Category Archives: Assignment 2

Veterans interned: What Canada did to the Japanese-Canadian soldiers of the First World War

Assignment 2, Masters2017_2, , ,
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There are some moments in Canadian history that are unforgettable. And then there are others Canada seems eager to forget.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a triumph for Canadian troops in the Second World War. One of these troops was Zennosuke Inouye, who fought in the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force for the escarpment in Vimy.

Inouye served in the Canadian military despite the racism Japanese Canadians were subjected to. Archives Canada: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4703 – 5.

Originally, Inouye was not allowed to serve in the war. Linda Kawamoto Reid, an archivist for the Nikkei Place, says this stemmed from a distrust of Japanese Canadians.

“There was this ‘how could you trust a Jap working beside you?’ mentality,” she says in a phone interview.

Despite the conscription laws of the time, Inouye was rejected by the Dominion military authorities in British Columbia because he was of Japanese descent, according to an article in The Canadian Historical Review. Determined to serve his country, he and 222 other Japanese Canadians enlisted in Alberta.

In April 1917, Inouye had just fended off trench fever and was previously wounded in the Battle of the Somme. At Vimy, his upper arm was torn apart by shrapnel, and he spent almost two months in the war hospital in Bristol. When he arrived back home in Canada, he purchased land near Surrey, B.C. to start a fruit farm for him and his family.

Inouye’s casualty form shows when he arrived in France to serve. Archives Canada: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4703 – 5.
Page 2 of Inouye’s casualty form. Form that he was wounded once, and that he sustained a gun shot wound (GSW). Archives Canada: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4703 – 5.

History professor Peter Neary of the University of Western Ontario writes, “He was loyal to his family and to his adopted country. In the case of the second loyalty, he now had a scar on his arm to prove it. This was a badge of honour that gave him a new identity as a Canadian.”

On the third anniversary of Vimy Ridge, Japanese-Canadian veterans were honoured with the erection of a memorial in Stanley Park, Vancouver. Atop the monument, an eternal flame was lit.

Inouye may have thought he’d never have to fight for land again. But 25 years later, he did.

This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the internment of Japanese Canadians. In 1942, the Privy Council relocated over 12,000 Japanese Canadians in B.C. to internment camps. Among the thousands were 58 Japanese-Canadian veterans of the First World War. Inouye was given a number, 03243, and separated from his sons.

Inouye’s farm land, which he had rented to a neighbour before he was abruptly relocated in an attempt to protect it, was claimed by the secretary of state and resold to the incoming veterans of the Second World War. The custodian of the secretary of state deemed this land “enemy property.”

In a letter of protest to Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, Inouye wrote, “Your petitioner believes that his loyalty to Canada has been well tested in the great war, and that it does not seem fair for the government to take away from one ex-service man a property so dear to him in order that it may be given to [a] soldier returning from the present war.”

Inouye wasn’t the only veteran who felt forgotten. “One veteran caught up in the government sweep threw his medals into the Skeena River in disgust,” writes Neary.

While the government sent these veterans to detention camps, the flame on the Japanese Canadian War Memorial was extinguished.

Eighty letters between Inouye and various recipients have been found and archived by the Nikkei Place as he fought to get his farm land back. Five years after the war, Inouye was the only Japanese-Canadian veteran to have his land returned to him. His home had burned down the year before he returned, and was only ensured for $300 by the custodian of the secretary of state. At age 64, Inouye had to rebuild.

Despite the racism that Inouye and bother Japanese Canadians faced, they continued to serve in Canada’s army. Mixed race Japanese Canadians, and those married to caucasians, were excluded from internment, and about 160 enlisted to serve in the Second World War as interpreters. Japanese Canadians deported to Japan after the war were later recruited to serve with the Canadian troops in the Korean War.

Reid says she recently interviewed a Japanese Canadian veteran of the Korean War and asked him why he agreed to serve a country where his people had faced so much discrimination. The man told her he feels Canadian and loves this country.

“I think they felt they could make a difference,” she says. “It was a statement.”

So why don’t most Canadians know about this?

“I don’t think it’s well-documented, talked about or illuminated,” Reid says. “I would encourage Canadians not to buy into that.”

