups. A great portion of the general population, even in "multiculturalnareas such as Toronto, has minimal, direct, intimate, and everyday contact with a diversity of racial or ethnic groups. Hence, the public often relies upon the press and media to learn about other groups (Akwani 1995:369). Using Miles terni, the press aids in the construction of an "imagined other" of racial or ethnic groups, for the public.
Metropolitan newspapers also have circulations outside of their city limits, and the Toronto Star is purchased by 90 114 outside of Toronto during the week, and by
552 909 households on the week-end (Card Media 1997:23). A study conducted in
1974 by Hartmann and Husband exarnined the information sources for people's knowledge concerning ethnic groups. Through standard intewiews and questionnaires, children and adults were asked from which sources they got their ethnic beliefs or opinions. The media scored high for those respondents living in areas that had little or no minority groups. The media was given significant credit for revealing information about national issues such as immigration, violent conflicts, and the occurrence of discrimination (van Dijk 1987:41). Therefore, newspapers such as The Toronto Star, may especially affect the perceptions of individuals living in areas without a diverse range of ethnic or racial groups.
It was previously stated that the elite groups who control the manufacturing of the news in the media rnay use the media to further their own power and position
through their construction of reality. As mentioned in previous chapters, the ingroup is
able to dominate out-groups, only if they have the resources to reproduce their
dominance. Hence, those who control the newspaper business may intentionally
create certain conceptualizations about racial or ethnic groups, to maintain the
dominance or power for the in-group. The media becomes a major channel for views
and conceptualizations of out-groups (van Dijk 1987; Akwani 1995). Because the media
can be viewed as a tool of the in-group's maintenance of power, the construction of
certain out-groups as problem-maken depends on which groups those in power wish to
exclude. By negatively presenting these out-groups in the press. the existing racial and
ethnic inequality is maintained (van Dijk 1991a:23).
Press releases in the media often imply that some racial and ethnic groups
cause social, cultural, and economic problems for the dominant. white in-group. Hence
stories about crime, aggression, threats, deviance, and cultural conflict dominate the
news (van Dijk 1987:361). Research also has demonstrated that minority groups are
often assigned a passive role or are agents of negative actions (van Dijk 1988:252).
PAST RESEARCH ON THE REPRESENTATION OF "THE OTHER" IN THE MEDIA
There has been much investigation into the representation of racial and ethic groups in the media. For example. the Hartmann and Husband study (1975) entailed a
content analysis of several newspapers in Britain for a period of over seven years.
They discovered that racial or ethnic groups were primarily portrayed as threats and 136 problem makers. Immigration and social problems were redefined in the news as "race" problems. Minority groups were regarded as outsiders and not a part of society.
Studies in the United States and in several European countries discovered similar results (van Dijk 1987:42). They revealed that minority groups tended to be portrayed by the mass media as "strange, unpredictable threats to social order, and heavily engaged in emotive and largely deviant forms of conflict" (Grenier 1992274).
Studies have also examined the Canadian press' treatment of racial and ethnic minorities and conclusions indicate that many minority groups are portrayed as unpredictable menaces to social order, and heavily engaged in emotive and deviant forms of conflict. A persistent conceptualization in the media charged that minorities have or create problems that require a disproportionate amount of political attention or public resources. One of the first studies to identify the conceptualization of out-groups in the Canadian media was conducted in 1977 by Rosenfeld and Spina (as cited by
Henry 1995:240). They examined the Toronto Sun's coverage of issues related to immigration and racial and ethnic communities. They discovered that the paper presented the reader with a single, prejudiced view of the world.
Another study by Ginzberg in 1985 examined over 200 editorials and columns over the period 1978 to 1985. He discovered that people of Indo-Pakistani origin were portrayed as violent, weak. passive, submissive, and barbaric. Arabs were constructed as violent, uncivilized. and primitive (Henry 1995:241). Studies have also examined the
Vancouver press' coverage of the Sikh cornmunity. Research by Joseph Scanlon in
1977 examined local newspaper coverage during 1945 to 1974 of a group of East 137
Indians who had emigrated to Canada. The dominant themes concerned the East
Indians' crime rates and cultural differences (Singer 1982:351). A study in 1985 revealed that Sikhs were comrnonly depicted as militants, terrorists. and disposed to violence. Articles in the press created images of conflict, civil unrest, violent confrontation, terrorism, and destruction of property (Henry 1995236).
