Japanese Artifact Walk

From http://www.japanesecanadianhistory.net/home_page.htm

Artifact 1

Japanese Canadian home on Powell Street in Vancouver (pre - 1941)

Powell Street was the largest Japanese Canadian community in Canada before the mass uprooting in 1942. Institutions such as the Japanese newspaper, Japanese language school, and churches were well established.

Consider the following questions as you examine this photograph:

What room do you think the family is sitting in?
Do you think this family was affluent? Why or why not?
How would you characterize their style of dress?
Is there any object(s) in the photo that would help identify this home as one belonging to a Japanese Canadian family?

Artifact 2

Japanese Canadian Jewelry Store in the Vancouver pre-war community.
An example of one type of business later lost in the mass uprooting. Photo: UBC

Consider the following questions as you examine this photograph:

What does the size of the shop tell you about the success of this business?
What style of decorating is feature in this shop (traditional Japanese or Western design)?
Consider the kinds of jewelry sold in this shop. What does this tell you about the clients of the shop?
Do you think this shop sold items to non-Japanese? Why or why not?

Artifact 3

Official Registration Cards (1940-1941)

In Spring 1941, before Pearl Harbor and Canada's declaration of war with Japan, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police finger-printed and registered all Japanese Canadians over the age of 16. They were required to carry identification cards until 1949.

Consider the following questions as you examine this photograph:

How many ways were Japanese Canadians identified on these cards?
Why do you think they were forced to carry identification cards?
Why were they required to carry the cards after the end of World War II?

Artifact 4 - Newspaper Articles

B.C. Government Refuses To Pay Cost Of Educating
All Japanese Students To Go Before City School OpenSpokesmen for the B.C. Securities Commission today declared all Japanese children may be moved out of the city by the time school opens or within a very short time after September 1.
They point out that even though a small group of Japanese are left in the city when the fall term opens, it would be impractical to send them to school for a few weeks or months while preparations are being made to move them.
Last year 2300 Japanese youngsters attended city schools. Removing them from school registration will mean a reduction in the number of teachers needed of "at least 60 and probably more," declares O.J. Thomas, school inspector.
The greatest challenge will be felt at Strathcona School which has had a Japanese attendance of more than 600 for several years.
At least eight fewer teachers will be needed at the school this coming term. Many senior students have entered war work during the summer and will not return to school, bringing a further sharp decrease in school enrolment, Mr. Thomas pointed out.

NO REPLACEMENTS.
A large number of school teachers have also gone to war industries and the armed services but due to the absence of Japanese at schools and the many white senior students who will remain in war work, it is unlikely the board will hire replacement teachers.
Numbers of new teachers are available to the Vancouver School Board this year but the situation is reversed in practically every rural district. In the country areas teachers who receive less money than city teachers, are entering war industries and the armed forces faster than they can be replaced

Say Ottawa's Responsibility
By Daily Province Staff Correspondent

VICTORIA, Aug. 19 - Efforts by the B.C. Security Commission to place upon the British Columbia Government the cost of educating Japanese children under control of the commission have been flatly refused, Hon. H.G. Perry, minister of education, announced this morning.
The commission, which is charged with the care of all Japanese, sought to have the Provincial Government provide schools, teachers, supervisors and Japanese coaches for 5500 children, of whom 1000 are of school age. The total cost would be $345,000.
The plan would mean the construction of additional school accommodation at interior points where Japanese have been located.
The commission asked for white teachers. This was flatly refused, on the ground that with schools having to be closed throughout the province for want of qualified teachers, that the department of education was not going to create a further drain for the purpose of providing teachers for Japanese children.

BAR SUPERVISOR PLAN.
The commission, as an alternative plan, suggested the department of education provide 13 white supervisors and engage 113 Japanese teachers, or coaches. This was refused.
The position assumed by Mr. Perry, who is backed by the entire cabinet, is that the education problem for Japanese was created by the Dominion and not the Provincial Government. It was the Dominion, through the B.C. Security Commission, that moved the Nipponese as a war security measure.