*****************
Notes about documentation for my professor:

There were other documents that I wanted to use from the Nikkei Place. On their website, it said “copyright: open access” so I assumed I could use that. When I did my interview with the archivist, she informed me that I could not use them without submitting a form, so I submitted one. I have not heard back yet (I’ve followed up, but haven’t gotten a response) , so I went in a different direction. Instead, I hyperlinked the Nikkei Place collection so readers could view it if they were so inclined.

1) Attestation Paper: the very first document a soldier signs in order to enlist in the expeditionary forces. I liked this because it clearly showed his name and the force he served on. This would have been a great personal victory for Inouye, who travelled all the way into Alberta in order to enlist. I found it on Archives Canada.

2) Casualty form: a form that records the relocations, injuries, and deaths of any individual soldier. Though this one is harder to read, you can see clearly on the first page when he was sent to France, and on the second page when he was wounded. I found it on Archives Canada, where I also found information on how to read it. 

Heritage Regulations Restrict Evolution of Habitat 67

Assignment 2
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In 1966 Moshe Safdie explained his vision for Habitat 67, his housing complex to be built for Expo 67 in Montreal. His original vision had not only apartments, but also other elements such as schools, shopping, and cultural spaces, but the Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibition, the organization in charge of Expo, reduced his original vision to include only residential units. He hoped the other phases would be added after Expo, and that the building would accelerate the development of the other riverfront areas. He also hoped that Habitat would mix urban and suburban lifestyles.

Fifty years later his original vision, hopes and dreams for Habitat 67 have never materialized. The building still stands as it was built as a pavilion for Expo; none of the other elements of Safdie’s original vision have been added to the building, or on Cité du Havre, the neighbourhood where Habitat 67 is located. As such, over time the area has become quite isolated from the rest of the city, and little has been done to develop Habitat 67 or Cite du Havre in line with Moshe Safdie’s original plan for a mixed-use living environment.

Francois Goneau, Media Relations Officer with the City of Montreal points out that the City of Montreal considers Habitat 67 as a “building of modern heritage” and is situated in a sector of “notable heritage value”, namely Cité du Havre.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3481236-25-EVALUATION-PATRIMOINE-VILLE-MARIE/annotations/341509.html
Source: Évaluation du patrimoine urbain, Arrondissement de Ville-Marie, Ville de Montréal, 2005.

This evaluation of urban heritage for the Borough of Ville-Marie published in 2005, obtained from the City of Montreal, is helpful because it explains the significance of Cité du Havre and Habitat 67 as heritage sites.

On a more formal level, Habitat 67 obtained heritage classification by the City of Montreal in 2007 and the Province of Quebec in 2009, a few years after the above evaluation was published. But these heritage evaluations and designations were just the beginning. The city moved forward to place more restrictions on how Cite du Havre could be developed, and Habitat 67 be protected as its main focal point.

A document outlining urban planning regulations for the Borough of Ville-Marie also received from the City of Montreal, current as of December 1st 2016 is important to note because it outlines specific restrictions for Cité du Havre.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3468398-01-282-2016-12-1-CODIF-INCLUANT-CA-24-282-110/annotations/341510.html
Source: Codification administrative du règlement d’urbanism de l’arrondissement de Ville-Marie, Ville de Montréal, 2016.

Notably, that Habitat 67 must be the main focus and serve as architectural inspiration for the new structures. Also, the art objects as well as the street furniture installed on Cite du Havre, for Expo, must be preserved.

While Goneau states that heritage regulations don’t aim to prevent development, but aim to “preserve and enhance” Habitat 67 and its environment, another perspective may consider how with such limitations on construction, Habitat 67 has over time become very isolated from the rest of Montreal.

Raphaël Fischler, Associate Professor in the School of Urban Planning at McGill University notes this sense of isolation, and suggests that better integration with the city is “possible in the long term”, but would require a major overhaul to the area around Habitat 67, including ceasing port activities and relocating major highways.

This said, Fischler outlines a certain appeal in this sense of isolation

“For now, residents of Habitat 67 can enjoy their great views and the prestige of their building, and can take a short drive to all activities and facilities in downtown Montreal.”