Canadian research has also examined the perceptions created in the press of
Native Canadians. Benjamin Singer in 1982 engaged in a content analysis of a large, metropolitan newspaper in Ontario between 1971 to 1975. He discovered that the image of the Native Canadians in the newspapers constructed the group as dependent on the government. constantly making aggressive land claims, and as engaging in conflict and deviance. Nearly 80 percent of ail news about the Native Canadians consisted of items of conflict (Singer 19821357).
A common issue of inquiry in media research is the association between Blacks and criminal behaviour fostered in the media. Research in the United States and
Europe by Schary in 1969 and Knopf in 1975, indicated that Blacks were frequently portrayed negatively in the press (van Dijk 1987:43). In Britain in the early 198O8s,the idea of black criminality received significant media attention. Blacks, especially younger
Blacks, were portrayed as a "new force" in society. that had "the potential to undermine the nation's stabilityn(Henry 1995:237).
There has also been substantial inquiry into the portrayal of the Blacks in the
Canadian press. For instance. the study conducted by Ginzberg in 1985 discovered that the Blacks were depicted as "immoral", "savage", "uncivilizedn, and "superstitiousn. 138
Writers in the Toronto Sun have also insinuated that the Blacks were inferior to other races. Journalist Mackenzie Porter on July 15, 1978 wrote:
Those awful riots are caused by Black people who seem to be subhuman in their total lack of civility ... The Blacks of North America have diverged widely from their distant relatives in Africa. In their music and dancing and in their athletic prowess some specific genetic distinctions shine through the environmental influences (Henry I995:24l).
More recently, a three-part series in The Globe and Mail concerning Jamaican crime proposed that black crime was not a myth but a reality, "which manifests itself in arrest records". The articles offered an "expert's" opinion that "Jamaicans are aggressive and violence-prone". In the press, "black crimenwas perceived as posing a great threat to the dominant white population (Henry l995:24O).
CONTENT ANALYSIS AS A RESEARCH TOOL
Content analysis has been defined by Robert Weber as a "research method that uses a set of procedures to make valid inferences from text". Although many researchers question the accuracy of content analysis, this form of research has many useful qualities. For instance, it is a valuable method for studies involving a large volume of text. Content analysis can also reveal messages that are not evident by casual observation, such as themes and biases in a text. Furthemore, content analysis is useful because it engages both qualitative and quantitative operations. This research method allows the researcher to compare and analyse the content of many 139
texts with quantitative techniques, such as charts and tables. It is also helpful when
one is examining documents over a long period of time, and cornpared to other
methods such as personal interviews, content analysis yields unobtrusive measures
(Weber l99O:lO). Thus content analysis as a form of research is nonreactive, because
the process of foning words, messages, or symbois occurs without the influence of
the researcher who analyses its content (Neuman 1997:273).
Content analysis has assumed a prominent role in the examination of the media.
The study of language and communication in their socio-cultural contexts emerged in
the late 1960's and early 1970's. There have been detailed studies of various
dimensions of discourse such as conversations, stories, and media discourse (news
reports, ads, television programs). The text and context of the discourse are examined,
with the aim of showing the cognitive, social, historical, cultural, and political contexts of
communication (van Dijk 1991a:44).
The use of the content analysis as an indicator of the in-group's
conceptualizaticns of Blacks and Japanese as "the other" must assume that when a
reader opens a newspaper and sees a picture of a Black or Japanese individual, helshe
identifies the subject by hislher supposed "racialn identity. One might question whether
it is possible that the reader merely identifies a subject as an athlete, a business man, a
criminal, or an entertainer in the news, without noting hislher "racialn identity. However,
it has been asserted that humans continue to rely on physical and "racialn characteristics to identify other people and groups. It has also been stated that
regardless of whether one was born in Canada or not, and regardless of the level of 140 assimilation achieved, groups such as Blacks and Japanese are still identified as out- groups. However, because race is a social construct, it is also possible that certain groups are conceptualized as an out-group using more negative and threatening images and attributes.
METHODOLOGY
A content analysis of the Toronto Star was conducted with a sampling probability of 20 per cent. The study spanned a time period between 1988 to 1996, but samples were taken from every second year. Seventy-three issues from each designated year were studied, and the dates of the selected papers were randomly determined using a random nurnbers chart. Every section of the newspapers was read, excluding advertisements and publications such as the T.V. weekly and the comics.
All articles, including letters and editorials, and pictures that referred to Blacks or
Japanese. in both Canada and other countries, were recorded. It was assumed that international issues or events presented in the newspaper played a significant role in the conceptualization of Blacks and Japanese. Thus perceptions of people and situations in Africa. the Caribbean, the United States, Europe, and Japan affected the conceptualization of the Blacks and Japanese in Canada.
