Today in Canada’s Political History: Japanese Canadians stripped of voting rights
Japanese Canadians from coast-to-coast were stripped of their voting rights on this date in 1944. Previously, these restrictions on the right of these citizens to the franchise had been in place only in British Columbia.
There was also opposition to the decision on the Liberal backbenches. Arthur Roebuck, for example, entered the debate. “ could not face the minority groups in my own city—the Ukrainians, the Poles, yes, the Italians, and many others—if I allowed this occasion to pass without making myself absolutely clear before this House and the country that, when it comes to racial discrimination against anybody, count me out,” said.
Other MPs, however, supported the change. “This is a white man’s country, and we want it left a white man’s country,” Independent MP A.W. Neill said. The House voted to accept the voting policy change. In 1948 MPs reversed their earlier decision and race-based voting restrictions for all but Indigenous Canadians were ended. Native peoples, who received the vote thanks to Sir John A. Macdonald in 1885, had their rights to the franchise removed in the late 1890s would not be allowed to vote federally again until 1960.is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon.
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