Heritage preservation by the City of Montreal is commendable. But in this case, it would seem that the very acts of aiming to enhance Habitat 67 and Cité du Havre have in turn moved them even further away from potentially fulfilling Moshe Safdie’s original vision of mixed-use complex with more than just luxury condos, 50 years later.

Bytown: Ottawa’s capital of parking tickets

Assignment 2, DataJournalism2_2016
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Over the past five years, more than 200,000 parking tickets with fines totalling $7.3 million have been handed out along the streets of Ottawa’s Byward Market, according to documents obtained through an access to information request.

In fact, drivers parked alongside York and George streets alone, the city’s two most ticketed streets, and a popular parking destination for many bar and restaurant goers, shoppers and tourists alike, received more than 100,000 tickets during this period.

“There are quite a few people who complain about parking tickets,” said David Phillips, an Ottawa area farmer and the operator of a family owned fruit stand at the Byward outdoor market. “They’re here for just a minute, and, surprise, they got a ticket.”

The type of violations handed out along these two streets, which run side-by-side for four blocks between Sussex Drive and King Edward Avenue, range from the benign, 57,000 tickets were issued for parking in a “paid parking zone,” presumably without paying, to the unusual, 60 drivers were ticketed for parking with their vehicles facing in the wrong direction.

Another 105 drivers received tickets for parking on the sidewalk, while 10 drivers were ticketed for stopping on the “roadway side” of a parked vehicle, meaning they were double parked.

Then there were the fines unique to Ottawa, or to a nation’s capital at least.

For example, 177 drivers were ticketed for parking on City of Ottawa property, while four drivers received $50 fines for parking in a diplomatic zone, no doubt parked out front of the American embassy on Sussex Drive.

But Ottawa city councillor for Rideau-Vanier, Mathieu Fleury, says the market’s parking woes are not as simple as a lack of capacity or the strict enforcement of regulations.

“We recognized that parking was an issue, particularly with so many 15-minute or 1-hour parking zones,” said Fleury. “So we took action and extended these times by creating more two-hour parking zones.”


Source: City of Ottawa parking data.

Fleury says these changes permit lunch-time visitors and tourists to enjoy the market, while still allowing for the high turnover in parking availability the market needs.

“What we wanted to avoid was making all day parking on the street favourable for government workers, the Chateau Laurier or people working on the Hill,” said Fleury. “And I think a lot of businesses support us in this.”

Big ticket fines

There are also the big ticket items, the violations with fines that go well beyond the $30 to $40 average.

For instance, unauthorized parking in a space reserved for persons with physical disabilities carries a fine of up to $350, though five of six violations of this type along York and George streets in the past five years resulted in fines of $175 or less.

Meanwhile, being caught parked in a designated fire route cost 23 drivers $100 each over the past five years, while stopping in a bus zone or interfering with highway sweeping – an offence that occurred twice at the same address on York Street since 2011, a location with no highway in sight – cost ticketed drivers $85 a piece.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3197565-Parking-Infractions-and-Associated-Fines-City-of/annotations/324568.html

In total, Ottawa parking attendants handed out more than $92 million in fines over the past five years. The year with the highest amount in total violations, 2015, saw roughly $20.5 million in fines distributed among more than 390,000 tickets – an average of about $52 a ticket.

The overall increase in total fines between 2014 and 2015 was a little less than $3 million – a jump of roughly 16.2 per cent in a single year.

53 people have been charged with anal intercourse since 2006

Assignment 2, DataJournalism2016_1
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“It’s an outrageous state of affairs,” says gay rights lawyer

Justice Denny Thomas’ erroneous use of an unconstitutional section of the Criminal Code to convict Travis Vader Thursday has summoned several calls for the section – and others like it – to be officially removed once and for all. But a prominent gay rights lawyer is skeptical about whether or not a statute that criminalizes anal intercourse will be included in the called-for overhaul.

During the country’s first livestream of a criminal trial, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice used Section 230, “murder in commission of offences,” to convict Vader on two counts of second-degree murder in the 2010 deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann. That section was declared unconstitutional in 1990 by the Supreme Court of Canada, and Vader’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal less than 24 hours after the conviction was handed down.

Lawyer Doug Elliott, who also serves as the chair of the Just Society Committee, an ad-hoc committee of the LGBTQ organization Egale Canada Human Rights Trust, told JOUR 4101 that Thomas’ misjudgment serves as an example of what can happen when unconstitutional laws are left on the books.

