Japanese Immigrants Fought for Canada in WWI While Denied Voting

A renewed wave of public attention in 2025 has brought the story of Japanese Canadians who fought in World War I back to the forefront. Hundreds volunteered to serve while being denied the right to vote at home. The focus has sharpened in Alberta, where many of those men first found a path into the Canadian Expeditionary Force after other provinces refused to enlist them.

Heritage groups and veterans’ advocates say the new exhibits and coverage are forcing a hard look at a century-old contradiction: soldiers who bled for Canada 🇨🇦 on the Western Front while laws in British Columbia blocked them from the ballot box. Their effort to gain equal rights did not end at the front lines; it continued for decades in Canada’s courts and legislatures, a struggle that only concluded in 1949 when all Japanese Canadians finally gained the federal franchise, decades after the Armistice.

The numbers and the record

The record is stark and well-documented:

• More than 222 Japanese Canadians volunteered to fight for Canada in World War I, a total confirmed by Canadian heritage institutions and war records.
• At least 54 died.
• At least 91 were wounded.
• Several received gallantry awards such as the Military Medal, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, these volunteers joined up despite clear barriers, including a climate of anti-Asian hostility and explicit efforts to keep them out of the ranks. The majority had roots in British Columbia, where elected officials and racial prejudice combined to block their political rights.

Their goal was often twofold: to serve in uniform and to prove loyalty in hopes of winning equal footing—especially the right to vote—in a country that taxed them and counted their labour but refused their voice in elections.

Enlistment barriers and Alberta’s role

Early in the war, enlistment officers across British Columbia refused to accept Japanese Canadians. Local opposition was strong, and recruiting rules were uneven and subject to bias. The result was a hard, often humiliating choice: stay home and be told you were not wanted, or pay your own way to the Prairies to try again.

Many men chose the latter. Alberta stood out as the province where officers would take them seriously and sign them up. Men:

• Traveled east at their own expense
• Boarded trains with little more than a pack
• Reported to depots that would process and train them

They joined units such as the 192nd Canadian Infantry Battalion and trained alongside other Canadians bound for Europe. For them, the road to the front began with a long trip to a province that would give them a fair chance to serve.

Service at the front and recognition

From 1916 to 1918, these soldiers passed through the same brutal campaigns as other Canadians and earned respect in battle even if they lacked respect at the polls. They served at infamous fields including:

• Somme
• Vimy Ridge
• Hill 70

Official records tie at least 54 deaths and 91 wounded to the Japanese Canadian contingent, reflecting their exposure and willingness to take the same risks as fellow soldiers. Several soldiers received decorations for bravery.

Masumi Mitsui: emblematic figure

Masumi Mitsui is a name that often anchors this story. He earned the Military Medal for leading men under heavy fire at the Battle of Hill 70 (1917). Accounts recall he led a group of 35 Japanese Canadian soldiers into that fight and only five survived. Mitsui’s conduct made him a decorated figure in Canadian military history. Yet he returned to British Columbia still barred from provincial and federal elections.

Legal and political context

The legal framework that barred Japanese Canadians from voting was clear and entrenched:

• British Columbia had rules, long before the war, that kept people of Asian ancestry from voting.
• Courts upheld those restrictions.
• An early legal test came in 1900, when Tomekichi Homma’s challenge failed and the province’s ban remained intact.

A single wartime exception briefly broke through: under the Military Voters Act (1917), soldiers serving overseas could vote in the federal election, regardless of race. This meant a Japanese Canadian could cast a federal ballot in 1917 while wearing a uniform, then lose that right after demobilization—an illustration of the policy’s absurdity.

Postwar advocacy and gradual gains

Japanese Canadian veterans organized after the war. They:

• Joined together in groups
• Petitioned authorities
• Kept their case in public view

Veterans like Mitsui became leaders in the peacetime fight for rights. Their campaign produced a breakthrough in 1931 when British Columbia granted the provincial and federal franchise to Japanese Canadian veterans—the first group of Asian Canadians in the province to attain such rights.

Important caveats:

• The 1931 change applied only to veterans, not to the broader Japanese Canadian community.
• Families experienced split realities: a father who fought could vote; his non-veteran wife and adult children often could not.

Full federal voting rights for all Japanese Canadians did not arrive until 1949, after World War II and the repeal of discriminatory laws.

“Japanese Canadian veterans became, in 1931, the first group of Asian Canadians to attain the provincial and federal franchise in British Columbia… This stands as an important milestone along the road to full political participation by all Asian Canadians by 1949.”

Memory, museums, and public commemoration

Canadian institutions now present this arc—service, exclusion, advocacy, and delayed recognition—as central to the nation’s evolving story of citizenship. Examples:

• The Canadian War Museum notes that Japanese Canadians “fought not only for their country, but also for equal rights,” emphasizing rights did not fully arrive until 1949.
• Parks Canada highlights how more than 200 Japanese Canadian soldiers overcame prejudice and enlistment barriers between 1916 and 1918.
• Federal heritage content and programming can be accessed through Parks Canada.

In British Columbia, the Japanese Canadian War Memorial in Vancouver’s Stanley Park stands as a remembrance site where names are read and wreaths laid. Its presence is a formal reminder that memory and law once diverged.

Why this matters today (2025 attention)

What changed in 2025 is attention and presentation rather than new law. Organizers and curators have:

• Pulled new photographs and service files into public view
• Created panels that match faces to names
• Traced journeys from coastal communities to training depots and battlefields

This work turns numbers—222, 54, 91—into people and families, making the historical stakes clearer. Alberta’s gateway role, the paradox of acceptance as soldiers and rejection as voters, and the veterans’ long campaign for rights are receiving renewed scrutiny.

Social and personal impacts

Racist exclusions caused concrete harms:

• Limited work opportunities
• Barriers to property and public jobs
• Emotional toll of being treated as second-class citizens

For veterans and their households, the vote symbolized belonging. The 1931 enfranchisement for veterans was a divided gift—recognition for some and a reminder for others that they remained excluded. Many families are now bringing out heirlooms—photographs in uniform, letters from France, medals—that help bridge battlefield history to present-day communities.

Education and civic lessons

Educators and community groups are using this history to teach broader lessons about citizenship and inclusion:

• Timelines used in classrooms track key dates: the court rejection around 1900, the 1917 Military Voters Act, the 1931 veteran-only enfranchisement, and full federal rights in 1949.
• Remembrance activities are linked to civic outreach encouraging voter participation.
• Exhibits and lesson plans connect named battles (Somme, Vimy Ridge, Hill 70) to local streets, schools, and families.

“They fought both for Canada and for equal rights.” — line now used in lesson plans and museum materials.

Key takeaways

• More than 222 Japanese Canadians served in World War I.
• At least 54 were killed and 91 were wounded.
• Many had to travel to Alberta to enlist after refusals elsewhere.
• They served at battles such as Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Hill 70.
• British Columbia blocked their vote for decades: a partial enfranchisement for veterans in 1931, and full federal voting rights only in 1949.
• Museums, memorials, and classrooms in 2025 are spotlighting these stories to ensure the public sees both service and exclusion.

The veterans’ story answers a pointed question about equal citizenship: it requires laws that apply fairly, a vote that includes all, and a public memory that makes room for the whole truth. The renewed programming this year lifts figures like Masumi Mitsui not as exceptions but as examples of what many gave and asked for in return: a fair share of the rights their service was meant to defend. When Canadians gather at memorials and say “we remember,” the line now carries a wider meaning—one that includes both the trenches and the ballot box.