photos from the Salt Spring Island Archives, unless otherwise noted
Omadan and His Wife
Salt Spring Island BC
ca 1880
Omadan and his wife were Japanese nationals, employed on the Ruckle farm on Beaver Point between 1875 and 1900. It was a common practice for Japanese nationals to be brought from Japan to work on farms for a period of time. The arrangements were made through an organization in Victoria. The Japanese hoped to save their wages to take back to Japan, to improve their lives back home.
Okano Family
Salt Spring Island BC
ca 1908
Kumanosuke Okano and his wife Riyo with three of their children, Kimiko, Sayoko and infant, Kazue who died in 1911 at the age of two years.
Kumanosuke Okano was considered a leader amongst the Japanese on Salt Spring Island. He was a successful fisherman who later bought acreage around Booth Canal and virgin forest on Rainbow Road. Kumanosuke knew that the Japanese Canadians on Salt Spring must become an integral part of the community, so encouraged giving to the churches, such as the fund to buy a new organ for the Anglican Church, giving food to people in need, fighting forest fires on the Island, and contributing money and labour for the building of the Consolidated School on Rainbow Road. Kumanosuke was an upstanding citizen who gave much to his community.
Kimiko Okano
passport photo taken in Japan
1919
The passport photo of Kimiko Okano when she was fifteen years old. Kimiko is dressed in traditional Japanese costume.
In March 1919, after several years spent back in Japan, Kimiko and her sister rejoined their parents in Canada. The family spent some time in Crofton before moving again to Salt Spring the next year.
In December 1919, the Okano’s sold three of their fishing boats to finance the purchase of their first 50 acres (20 ha) of Salt Spring land. In time, the Okano’s bought a total of 200 acres (80 ha), stretching from the end of Booth Bay east to Sharp Road and past Rainbow Road. After that they began to do more farming than fishing, giving up fishing completely in about 1924.
Japanese Canadian Labourers on Bullock Farm
Salt Spring Island BC post-1901
The 1901 census has Harry Bullock listed as a farmer. It also listed fifty-nine Japanese Canadians living on Salt Spring, often listing their occupations as fisherman, labourer, cook, or farm hand. As disenfranchised members of the community, they could not hold professional positions. Those who were able to, eventually bought their own properties. They were not permitted to buy Crown land however, and could only buy their land privately. Many early Japanese Canadians on Salt Spring such as those pictured here earned wages as labourers on the farms and homesteads of white settlers. They had a reputation as excellent workers, though they were usually paid less than their non-Asian counterparts.
Japanese Canadian Labourers
Salt Spring Island BC post-1901
Japanese Canadian labourers employed by Harry Bullock on the Bullock Farm. Kimiko Murakami remembered Bullock as a very kind man who befriended people of Japanese ancestry. A few, including Junichi Izumi and his two sons, lived and worked on Bullock's estate.
Baby with Monk Farm Workers
Salt Spring Island BC 1909
“They used to come to me at night, to learn to read from an infant's Reader; in return they used to cut and stack a fine lot of fire-wood for us every Sunday. They were deeply interested in the baby. I have snapshots of all these people and things, and very precious they are.”
Kyrle C. Symons
Kyrle taught at the Beaver Point school from 1908-1909.
Monk Farm Workers
Salt Spring Island BC 1909
From Kyrle Symon’s photo album left to right: “Yanagi, Matskubo, and Togo”
Matskubo
Salt Spring Island BC 1909
Matskubo lived and worked at the Monk family farm. He also did some work for the nearby Symon family in exchange for lessons in reading and writing. He is pictured here standing in front of the “Pea Vine” (Pavine) log cabin which the school teacher Kyrle Symons rented from the Ruckle family. The Pea Vine cabin still stands today in Ruckle Provincial Park.