“There’s a risk that someone who is not well-informed is going to use it,” said Elliott. “And that in fact has happened on a number of occasions with respect to Section 159.”

The section he is referring to, “anal intercourse,” reads that any person who engages in an act of anal intercourse is guilty of an indictable offence and can be imprisoned for up to 10 years, unless the act takes place in private, between either a husband and wife or two consenting adults who are at least 18 years of age.

According to Statistics Canada crime data, 53 people have been charged with anal intercourse since 2006. No charges were laid in 2006 or 2007, but between 2 and 11 charges have been laid every year since 2008.

“They would have been arrested… put in jail, fingerprinted, mug shots, the whole nine yards,” said Elliott. “And it’s quite possible that through that process they were outed to their family and friends.”

He said that because the section stipulates a higher age of consent than is required for vaginal sex, and uses the discriminatory language “husband and wife,” changing the law has been considered a couple of times, but it has “never been changed.”

“At least five courts of appeal have found that it was unconstitutional,” he said. “I think most lawyers would agree that it is unconstitutional, but Parliament has never repealed it.”

When asked why the Ontario Provincial Police has continued using Section 159 to lay charges, Provincial Media Relations Coordinator Sergeant Peter Leon responded that, “The federal government creates the legislation. They provide the tools and resources for us which ultimately are the laws that we enforce… If the law is there for us, and the charge is available to lay, then it’s our job, if we have reasonable grounds, to arrest and charge accordingly.”

Elliott said the federal government has failed to modify Section 159 marching orders because of “Homophobia. Still.”

“I don’t think the politicians themselves are homophobic, but they’re afraid of homophobia,” he said. “It’s about people who do not want their children learning about homosexuality because it’s somehow contagious – if they find out it exists they’ll turn into homosexuals. That myth that homosexuality is contagious has been around for a long time, as has the myth that gay men in particular are sexual predators… It’s a ridiculous stereotype, it’s been around for hundreds of years, and it’s still present today. I talked to Members of Parliament in 2005 trying to persuade them to do the right thing and they all told me that it was too politically risky.”

Representatives of the Ontario Liberal Party and Office of the Prime Minister were not available for comment before press time.

The Criminal Code has not been revised since 1985.

French-language books drop in popularity

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French-language books are not as popular as they used to be. Government funding and small market sizes outside Quebec has affected its sales.

According to the 2011 edition of Canada’s Year Book, in 2008 publishers who printed mainly French-language books had a growth in revenue compared to publishers who printed mostly English-language books.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3022193-Canada-Year-Book-Culture-Eng/annotations/314198.html

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3022193-Canada-Year-Book-Culture-Eng/annotations/314199.html

Errol Sharpe, co-owner of Fernwood Publishing, has been in the publishing industry for 30 years. One reason for this, he says, may be the competition English Canadian publishers face with American and British books in the Canadian market. Sharpe continues to say the sizable French readership in Quebec may also be a factor.

“There’s a much stronger cultural base in Quebec than there is in English Canada,” said Sharpe. “For the last 20 to 30 years, Quebec has been fighting to maintain its language and its culture. There’s a great deal of cultural awareness in Quebec that doesn’t exist in the rest of the country.”

However, this has changed. According to Statistics Canada, Canada’s publishing industry had an 18% drop in both operating expenses and operating revenue between 2008 and 2014. English-language books accounted for 79.2% of sales, while French-language and other languages accounted for only 20.8%. E-books, not too far behind, made up 13.1% of sales.

According to the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association (as shown below), the Nova Scotia book market is worth $36.3 million and the sales of books across Canada contributes $1.15 billion to the Canadian GDP.

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3031656-BSH-Infographic-Feb.html

Over the years, some English-language book publishers like Gavin Will, owner of Boulder Publications, have experienced notable growth in revenue. Will would like to publish books in French as well but he says there are “steep barriers” to overcome.

There are federal grants available for publishers who wish to translate books to French or other languages. However, they are required to have published at least three books in that target language by themselves before they can qualify for the grant and Will says it’s not that easy.