SYSTEM AMPLE BEFORE.
Mr. Perry pointed out in a letter to the commission that British Columbia's school system was ample to take care of Japanese as well as white children before the movement to the interior was started. The government does not feel that is should be called on to enlarge its school system for the accommodation of wards of the Dominion. In fact the executive council backs Mr. Perry in:

Refusing to accept any responsibility, financial or otherwise, for education of Japanese children who are under control of the B.C. Security Commission.
Refusing to instruct rural and municipal school boards that they must make provision to provide educational facilities for Japanese.

Reserves Train In Building Japs Once Used Here
In the building at 439 Alexander that once housed the Japanese Language School, Canadian troopers are learning to fight and kill the sons of Nippon.
Headquarters of the Six Field Company, R.C.E. (Reserve) was moved from the old Y.M.C.A. building into the east end premises this week and on training nights the men of the Reserve Engineering force are being taught to build bridges and blow them up. The school, vacated with the evacuation of Japanese from coastal areas, was a centre of Oriental culture before the war. Young Jap children were taught the language and customs of their parents' homeland in late afternoon classes that followed attendance at city public schools.

Education of Japanese Canadian students in question
(Sept. 1942)

"When we Japanese Canadian pupils got to Strathcona school, we were told in groups or individually by Mr. Glass, the vice-principal, that we could not come to school anymore. Because Canada was at war with Japan.

Instead, he said, we were only allowed to collect our personal items from our former classrooms. So I went into the Grade 7 classroom and got my belongings, which I had left there in June.

I will never forget the sad expression on the face of Miss Bolton, my Grade 7 teacher, as she said goodbye, shaking her head." - Shogo Kobayashi, pg. 1, Teaching in Canadian Exile.

Consider the following questions as you read this news article:

Why would the government of BC refuse to pay for the education of Japanese Canadian students?
Do you think the federal government built schools in the internment camps?
If there were schools in the camps who would have supplied the teachers?
Do you believe the students could have enrolled in public schools at the towns near the internment camps? Why or why not?

Artifact 5 - Official Notice

Order In Council Notice:

NOTICETO ALL PERSONS OF
JAPANESE RACIAL ORIGINHaving reference to the Protected Area of British Columbia as described in an Extra of the Canada Gazette, No. 174 dated Ottawa, Monday, February 2, 1942:

