A Child in Prison Camp has two secondary settings and one primary setting that span the years between 1942 and 1964. The first secondary setting occurs in March 1942 in Vancouver as the Canadian government begins relocating Japanese-Canadian men and boys.

Some of the older men board the trains stoically, others loudly protest, and some are bodily thrown onto the trains.

During this time, Shizuye and her mother visit Vancouver's Exhibition Grounds, where Japanese women and children await relocation amid foulsmelling and unsanitary conditions.

This initial setting emphasizes the unjust, sometimes brutal treatment of the Japanese-Canadians who are, after all, Canadian citizens and human beings.

The other secondary setting is Toronto, Ontario, on June 7, 1964, when Canadian prime minister Lester B. Pearson dedicates the long-awaited Japanese Cultural Center, and during the dedication Pearson admits that the Canadian government's treatment of JapaneseCanadians "was a black mark against Canada's traditional fairness and devotion to...