“Not only do you need to have a translator, you need an editor as well,” he said. “I might be able to afford a translator but an editor on top of that would be difficult… It’s about $5,000 per book, depending on the size of the book.  Some charge by page or by the word. ”

Marion Vitrac, program officer at the Canada Council for the Arts says the requirements to apply for the Translation Grant are at a minimum for publishers.

“For a publisher to try a new venture in another language means a new audience, new distribution channels, new everything,” said Vitrac. “We don’t fund organizations that are just starting because we’re accountable. We need to fund arts organizations that have proven a minimum of stability and their commitment to their mandate.”

Michael Hamm is a manager at Bookmark on Spring Garden Road. He says a “good bookstore” caters to the demands of the community and explains that bookstores try to stock books in languages other than English to show diversity.

“It just adds another cultural depth to your store and people like to see it,” said Hamm. “I couldn’t imagine a store where you don’t have some French language books, besides dictionaries and workbooks. It adds another level of meaning to the community just to see these books here.”

Two parents for the price of three: Why so many single parents are being left behind

Assignment 2, Database assignment three, DigiAssignmentThree
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Adelyn at her second birthday
Adelyn at her second birthday

Nicole Simmons is “swimming in student loan debt – just drowning” in order to support herself and her two year-old daughter, Adelyn. As a single parent, it turns out she’s in a crowded pool.

According to the 2011 National Household Survey, single parents’ bank account balances in the HRM were three times as shallow as their co-parent counterparts’.

Source: Statistics Canada Families Households and Housing

Source: NHS Profile, Canada, 2011 – Census Tracts This suggests that, when it comes to family income, two parents might be better than one. A GROWING TREND While the voluntary nature of the data makes it less than perfect, it nonetheless paints a troubling picture.

 

Source: Statistics Canada Families Households and Housing

Co-parents’ triple financial advantage marks a 20 per cent increase from their 2009 income, when they brought in more than double what single-parent households did.

This ends up meaning a lot less money for a lot more single-families.

THE SINGLE MOTHER

Single parents head a substantial chunk of the families in Halifax.

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 111-0022 One in five women are already either single, divorced, or separated by the time they’ve given birth, suggesting a greater overall tendency towards single motherhood. And frankly, we’re mostly talking about mothers. Women headed the overwhelming majority of single-parent families in 2011 – more than 80 per cent.

Source: Statistics Canada Families Households and Housing

Unfortunately, this could account for why the income gap is so wide. According to Statistics Canada, when families with single-earners are headed by women, they tend to make far less than when it’s men who “bring home the bacon.”

 

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 111-0020 “Since I’ve had [Adelyn], I’m just at school during the days and she takes up my evenings and weekends so I haven’t really been able to return back to work,” said Simmons.

WHEN MONEY’S REALLY TIGHT…

When she was working, Simmons said that saving money was “no problem.” But now things are “a little bit tighter.”

For the lowest earning single parents in Halifax, it can be as tight as less than $17,000 a year.

 

Source: NHS Profile, Canada, 2011 – Census Tracts

Many single-parent families are concentrated in Halifax’s lower income areas, but even they fare better than some in other regions of the province – especially Digby, Nova Scotia.

 

Sources: NHS Profile, Canada, 2011 – Census Subdivisions

This is where Simmons has to drive to her mother every time she needs a babysitter for more than a few hours. She may not be paying for grandma’s time, but the six hour round-trip certainly makes her pay for gas.

“I had to buy a car for…getting [Adelyn] around, so I have to pay my payments on that which is tough – but doable. We’re getting by.”

WHEN TIME IS MONEY AND MONEY IS TIME

Simmons is working towards a career in Public Relations and Communications Technology, but she says it’s challenging to juggle spending time with her baby and “being there” for things that could eventually help her earn her more money.

“It hurts me that I’m not spending time with her and that I have to find babysitters on the evenings and weekends,” she said. “It’s tough.”

ARE TWO PARENTS BETTER THAN ONE?

Parenting in a partnership and parenting alone each come with their own set of unique challenges.

While things like finances and time are precious resources in a single parent’s home, Simmons says that having “that extra responsibility” can be a good thing too.

“I’m definitely more motivated to find a job and to do my best in school,” she said. “I don’t think I’d be as mature about it [as] I would [have been] if I didn’t have her.”

Nicole and Addie