EVERY PERSON OF THE JAPANESE RACE, WHILE WITHIN THE PROTECTED AREA AFORESAID, SHALL HEREAFTER BE AT HIS USUAL PLACE OF RESIDENCE EACH DAY BEFORE SUNSET AND SHALL REMAIN THEREIN UNTIL SUNRISE ON THE FOLLOWING DAY, AND NO SUCH PERSON SHALL GO OUT OF HIS USUAL PLACE OF RESIDENCE AFORESAID UPON THE STREETS OR OTHERWISE DURING THE HOURS BETWEEN SUNSET AND SUNRISE;
NO PERSON OF THE JAPANESE RACE SHALL HAVE IN IS POSSESSION OR USE IN SUCH PROTECTED AREA ANY MOTOR VEHICLE, CAMERA, RADIO TRANSMITTER, RADIO RECEIVING SET, FIREARM, AMMUNITION OR EXPLOSIVE;
IT SHALL BE THE DUTY OF EVERY PERSON OF THE JAPANESE RACE HAVING IN HIS POSSESSION OR UPON HIS PREMISES ANY ARTICLE MENTIONED IN THE NEXT PRECEDING PARAGRAPH, FORTHWITH TO CAUSE SUCH ARTICLE TO BE DELIVERED UP TO ANY JUSTICE OF THE PEACE RESIDING IN OR NEAR THE LOCALITY WHERE ANY SUCH ARTICLE IS HAD IN POSSESSION, OR TO AN OFFICER OR CONSTABLE OF THE POLICE FORCE OF THE PROVINCE OR CITY IN OR NEAR SUCH LOCALITY OR TO AN OFFICER OR CONSTABLE OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE.
ANY JUSTICE OF THE PEACE OR OFFICER OR CONSTABLE RECEIVING ANY ARTICLE MENTIONED IN PARAGRAPH 2 OF THIS ORDER SHALL GIVE TO THE PERSON DELIVERING THE SAME A RECEIPT THEREFOR AND SHALL REPORT THE FACT TO THE COMMISSIONER OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE, AND SHALL RETAIN OR OTHERWISE DISPOSE OF ANY SUCH ARTICLE AS DIRECTED BY THE SAID COMMISSION.
ANY PEACE OFFICER OR ANY OFFICER OR CONSTABLE OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE HAVING POWER TO ACT AS SUCH PEACE OFFICER OR OFFICER OR CONSTABLE IN THE SAID PROTECTED AREA, IS AUTHORIZED TO SEARCH WITHOUT WARRANT THE PREMISES OR ANY PLACE OCCUPIED OR BELIEVED TO BE OCCUPIED BY ANY PERSON OF THE JAPANESE RACE REASONABLY SUSPECTED OF HAVING IN HIS POSSESSION OR UPON HIS PREMISES ANY ARTICLE MENTIONED IN PARAGRAPH 2 OF THIS ORDER, AND TO SEIZE ANY SUCH ARTICLE FOUND ON SUCH PREMISES;
EVERY PERSON OF THE JAPANESE RACE SHALL LEAVE THE PROTECTED AREA AFORESAID FORTHWITH;
NO PERSON OF THE JAPANESE RACE SHALL LEAVE THE PROTECTED AREA EXCEPT UNDER PERMIT ISSUED BY THE ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE;
IN THIS ORDER, "PERSONS OF THE JAPANESE RACE" MEANS, AS WELL AS ANY PERSON WHOLLY OF THE JAPANESE RACE, A PERSON NOT WHOLLY OF THE JAPANESE RACE IF HIS FATHER OR MOTHER IS OF THE JAPANESE RACE AND IF THE COMMISSIONER OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE BY NOTICE IN WRITING HAS REQUIRED OR REQUIRES HIM TO REGISTER PURSUANT TO ORDER-IN-COUNCIL P.C. 9760 OF DECEMBER 16th, 1941.

DATED AT OTTAWA THIS 26th DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1942.

Louis S. St. Laurent
Minister of JusticeTo Be Posted in a Conspicuous Place- End of Order In Council Notice -

Notice To All Persons of Japanese Racial Origin (Feb. 26, 1942)

The Order in Council PC 1486, passed on February 23, 1942 authorized the removal of all "persons of Japanese racial origin" and gave the RCMP the power to search without warrant, enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew, and to confiscate cars, cameras, radios, and firearms.

Consider the following questions as you read over this document:

What are some of the restrictions that were placed on Japanese Canadians by this notice?
What duties must Japanese Canadians comply with according to this notice?
What legal rights are being denied to Japanese Canadians by this notice?

Artifact 6

Hastings Park Detention Centre (1942)

For Japanese Canadians from outlying areas the first stop on the road to exile was Hastings Park. Women and children were assigned to the livestock building. Men were housed in the Forum. Conditions were barbaric - privacy was non-existent; the latrines were open gutters; the food unpalatable. Outbreaks of diarrhea added to the misery. Many were confined there for months without knowing where they would be sent or what had become of their husbands, families and relatives.

Consider the following questions as you examine this photograph:

Consider the sounds, smells, and feelings that you would experience here.
How would you feel about sleeping in this room?
Approximately how many Japanese Canadians would have been detained here?

Artifact 7

Arriving in Tashme (March 1942)

Trains and trucks were used to forcibly remove the 22,000 Japanese Canadians from the 100 mile "protected area" of the west coast of British Columbia in the spring, summer and fall of 1942. The family camps were located in mining ghost towns or were created on leased farmland or ranchland in the interior of British Columbia.