Headlines were examined to determine whether an article was relevant to the study, but it was usually necessary to quickly read the piece if the headlines did not specify the segment's theme. Pictures and articles were counted separately , because often one was not accompanied by the other; thus, it was decided that they should be treated as individual items.
The newspapers were exarnined on micro-film and results were recorded by hand. An SPSS file was then created in order to organize the data. There were five sarnpling units in this content analysis. First, there was a frequency count of the total number of articles and pictures referring to Blacks or Japanese. The section of the newspaper that the article or picture appeared in was also noted. Headlines were also recorded in order to identify frequent words and terms used in reference to Blacks and
Japanese. There were 19 key words designated from the headlines of articles, letters- to-the-editor, and editorials recorded. The key words were picked after frequencies of the theme variable were conducted, so that words were chosen that appeared frequently and also related to the more popular themes. This was done in order to determine the type of words used to communicate the prominent themes of the representations of Blacks and the Japanese in the paper. The headlines tems were considered very important because they were more likely to be read than the story itself. Key terms within headlines are significant, especially in reference to the activities or behaviours of an ethnic group, because tens can motivate and support stereotypes
(Grenier 1992:284).
The country of origin of the article or picture was noted, and finally, also indicated was the theme of the article or picture. Theme categories were formed before the research was conducted, based upon assumptions of the expected topics to be found in the newspapers. However, as the research was conducted, categories were added if news items did not fit in the existing themes. Also, when the items were recorded, there 142
were 57 original themes used; however, they were later collapsed in order to provide a
more organized and coherent analysis. It should be noted that when cross tabs were
calculated in SPSS, the 12 cases designated as blackiJapanese were deleted.
RESULTS The Black and Japanese "other"
From the 5023 articles. letters-to-the editor, editorials, and pictures recorded
there were 2306 articles dealing with Blacks and only 331 articles concerning the
Japanese. There was also a greater number of pictures of Blacks, 21 58, compared to
the 118 pictures of Japanese. Thus, the Blacks comprised over 87 percent of the
recorded articles and 94.8 per cent of the noted pictures. There were 67 letters-to-the
editor and 21 editorials dealing with Blacks, while there were only 7 letters-to-the editor
and 3 editorials concerning the Japanese.
!t has already been suggested that the in-group uses media outlets, such as
newspapers, to create or support constructions of out-groups as problems or threats, in
order to legitimize their exclusion from power and privilege. It can be argued that the
out-groups that the in-group wants to exclude the most, will be represented in the
press, especially in a negative light, more frequently in order to legitimize their
exclusion. It has been demonstrated that prior to the end of the Second World War,
there were daily items in the newspapers in i3.C and eventually throughout Canada, warning of the Japanese menace and the threat they posed to the white race. False stories, rumours, and popular conceptualizations flourished. However in the current
study of newspapers, the low number of Japanese items shows the alleviation of former 143 perceptions of Japanese Canadians as a dangerous, undesirable out-group. Also, the lack of Japanese items and headlines that dealt with negative issues such as crime, death, racism, aid, poverty, confiict with authority, and immigration controversies demonstrated that the Japanese do not longer represent a grave menace or threat to society. They are not frequent perpetraters or even victims of confiict or violence. and they are not burdening the welfare system or in need of assistance or support.
Furthermore, there are indications that the representation of the Japanese is continuing to weaken in the newspapers. For items regarding the Japanese, the number decreased from 1988 to 1990, increased in 1992, and then decreased again in both
1994 and +l996.
Although the Japanese Canadians may not represent the menace they did in the past, it cannot be assurned that those of Japanese descent are no longer viewed as an out-group by the in-group. Although the Japanese Canadians may have successfully integrated into many areas of life, their physical and 'racialn characteristics still mark thern and arouse certain cultural and ethnic attributes. It is argued, through the results of the content analysis. that the image of the Japanese "other" that does exist today centers mainly on events and issues occuring in the country of Japan, instead of within a Japanese population in Canada. The majority of the cases concerning the
Japanese. 79 per cent, were situated in Japan, while items placed in Canada comprised only 14 percent of the total recorded samples concerning the Japanese.
Thus, just as in the past. notions of the Japanese in Canada rnay be strongly infiuenced by assurnptions of the nation of Japan. 144
Furthenore, the content analysis did reveal that sorne of the constructions of the Japanese that existed in the past, are similar to those of today. The location of the greatest proportion of items, almost 33 per cent, dealing with the Japanese were in the business section. Thus, the greatest proportion of items dealing with the Japanese, almost 38 per cent, were classified under the themes of business, trade, or stocks. The next frequent theme referring to the Japanese, 13 per cent of the total Japanese items, related to technology, computers, or automobiles. Of the designated headline tens, the most commonly used word, which was found in over 36 per cent of Japanese headlines, was trade. Furthermore, over 19 per cent of the Japanese headlines containing one of the key words used the terni buy or purchase.
