| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Following Japan's successful attacks against Allied targets throughout the Far East and the Pacific in December 1941, Canada focused on protecting its own Pacific coastline in British Columbia, participating in joint US-Canadian defence measures as required. Canadian authorities removed all Japanese Canadians from the Pacific Coast, placed conscript troops in British Columbia, and searched for other enemies in the province. They investigated subversion and sought to avert coastal attacks, whilst Japan conducted nuisance raids and maintained a presence in the Aleutians. Recently declassified intelligence files show that several factors influenced the way in which Canadian authorities viewed 'the enemy within' and 'the Pacific threat'. During the Pacific War, the Canadian conscription policy, public complacency, wartime allegiances and enemy activity along the coast all impacted the way in which security intelligence was collected and interpreted in British Columbia.
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