Japanese immigrants fought for Canada during WW I while denied the right to vote

For the first time the faces of Japanese Canadian veterans who fought in the First World War are on display on the streets of Vancouver after a century largely unrecognized.

A community historian spent more than 15 years digging through archives, tracking down descendants and uncovering heroic acts to bring this group of forgotten soldiers’ stories to life and push for the recognition she says they deserve.

“These were young men who gave their whole lives and no one remembers them,” Debbie Jiang told CBC News.

“I feel like I’m bringing back to life that person and their names that would otherwise be unknown.”

Jiang calls it a “travesty” that a dark chapter in Canadian history overshadowed their service and kept their stories hidden not only from the public, but in many cases their families, too. 

During the Second World War, Canada labelled all Japanese Canadians including veterans “enemy aliens” and forced thousands in B.C. into internment camps, seized their property and sold their belongings. 

Kelly Shibata says it wasn’t until he spoke to Jiang that he started learning more details about his grandfather’s remarkable military career.

“That is the mystery of all of it — we had virtually no information about his time in the military,” Shibata said. 

His grandfather, retired private Otoji Kamachi, was part of a distinct group of Japanese Canadian soldiers who enlisted during the First World War in Canada’s military.

The Japanese Canadian soldiers who signed up weren’t the typical 18- to 20-year-old at that time. Jiang said many of them were in their 30s and 40s and some already decorated veterans. 

Despite facing systemic racism and being denied the right to vote in 1895, they travelled to Alberta — the only province where they could enlist — and fought on the front lines. 

Jiang said many, including Kamachi, were on a mission to fight for the right to vote. 

“They had wives and children, and yet they risked their lives to make a point and fight for Canada so they could bring home the right to vote for their community,” Jiang said. 

Jiang said over time the Japanese Canadian troops won over comrades who felt they were a liability because some didn’t speak English.