Thus, it is obvious that any construction of the Japanese that exists today, centers on business, economics, and industries, derrived not from the activities of those of Japanese descent in Canada, but intead from the nation or citizens of Japan. Hence, as in the past, the Japanese are still viewed as capable, productive, intelligent, and successful. These images could aid in the maintenance and furthering of the success of those of Japanese descent in Canada, because based upon the "racial" characteristics they share with those in Japan, the in-group rnay relate this group to activities occuring in Japan.
It has been mentioned that there may be a new construction of the Japanese
"other" that identifies the threat they pose to North Arnerican industries, products, and technology. The content analysis revealed that of the 210 items dealing with Japanese business, the greatest number, 41, refered to Japanese business, economic, and 145
industrial expansion. Hence, this could support the clairn that any Japanese threat that
may exist today may no longer addresses their military might. but still illustrates their
economic growth, expansion, and success.
The greatest proportion of the recorded items dealing with Blacks, over 33 per
cent, were situated in Canada. This shows that unlike the those of Japanese descent
in Canada, the Blacks in this country rnay still be significantly conceptualized as a local
racial and ethnic group. Also, the representations of Blacks may be increasing. Over the designated years 1988, IWO, 1992, and 1996,the number of items regarding the
Blacks decreased from 1988 to 1990, increased in 1992 and in 1994 and in 1996.
Thus, excluding 1990, the number of items referring to Blacks increased.
The greatest proportion of the stories or pictures, over 38 per cent, dealing with
Blacks were found in the sports section, so the majority, almost 40 per cent, of al1 items
dealing with Blacks regarded the theme of sports. Almost 35 per cent of the items were
located in the first section of the newspapers. About 11 per cent were in the entertainment section, so that slightly over 11 per cent of the items involving Blacks dealt with the theme of entertainment. Over 10 percent of the items reported political themes such as elections, apartheid, and political crimes. Five per cent of the items
regarded Blacks as perpetrators of crime, and at almost the same percentage were
items referring to police or the Canadian military's brutality or mistreatment of Blacks.
This included authority figures shooting, beating, or falsely arresting Blacks. Also, the same proportion of items dealt with war, genocide, and North Amencan intervention, which included events such as the Americans' actions in Haiti. 146
Of the selected headline terms, for those referring to Blacks. the most commonly used headline word was slaying, killing, murder, or death, and alrnost 33 per cent of al1 headlines dealing with Blacks contained one of these words. The second most commonly used term for the items dealing with the Blacks, were the words race or racism. Over eleven per cent of the headline terms regarding the Blacks used one of these terms. The word shoot or shooting also comprised 11 per cent of al1 headlines dealing with black items. The term refugee was used in almost 6 per cent of the selected headlines regarding Blacks, and 5 per cent of the headlines that dealt with the
Blacks used the term aid and drugs
It can be concluded from the results of the content analysis that Blacks are still negatively constructed as an out-group. Many of the sarne images that existed in the past are still evident today. For instance, the high percentage of headlines dealing with
Blacks that centered on violence, conflict, and death, show that Blacks are still associated with criminal activity in the press. Also. the tendency of headlines for Black items to use terms such as "racisrn". "refugee", "aid", and "drugsn cornmunicate that
Blacks are still victims, dependent, and in need of assistance.
The finding that the majority of the items dealing with Blacks were located in the sports section, and thus based upon the theme of sports, and the high representation of
Blacks in entertainment, may indicate a positive canstruction of Blacks in the newspapers. Sports athletes such as Magic Johnson and Donovan Bailey and entertainers such as Wesley Snipes and Boyz II Men are adored, admired, and worshipped by fans of al1 'racesn. However, it is suggested that the concentration of 147
Blacks in the press in the fields of athletics and entertainment has a common basis in the constructions of the past. Just as in prior centuries in Canadian history, Blacks are still judged on their physical and entertaining capabilities. This communicates an image of Blacks only being able to achieve success through their bodies, their strength, and their performances.