Consider the following questions as you examine this photograph:

How would you feel if this happened to your family?
What would you miss the most if you were uprooted and sent off to the interior of BC?
Each person could only bring one suitcase, maximum weight 150 lbs. for adults, 75 lbs. for children. What would you bring? What would you have left behind?
Consider the transportation methods used to bring people to the camps.

Artifact 8

A Death of a Fellow Inmate - Prisoner of War Camp - Angler, Ontario (1942)

Issei and Nisei internees at Angler were treated as enemy prisoners-of-war with a line up for roll call each morning. The large circle on their backs made a perfect target should they try to escape. The 766 inmates ranged in age from 17 to 60. The majority were Nisei from the Mass Evacuation Group who protested the splitting up of families and demanded removal in family units.

Consider the following questions as you examine this photograph:

What crimes have these men committed?
Is it accurate to label these Japanese Canadian men as "prisoners-of-war"?
What war have they fought?
Why are they incarcerated here instead of an internment camp?
Where is Angler?

Artifact 9 - Notice

BC Security Commission Notice:

Vancouver, B.C.
May 19, 1942.IMPORTANT NOTICE(This notice cancels the "White" notice issued May 12, 1942)

Listed below are general instructions respecting baggage and food to be taken to the Projects as shown, and deals only, with information pertaining to groups leaving Vancouver area to Commission Projects.

INTERIOR HOUSING PROJECTS:

Each adult will be allowed 150 pounds and each child will be allowed 75 pounds of Baggage, consisting of personal effects, including kitchen utensils, blankets, clothing and mattresses. These items will be carried in the baggage car of the same train FREE.
Crated pedal sewing machine (one per family) the Baggage car of the same train FREE.
30 pounds of hand baggage per person and food for at least 3 days, to be taken in the passenger car with you. The Commission will allow $1.00 per person to those going to the Interior Housing Towns for the purchase of this food.

SUGAR BEET PROJECTS:

Same as above. Except that owing to the greater distance to Alberta and Manitoba $2.00 per person will be allowed, for food.

WORK CAMP PROJECTS:

100 pounds of Baggage FREE (Baggage car of same train).
30 pounds of hand baggage and blankets FREE (in the passenger car with you).

PLEASE NOTE THAT STOVES ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED
Additional Baggage over the weight allowed can be stored in Vancouver and forwarded by freight at the owner's risk and expense when required, and when room at the Project is available.

J. SHIRRAS, Commissioner
British Columbia Security Commission- End of Security Commission Notice -

Transportation of luggage/baggage to work camps, housing projects and sugar beet projects. (May 1942)

The BC Security Commission devised three major destinations for the dispersal of the Japanese Canadians:

"ghost" towns in the BC interior where empty buildings were available for housing to be used as internment sites;
sugar beet farms in Alberta and Manitoba where there was a demand for cheap labour, and;
work camps for able-bodied men.

Consider the following questions as you read over this document:

What are some of the restrictions that were placed on Japanese Canadians by this notice?
What duties must Japanese Canadians comply with according to this notice?
What legal rights are being denied to Japanese Canadians by this notice?

Artifact10

Letter to Office of the Custodian:

Kaslo, B.C. September 21st, 1944.

Office of the Custodian,
Department of the Secretary of State,
Royal Bank Building,
Vancouver, B.C.

Dear Sirs:

I have recently been advised that you sold my farmland which is known and descrived as S1/4 of NW1/4 of Sec. 32, T.P.2, District of New Westminster and located in the Municipality of Surrey, to the Director of the Veterans' Land Act.

I should like to point out to you that the alleged transfer of this property was made without any consultation to me and without my consent. I do object to your action and I hereby protest for this forced sale of my property.

I am an ex-service man having served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in the last Great War, and this farmland was acquired by me through the Solier Settlement Board for the price of $3200 in 1919. Since I bought this wild land, 32 acres were cleared by me out of which 20 acres are undercultivation and productive, and also since then two dwellings, two roots houses, a barn and a woodened were built, thus the value of the property was estimated to be approximately $14000.00.

