Censorship invariably has a negative connotation, especially when it comes to news media. But what if the censor is actually on your side? That was the unlikely case with The New Canadian, the only Japanese-Canadian newspaper allowed to publish after 1941. Founded in 1938 in Vancouver, the weekly English-language paper was intended for the Nisei, second-generation Japanese Canadians. Its appearance coincided with a rise in racist political invective, culminating with the internment of Japanese Canadians in the BC Interior following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Unlike its contemporaries that were forced to close, The New Canadian kept producing weekly editions because authorities considered it a useful propaganda outlet.
While it was no secret that the paper was censored during the war, the surprising nature of that censorship was revealed in a 2009 PhD thesis by Mark Bourrie, who reviewed correspondence to and from the Directorate of Censorship, held by Library and Archives Canada.1
According to Bourrie, censor Lew Gordon took a proprietary interest in the paper and helped ensure it stayed in business—and its staff stayed out of jail—while continuing to publish editorials critical of government policy.
In doing so, Gordon,and editor, extended a courtesy to that it did not enjoy from other members of the press nor most politicians of the day.