Even more important, was the lack of Black representation in the areas in which the Japanese were concentrated, such as in the themes of business, trade, technology, and industry. Blacks were found the least in the business section at a percentage of a little over 1 per cent, and there was a very small number of Black headlines which used terms that refered to these themes. Therefore, it appears that Blacks are not allowed intellectual, productive, creative, and innovative images or constructions, because while the Japanese may be respected and admired for such abilities, the construction of the
Blacks appears to be void of them. The stressing of the Blacks' physical and entertaining abilities and the ignoring of their intellectual and innovative capacities may explain in part, the difficulties they have experienced in the occupational hierarchy, earning of income, educational system, and justice system. This is important, because the people who read and accept the constructions of out-groups in the media, are also the same individuals that have control over the hiring of people, the educational path of students, the policing of city streets, and the representation of defendents in the courts. Table 1: Headlines Table 2: Themes Table 3: Country of Origin of Items
bl&k japanese Total country canada oun nt 1521 65 156 % within country 95.9% 4.1% 100.0%
Oh within racdethnicity 33.4% 14.2% 31.7% Count 71 1 15 726 % within country 97.9% 2.1% 100.0% % within race/ethnicity 15.6% 3.3% 14.5% Afnca Count 935 935 % within country 100.0% 100.0% % within racelethnicity 20.5% 18.7% Garibbean Count 339 2 341 Oh within country 99.4% .6% 100.0% O/' within racelethnicity 7.4% -4% 6.8% Japan Count 5 362 367 % within country 1.4% 98.6% 100.0% Oh within racelethnicity .l% 78.9% 7.3% Nor Count 1037 15 1052 AmlEur % within country 98.6% 1 -4% 100.0% Oh within racelethnicity 22.8% 3.3% 21 .O% afrlcanb Count 4 4 % within country 100.0% 100.0% % within racelethnicity .l% .IV0 1 otal Count 4552 459 501 1 % within country 90.8% 9.2% 100.0% % within racelethnicity 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Table 4: Location
- - racelethnicity black japanese Total locatlon nont page GOUM 195 14 % within location % within racelethnicity first section Count % within location % within racelethnicity sports Count % within location % within racelethnicity entertainment Count % within location % within race/ethnicity insight Count % within location % within racelethnicity business Count % within location % within racelethnictty other Count % within location % within racelethnicrty Total Count
Oh within location % within racelethnicity Table 5: Type of Item
raceieihniaty black japanese Total am3e LOUflt % mthm type 87.4% 12.6% 100 0% 9'0 wthin raceiethniuty 50.7% 72.1% 52.6% picture Count 2158 118 2276 % within type 94.8% 5.2% 100.0% % within racelethniuty 47.4% 25.7% 45.4% letter-eâitor Count 67 7 74 O/O within type 90.5% 9.5% 700.0% % within raceiethniuty 1.5% 1.S% 1.5% editorial Count 2 1 3 24 O/O within type 87.5% 12.5% 100.0% % within raceiethniaty .5% .7% .5% Total Caunt 4552 459 501 1 % within type 903% 9.2% 100.0% 9'0 within racelethniuty 100.0% t 00.0% 100.0% Table 6: Year of item
racelethnicity black japanese Total year l~tltl oun nt /4 1 1 34 Ut3 % within year 84.7% 15.3% 1O0.O0h Oh within radethnicity 16.3% 29.2% 17.5% 1990 Count 702 82 784 % within year 89.5% 10.5% 100.0% % within racelethnicity 15.4% 17.9% 15.6% 1992 Caunt 836 94 930 % within year 89.9% 10.1% lOO.O0h Oh within racelethnicity 18.4% 20.5% 18.6% 1 994 Count 1 059 78 1137 Oh within year 93.1% 6.9% 100.0% % within racelethnicity 23.3% 17.0% 22.7% 1996 Count 1214 7 1 1285 % within year 94.5% 5.5% 1 OO.OO/o % within racelethnicity 26.7% 15.5% 25.6% i'otal Count 4552 459 501 1 % within year 90.8% 9.2% 100.0% Oh within racelethnicity 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Adachi, Ken. 1976. The Enemv That Never Was. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.
Akwani, Obi 0. 1995. Winnina Over Racism. Ottawa: Acharna Communications Inc.
Alexander Ken and Avis Glaze. 1996. Towards Freedom. The African Canadian Experience. Toronto: Umbrella Press.
Allahar, Anton. 1993. "When black first became worth lessn in International Journal of Comparative Socioloab Vol. XXXIV, 1-2, pg 39-53.
Allahar, Anton. 1996. "Primordialism and ethnic political mobilisation in modern society" in New Community. Vol 22(1) pg 5-22.
Allahar, Anton. 1997. Brinaina Class Back in Focus. Not yet published.
Allport. Gordon W. 1954. Nature of Prefudice. Massachusetts: The Beacon Press.