I can not but think that you are wrongfully exercising your capacity in selling property of an exservice man for the purpose of reselling the same to an ex-service man of the present war.

Hoping this will draw your special attention, I am,

Yours truly,

Z. Inouye

- End of Letter -

Letter to the Office of the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property (Sept. 1944)

The Order in Council PC 1665 (Spring 1942) entrusted to the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property all the belongings of Japanese Canadians as a "protective measure only". PC 5523 (June 1942) The Director of Soldier Settlement is given authority to purchase or lease farms owned by Japanese Canadians. January 1943, the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property is granted the right to dispose of Japanese Canadian properties in his care without the owners' consent.

Consider the following questions as you read this letter:

Why is Mr. Inouye upset in the letter?
How would you feel if your home was sold without the consent of your parents?
Would your feelings change if your family was paid fairly for the home? What if the amount paid was very unfair?
Why does Mr. Inouye take the time to point out that he is an "ex-serviceman"?

Artifact 11

Slocan City train station (Spring 1946)

Canadian-born children Yukiko and Sakon (Don) Sato were exiled to Japan. Dan was born in Slocan 2 years earlier. He remained in Japan until 1960. Before the deportation orders were cancelled in Jan. 1947, 4,000 Japanese Canadians had already been "repatriated".

Photo: JC Centennial Project and JCCA Collection.

Consider the following questions as you examine this photograph:

Consider the expressions on the faces of these children and their mother. Do you think they are happy about leaving Canada?
If you were the boy/girl in this photograph what feelings would you have about living in a new country?
What hardships do you think they will face in Japan?
Why would this family choose to move to Japan in 1946?

Artifact 12

Government Notice:

DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR
CANADA

NOTICETo All Persons of Japanese Racial Origin
Now Resident in British Columbia

Japanese Nationals and others of Japanese racial origin who will be returning to Japan, have been informed by notice issued on the authority of the Honourable Minister of Labour, that provision has been made for their return and for the filling of an application for such return. Conditions in regard to property and transportation have been made public.
Japanese Canadians who want to remain in Canada should now re-establish themselves Fast of the Rockies as the best evidence of their intentions to co-operate with the Government policy of dispersal.
Failure to accept employment east of the Rockies may be regarded at a later date as lack of co-operation with the Canadian Government in carrying out its policy of dispersal.
Several thousand Japanese have already re-established themselves satisfactorily east of the Rockies.
Those who do not take advantage of present opportunities for employment and settlement outside British Columbia at this time, while employment opportunities are favourable, will find conditions of employment and settlement considerably more difficult at a later date and may seriously prejudice their own future by delay.
To assist those who want to re-establish themselves in Canada, the Japanese Divison Placement Offices and the Employment and Selective Service Offices, with the assistance of local Advisory Committees, are making special efforts this Spring to open up suitable employment opportunities across Canada in various lines of endeavour, and in areas where prospects of suitable employment are best.
The Department will also provide free transportation to Eastern Canada for members of a family and their effects, a maintenance allowance to be used while in transit, and a placement allowance based in amount on the size of the family.

T.B. PICKERSGILL,
Commissioner of Japanese PlacementVancouver, B.C.
March 12th, 1945

- End of Notice -

Notice of Dispersal and "Repatriation" to Japan (Mar. 1945)

The war with Japan was all but over and as Japanese Americans were returning to their homes and businesses which were not confiscated and liquidated, Japanese Canadians were having to demonstrate their loyalty by dispersing east of the Rockies, or face "repatriation" to Japan.

Consider the following questions as you read through this document:

Why did the government of Canada force Japanese Canadians to move east of the Rocky Mountains even though the war with Japan was over?
What factors would Japanese Canadian families weigh as they consider the choice of moving east or moving to Japan?
How many Japanese Canadians moved to Japan because of this order from the government of Canada?