text: The dispossession and sale of property of Japanese Canadians was recognized as having long term implications for Japanese Canadians. Secretary of State Norman McClarty stated that the forced sales would be "tantamount to saying that [Japanese Canadians] will never be returned to Vancouver...This may of course be desirable". Scholars note that Ian Mackenzie, the British Columbia representative in Cabinet, supported this "permanent exclusion of Japanese Canadians from the entire ' 'coast of British Columbia'" Further, the Veteran's Land Act distributed the dispossessed land of Japanese Canadians to returning WWII veterans, resulting in Japanese Canadians having nothing to return to when internment ended in 1949.
  Fishing boats
  Fishing vessels were among the first forms of property taken from Japanese Canadians. On December 8, 1941, Japanese Canadian fishers were required to surrender over 1,300 vessels to authorities. On the January 13, 1942, order in council PC 288 created the Fishing Vessel Disposal Committee. Chaired by Judge Sidney Smith, it was instructed to enable Japanese Canadian boat owners to "freely negotiate for charters, leases, or sales" of their vessels. Instead, the committee forced the sale of the fishing vessels, a decision that government lawyers later admitted exceeded the committee's terms of reference and therefore was illegal.