Canada has played an important role in these developments, as a member of the international groups defining these laws, as a participant in international was crime tribuals, and as one of the nations most active in supporting United Nations' peacekeeping missions around the world.

Hong Kong falls on December 25, 1941. Of the 1,975 Canadian soldiers sent to defend Hong Kong, 290 are killed in action and 1,685 are captured and interned by the Japanese military. 267 die in internment.

Knowing the history in the Asian-Pacific War could achieve several goals:

- to develop an appreciation, as Canadians, of being part of a larger human community

- to develop a better understanding of some of the historical events of the Asia-Pacific War

- to foster empathy and a sense of justice regarding the suffering of others

- to gain confidence in the possibility of improving human existence through understanding the roles individuals and nations can play in international justice

- to encourage meaningful participation in the development of a future in which such atrocities are prevented from ever happening again