Ankney, Davison C. 1992. "Sex differences in relative brain size: The mismeasure of woman, too?" in Intellioence. Vol 16, pg 329-336.
Baar, Ellen. f 978. "lssei, Nissei, and Sansei" in Modernization and the Canadian State, edited by Daniel Glenday, Hubert Guindon, and Allan Turowetz. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, pg 335-355.
Baar, Ellen. 1980. "A contingency approach to ethnic relations: Lessons from the Japanese Canadian experiencen in Visible Minorities and Multiculturalism: Asians in Canada, edited by K. Victor Ujimoto and Gordon Hirabayashi. Toronto: Butteworths, pg 335-362.
Banton, Michael. 1967. Race Relations. London: Tavistock Publishing.
Banton, Michael. 1977. The ldea of Race. London: Tavistock Publishing.
Bertley, Leo W. 1977. Canada and Its People of African Descent. Pierrefondis: Bilongo Publishers.
Bolaria, B. Singh. 1983. "Dominant perspectives and non-white minorities" in Racial Minorities in Multicultural Canada. edited by Peter S. Li and B. Singh Bolaria. Toronto: Garamond Press, pg. 157-169. Bolaria. B. Singh and Peter S. Li. 1985. Racial Oppression in Canada. Toronto: Garamond Press.
Boldon, Bertram. 1971. "Black immigrants in a foreign landn in Let the Niagers Burn, edited by Dennis Forsythe. Montreal: Black Rose Books-Our Generation Press. pg 2240.
Bonacich, Edna. 1972. "A theory of ethnic antagonism: The split labor marketn in American Sociological Review. Vol 37, pg 547-559.
Brewer, Marilynn B. 1979. "The role of ethnocentrisrn in intergroup conflict" in The Social Psvcholoav of lnterarou~Relations, edited by William G. Austin and Stephen Worchel. Monterey: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, pg 71-84.
Broadfoot, Barry. 1977. Years of Sorrow. Years of Shame. Toronto: The Bryant Press Lirnited.
Card Media Information Network. 1997. Daily Newspapers and Networks. Mclean Hunter Publishers Limited. March.
Cernovsky, Zack 2. 1995. "On the sirnilarities of American Blacks and Whites", in Journal of Black Studies. Vol 25(6), pg 672-679.
Claimont, Donald H. 1974. Africville: The Life and Death of a Canadian Black Community. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.
Clairmont, Donald. 1978. "The development of a deviance service centre" in Modernkation and the Canadian State, edited by Daniel Glenday, Herbert Guindon, Allan Turowetz. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, pg 442-456.
Correctional Service of Canada. 1996. "A snapshot of the offender population in January 1996",Offender Manaaement Svstem.
Christensen, Carole and Morton Weinfield. 1993. "The black family in Canada: A preliminary exploration of family patterns and inequality" in Canadian Ethnic Studies. Vol XXV(3), pg. 264.
Davidson, Basil. 1992. "Columbus: Bones and blood of racism", in Race and Class. Vol. 33(3), pg 17-25.
Davis, Morris and Joseph F. Krauter. 1971. The Other Canadians. Toronto: Methuen Publications. Department of lndian and Northern Affairs. 1996. "Royal commisiion on Aboriginal peoples" intemet address: http:I/www.inac.gc.ca.
Elliot, Jean Leonard. 1971. Native Peo~les.Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada Ltd.
Foster, Cecil. 1996. A Place Called Heaven. Toronto: Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.
Friedman, John Block. 1981. The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. London: Harvard University Press.
Fromm, Erich. 1972. Escape from Freedom. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
Gladwell, Malcolm. 1996. "Black like them" in New Yorker. April29, pg 74-81.
Gomian, Benjamin. 1979. "Seven days, five countries: The making of a group" in Urban Life. Vol 7(4), pg. 469491.
Grabb. Edward G. 1990. Theories of Social Ineauality. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Greaves, Ida C. 1930. The Nearo in Canada. Orilla: Packet-time Press for the Dept. of Economics and Political Science, McGill University.
Grenier, Marc. 1992. "The centrality of conflict in Native-peoples coverage by the Montreal Gazette: War-zoning the Oka incident" in Critical Studies of Canadian Mass Media, edited by Marc Grenier. Toronto: Buttenvorths.
Henry, Francis and Efie Ginzberg . 1993. "Racial discrimination in employment" in Social Inequality in Canada, edited by James Curtis, Edward Grabb, and Neil Guppy. Scarborough: Prentice Hall Canada Inc, pg. 353-351.
