The Bird Commission, Japanese Canadians, and the Challenge of Reparations in the Wake of State Violence by Kaitlin Findlay BA (Honours), McGill University, 2014 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History © Kaitlin Findlay, 2017 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE The Bird Commission, Japanese Canadians, and the Challenge of Reparations in the Wake of State Violence by Kaitlin Findlay BA (Honours), McGill University, 2014 Supervisory Committee Dr. Jordan Stanger-Ross, Department of History Supervisor Dr. Penny Bryden, Department of History Departmental Member iii ABSTRACT The Royal Commission on Japanese Claims (1947-1951), known as the “Bird Commission,” investigated and offered compensation to Japanese Canadians for their losses of property during the 1940s. It is largely remembered for what it was not: that is, it was not a just resolution to the devastating material losses of the 1940s. Community histories bitterly describe the Commission as destined to failure, with narrow terms of reference that only addressed a fraction of what was taken. Similarly, other historians have portrayed the Commission as a defensive mechanism, intended by the government to limit financial compensation and to avoid the admission of greater injustice. Yet scholars have never fully investigated the internal workings of the Commission. Despite its failings, Japanese Canadians used the Bird Commission in their struggle to hold the state accountable. Hundreds of Japanese Canadians presented claims. Their testimonies are preserved in thousands of pages of archival documents. The Bird Commission was a troubling, flawed, but nonetheless important historical process. This thesis examines government documents, claimants’ case files, and oral histories to nuance previous accounts of the Bird Commission. I draw from ‘productive’ understandings of Royal Commissions to argue that the Liberal government, cognizant of how such mechanisms could influence public opinion, designed the Bird Commission to provide closure to the internment-era and to mark the start of the postwar period. Their particular definition of loss was integral to this project. As Japanese Canadians sought to expand this definition to address their losses, the proceedings became a record of contest over the meaning of property loss and the legacy of the dispossession. Navigating a web of constraints, Japanese Canadians participated in a broader debate over the meaning justice in a society that sought to distance itself from a legacy of racialized discrimination. This contest, captured in the Commission proceedings, provides a pathway into the complex history of the postwar years as Canadians grappled with the racism of Second World War, including Canada’s own race-based policies, and looked towards new approaches to pluralism. iv CONTENTS Supervisory Committee ...................................................................................................... ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. v Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Story of a Couple .................................................................................... 11 “... in the interests of the owner ...” ............................................................................... 14 Masue Tagashira ............................................................................................................ 17 Rinkichi Tagashira ......................................................................................................... 24 The Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property ........................................................... 29 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter 2: Creating the Bird Commission ........................................................................ 53 Commissions of Inquiry ................................................................................................ 58 Proposal ......................................................................................................................... 62 Design ............................................................................................................................ 70 Intervention .................................................................................................................... 81 Procedure ....................................................................................................................... 88 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 107 Chapter 3: Testifying to Loss .......................................................................................... 112 The Terms of Reference .............................................................................................. 116 Market Value ............................................................................................................... 119 The Custodian .............................................................................................................. 133 Property ....................................................................................................................... 141 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 152 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 157 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 162 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was by no means completed in isolation, and I owe considerable thanks to the small army of scholars, friends, and family who helped me see it to completion. This project was sparked by a research assistant position with the Landscapes of Injustice project at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Special thanks go to the LAC archivists for their help with my initial research in (and then later digitization of) the Bird Commission fonds. With great admiration and respect, I also thank Donald and Francoise Jinnouchi for their support as I looked into their family’s remarkable past. Beyond an invaluable research opportunity, my engagement with Landscapes of Injustice has been foundational to this project. I benefited from the diversity of research interests, priorities, and methodologies that animate Landscapes of Injustice, all of which have enriched this thesis. In Landscapes of Injustice I found a motivating community of scholars and friends. Thank you in particular to Eric Adams, Sherri Kajiwara, Mary and Tosh Kitagawa, Vivian Wakabayashi Rygnestad, Susanne Tabata, and Lisa Uyeda for their encouragement and stimulating conversations. The moral support, intellectual challenges, and friendship of William Archibald, Alissa Cartwright, Gordon Lyall, Eiji Okawa, Trevor Wideman, and Nicole Yakashiro has fueled me over the past three years. I am thankful to the Landscapes of Injustice Community Council for their belief in the importance of student learning and their encouragement to study this difficult past. I also owe thanks to the staff at the Nikkei National Museum for the opportunity for a wonderful co-op semester in 2017. Michael Abe lent me incredible patience, support, and generosity throughout my time in Victoria. As the project director of Landscapes of Injustice, Jordan Stanger-Ross is responsible for orchestrating much of the above. It has been a privilege to follow along in the slipstream of his scholarship. I am indebted to his commitment to student training and meaningful and creative intellectual work. As my supervisor, he provided precise, thoughtful, and timely advice over the course of this project. He generously and patiently challenged me to become a better scholar and a lucid communicator. His efforts improved this project immensely. vi It has been an honour to join the University of Victoria History Department welcoming and engaged community. I am grateful to Lynne Marks, John Lutz, and Eric Sager for their encouragement and insightful, clarifying comments. I thank Penny Bryden whose useful observations helped me rethink this project for the better. I am indebted to my office mates for their patience, support and humor. Kalin Bullman, Deborah Deacon, and Alexie Glover deserve special thanks for bravely looking over my early drafts. This project benefited from the insights from the Graduate History Seminar series, the 2017 Quallicum Graduate Conference, and the 2017 BC Studies conference. Finally, I owe a great deal of gratitude to friends and family outside of academia for their support, patience, and humour while I completed my thesis. I thank my aunts, Leah and Jennifer Bendell, for their standing offer to be wined and dined that I was happy to take advantage of on multiple occasions. Likewise, Thomas Cameron, Michael Denham,