Henry, Francis and Carol Tator, and Winston Mattis, and Tim Rees. 1995. The Colour of Democracy. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Canada.
Herberg, Edward N. 1990. "The ethno-racial socioeconomic hierarchy in Canada: Theory and analysis of the new vertical mosaic" in International Journal of Comparative Sociology. Vol. XXXI, 34, pg. 206-221 .
Herrnstein, Richard J. and Charles Murray. 1996. The Bell Curve. New York: Free Press Paperbacks.
Hill, Daniel. 1981. The Freedom Seekers. Agincourt: The Book Society of Canada Limited. Hoetink, H. 1985. "'Race' and color in the Caribbeannin Caribbean Contours. edited by Sidney W. Mintz and Sally Price. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pg. 55-84.
Horowitz, Irving Louis. 1995. "The Rushton file" in The Bell Curve Debate. edited by Russell Jacoby and Naomi Glauberman. New York: Times Books, pg. 179-200. Horsman, Reginald. 1981. Race and Manifest Destinv. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Isaacs, Harold R. 1975. Idols of the Tribe. New York: Harper & Row.
Isaacs, Harold R. 1968. "Group identity and Political Change: The role of color and physical characteristics" in Color and Race. edited by John Hope Franklin. Boston: Houghton Miffiin, pg 75-97.
The Japanese Canadian Centennial Project. 1978. The Ja~aneseCanadians: A Dream of Riches. Toronto: Gilchrist Wright.
Jensen, Arthur R. 1995. "The differences are real" in The Bell Cuwe Debate, edited by Russel Jacoby and Naomi Glaubenan. New York: Times Books, pg 617- 639.
Kordan, Bohdan S. 1993. Riahtina Historical Wronas: Internent. Acknowledgernent and Redress. Saskatoon: Ukranian Canadian Congress.
Lautard, Donald J. 1984 and Donald J. Loree. "Ethnic stratification in Canada 1931- 1971" in The Canadian Journal of Socioloav. Vol 9(3), pg 333-344.
Lewis, Gordon K. 1983. Main Currents in Caribbean Thought. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Lynn, Richard. 1994. "Sex differences in intelligence and brain size: A paradox resolved" in Penonality and lndividual Difference. Vol 17(2), pg 257-271.
Lyon, Michael. 1972. "Race and ethnicity in pluralistic societiesnin New Community. Vol 1(4), pg 256-262.
Lyon, Michael. 1973. "Ethnic minority problems: An overview of some recent researchn in New Communitv. Vol 2(4), pg 329-252.
Makabe, Tomoko. 1978. "Ethnic identity and social mobility: The case of the second generation Japanese in Metropolitan Toronton in Canadian Ethnic Studies. Vol X(l), pg. 136-146. Manning, Patrick. IWO. Slavery and African Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Marger, Martin. 1994. Race and Ethnic Relations. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
McFarlane, Anthony. 1994. The British in the Americas. London: Longman Group Limited.
Miles, Robert. 1982. Racism and Miarant Labor. London: Routledge 8 Kegan Paul.
Miles, Robert. 1993. Racism. London: Routledge.
Montagu, Ashley. 1964. Man's Most Danaerous Myth. New York: Oxford University Press.
Neuman, Lawrence. 1997. Social Research Methods. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Ogrnundson R. 1990. "Perspectives on the class and ethnic origins of Canadian elites: A methodological critiaque of the Porter/Clement/Olsen tradition" in Canadian Journal of Socioloav. Vol 15(2), pg. 165-177.
Ogmundson R. and J. Mclaughlin. 1992. "Trends in the ethnic origin of Canadian elites: The decline of the Brits?" in Canadian Review of Socioloov and Anthropoloay, Vol 29(2), pg. 227-242.
Omatsu, Maryka. 1992. Bittersweet Passage: Redress and the Japanese Canadian Ex~erience.Toronto: Between the Lines.
Posner, Michael. 1995. "The inevitability of John Honderich" in Toronto Life. June, 1995, pg 48-56.
Ramcharan, Subhas. 1982. Racism: Non-whites in Canada. Toronto: Butterworth and Company Ltd.
Rose, Steven. 1979. "'ltts only human nature' the sociobiologist's fairyland" in Race and Class. Vol XX(3), pg 277-287.
Roy, Patricia. 1976. "The oriental menace in British Columbian in Historical Essays on British Columbia editors J. Friesen and H.K Ralston. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Limited. Roy, Patricia. 1989. "British Columbia's fear of Asians 1900-1950" in A History of British Columbia edited by Patricia Roy. Mississauga: Copp Clark Pitrnan Ltd. pg 243-255.
Roy, Patricia. 1989b. A White Man's Province. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Rushton, Philippe. 1995. Race. Evolution. and Behavior. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
Rushton. Philippe. 1996. "Race, genetics, and human reproductive strategies", in Genetic. Social. and General Psvchologv Monoaraphs. Vol 122(1), pg 21-53.
Satzewich, Victor and Peter S. Li. 1987. "Immigration labour in Canada: The costs and benefit of ethnic origin in the job market" in Canadian Journal of Sociology. Vol 12(3), pg. 229-241.
Shaw, Daniel. 1994. Newspapers and Concentration. Ottawa: Library of Parliament. Research Branch.
Singer, Benjamin D. 1982. "Minorities and the media: a content analysis of native Canadians in the daily press" in Canadian Review of Socioloav and Anthro~oloay. Vol. 19(3), pg. 348-359.
Statistics Canada. 1986. Profile of Ethnic Groups: Census 1986. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
Statistics Canada. 1991. Ethnic Origin: 91 Census. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
Statistics Canada. 1996. Intercorporate Ownership. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
Stepan. Nancy Leys. 1993. "Race and gender" in The 'Racialn Economv of Science, edited by Sandra Harding. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pg 359-376.
Stevenson, Michael. 1892. "Columbus: Bones and blood of racism". in Race and Class. Vol. 33(3), pg 27-45.
Sunahara, Ann Gomer. 1979. "Historical leadership trends among Japanese Canadians" in Canadian Ethnic Studies Vol 11(l), pg. 1-16.
Sunahara. Ann Gomer. 1981. The Politics of Racism. Toronto: James Lorimer & Lomp Publications. Tajifel, Henri and John Turner. 1979. "An integrative theory of intergroup conflict" in The Social Psvcholoav of lnteraroup Relations, edited by Wtlliam G. Austin and Stephen Worchel. Monterey: BrooksICole Publishing Company.
Takata, Toyo. 1983. Nikkei Le acv: The stoy of Japanese Canadians from Settiement to Today. Toronto: NC Press Limited.
Tulloch, Headley. 1975. Black Canadians. A Lona Line of Fiahters. Toronto: NC. Press Limited.
Ujimoto, Victor K. 1976. "Contrasts in the prewar and post war Japanese Comrnunrty in 0.C:Conflict and change" in Canadian Review of Socioloav and Anthropolooy 13(1), pg. 80-89.
Ujimoto. Victor K. 1983. "Institutional controls and their impact on Japanese Canadian social relations: 1877-1977" in Racial Minorities in Multicultural Canada, edited by Peter S. Li and B. Singh Bolaria. Toronto: Garamond Press, pg 121-147.
VanDijk, Teun A. 1987. Cornmunicatina Racism: Ethnic Prejudice in Thouaht and Talk. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
Van Dijk. Teun A. 1988. "How 'they' hit the headlines: Ethnic minoritieç in the press" in Discourse and Discrimination edited by Geneva Srnitheman-Donaldson and Teun van Dijk. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, pg 108-120.
Van Dijk, Teun A. 1991. Racism and the Press. New York: Routledge.
Van Dijk, Teun A. 1991b. "The interdisciplinary study of news as discourse" in A Handboo k of Qualitative Methodoloaies for Mass Communication Research, edited by Klaus Bruhn Jensen and Nicholas W. Jankowski. London: Routledge.
Walker, James W. 1985. Racial Discrimination in Canada: The Black Ex~erience. Ottawa: Canadian Historical Association.
Walvin, James. 1984. "Recurring themes: White images of black life during and after slavery" in Slaverv and Abolition. Vol 5(2), pg 118-140.
Ward, Peter W. 1990. White Canada Forever. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
Weber, Robert Philip. 1990. Basic Content Analvsis. Newbury Park: Sage Publications. Whitaker, Reg. 1991. Canadian lmmiaration Policv Since Confederation. Ottawa: Keystone Printing and Lithographing Ltd.
Williams. Eric. 1970. Capitalism and Slavery. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
Wilson, Clint C. And Felix Gutierres. 1995. Race. Multiculturalism. and the Media. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Winks. Robin W. 1971. The Blacks in Canada: A History. Montreal: McGiII- Queen's University Press.
Winks, Robin W. 1978. "The black tile in the mosaic" in Modernization and the Candian State, edited by Daniel Glenday, Hubert Guindon, and Allan Turowetz. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, pg 356-371.
Young, Charles H. and Helen R. Y. 1939. The Ja~aneseCanadians. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (QA-3)
APPLIED & IMAGE. lnc a 1653 East Main Street