photos from the Salt Spring Island Archives, unless otherwise noted
Masuo Mikado Working at the Paldi Camp
Paldi BC
post-1918
In 1918 Mayo Singh invited three Japanese Canadian men, with whom he had worked in Chilliwack, to come to Paldi to work for him in the logging camp that he had established. The town was home to workers of many backgrounds. Restrictions on immigrants sometimes made finding jobs difficult, but Paldi and the Mayo Bros. mill hired many ethnicities – Japanese, Chinese and Indian workers.
Okano Family House
Salt Spring Island BC
1920
Previously owned by Mr. Sharp, this house (on what is now Sharp Road) became the home of the Okano family in January 1920. They added to the front of the house and to the upstairs.
The Okano Family developed a very successful farm at this location.
Feeding the Chickens
Salt Spring Island BC
1920
Kumanosuke Okano with daughters, Sayoko and Kimiko at their Sharp Road farm.
Central School - Class of 1929 School Photo
Salt Spring Island BC
1929
Central (Vesuvius) School started in 1864. According to the book Snapshots of Early Salt Spring, the first teacher was a black man who graduated from the University of Ohio. The school had many students; a class of up to 30 students in eight grades, but it didn’t have running water or electricity even in the early 1930’s.
This photograph shows the size of the community of people of Asian descent living on Salt Spring prior to the uprooting.
Central School - Class of 1931 School Photo
Salt Spring Island BC
1931
Okano and Murakami Family
Salt Spring Island BC
ca 1930s
Family portrait of the Okano and Murakami families.
Seated l to r: Kimiko Murakami with infant Alice on her knee, Riyo Okano
Standing l to r: Victor Okano, Miyoko Okano, James Okano, Kumanosuke Okano, Katsuyori Murakami, Sayoko Okano
The Okanos grew tomatoes in an immense greenhouse which they eventually expanded to 180' x 300'. A second plant house was 98' x 150'. The Okanos sold their raspberries, strawberries, and vegetables to A. P. Slades, a produce distributor in Victoria. The Okanos were the first residents on Sharp Road, but in time they had several neighbours. In 1932, the Murakamis bought 17 acres (7 ha) at the end of Sharp Road, adjacent to the Okano’s land. Katsuyori and Kimiko planted three acres in asparagus and another three acres in strawberries. They also kept 5,000 chickens, selling the eggs to Mouat's store in Ganges, which then sold them to Victoria.
Murakami Family
Salt Spring Island BC
1938
Katsuyori and Kimiko Murakami with their children. Alice Murakami, standing, Violet and Mary, seated and Rose on Kimiko’s knee.
After years of hard work, Katsuyori and Kimiko realized their dream. The fertile land produced top quality berries that were served at the Empress Hotel to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their visit to Victoria in 1939. Their asparagus and other vegetables were also sought after in Victoria and Vancouver.
Youth Gathering at Mikado Farm
Salt Spring Island BC
1935
The Mikado family property ran along Lower Ganges Road and Norton Road and included the area where the RCMP building now stands.
Photo courtesy Mikado Family Collection
Young People’s Picnic
1938
Rose Murakami recognized the faces when she saw the photograph.
“The only female I know is my sister, Alice, the very young girl standing behind the young men sitting in the front.
Facing the picture, starting at the top left, back row, the person on the end is Peter Murakami, no relation to us. Peter and his father owned most of what is now called Wildwood Crescent. Their home is still on the property. The next person with a hat is Rev. Gordon G. Nakayama, Anglican priest.
In front of Peter is Philip Murakami, our cousin through our mothers. Beside Peter is Ken Ito. In the very front row, starting from the left is George Murakami, brother to Philip, next is a Mikado, possibly Doug, next is Luke Murakami, brother of Philip and George. The boy with a cap in the front row is another Mikado. I think his name is Bob.
On the very right, second from the end, wearing a white hat and white pants is my uncle, Victor Okano, my mother's brother.”
Mikado Children
Salt Spring Island BC
1940
The children in front of their Norton Road house. Masukichi and Tsutayo Mikado had eight children. In 1942 the Canadian government relocated the Mikado family to Alberta, where several sons were still living in the late-nineties. Members of the Mikado family still return to Salt Spring to visit with old friends.
Mikado House
Salt Spring Island BC
1940
The Mikado property on Norton Road, fronting Lower Ganges Road.
Seen across the road is the Scott house.
Masukichi Mikado was only seventeen in 1902 when he left Hiroshima to work in the sugar-cane fields of Hawaii. Three years later he moved to Chemainus, BC. In 1914, Masukichi returned to Japan to marry Tsutayo Okada. The couple returned to Chemainus the same year and then moved to Salt Spring, where Masukichi worked on Harry Bullock’s farm. In 1936, the Mikados purchased their first Salt Spring land on Norton Road, where they built their home, ran a laundry business, and raised seven children. Bob Rush, a long time Salt Spring resident, remembered being raised by Mary Mikado, who worked for his parents.
Photo courtesy Mikado Family Collection
Okano Farm Greenhouses
Salt Spring Island BC
1941
The Okano greenhouses as they looked in 1941. After the family was sent into exile in 1942, they were vandalized.
Aunti Iko and Yvonne
Salt Spring Island BC
ca 1940s
Iko Tasaka was the eleventh child in a family of seventeen. Her parents Isaburo and Yorie Tasaka lived in Ganges between Drake and Seaview roads, behind the present-day Embe Bakery. Iko is pictured here with Yvonne, the daughter of her brother Arizo and his wife Hatsue.
The Tasakas fished in Steveston in the summer and in winter returned to their Salt Spring property where Mr. Tasaka worked as a carpenter and stone mason. He also built two charcoal pit kilns and produced charcoal when he wasn’t busy fishing. He sold charcoal to canneries, blacksmiths, and a soap factory.
Photo courtesy Tasaka Family Collection
Fish Saltery
Pender Island BC
ca 1930s
In 1895, Mr. Hayashi bought 160 acres of Pender Island waterfront from Washington Grimmer. The property extended from present-day Otter Bay Marina in Hayashi Cove to James Point at the end of what is now MacKinnon Road. Mr. Hayashi was a logger supplying cordwood for the canneries on the Fraser River. He established a camp at the small cove on the north shore of Otter Bay and brought in other loggers and their families.
The property changed hands and in 1929 it was developed by British Columbia Fish Salteries. The saltery was controlled by a Japanese interest, Matsuyama Co., which exported salted herring in wooden cases to the Orient. Over 12,000 square feet of wharfing was developed and the saltery provided seasonal employment to Pender Islanders during the winter herring season. The property was confiscated by the Government in 1942 following the declaration of war and converted to a cannery for a few years. After the war it again reverted to a saltery until it was destroyed by fire in 1956.
Photo courtesy Pender Islands Museum
Four Young Japanese Canadian Girls
Mayne Island BC
ca 1920s
Maggie, aka Toshiko, was the youngest child of Kumazo and Kiyono Nagata and grew up on Mayne Island in a house that still stands on Village Bay Road (currently operated as The Groove Restaurant).
Annie Sumi was the daughter of Kikumatsu and Kuma Sumi. She was born on Mayne Island, the fourth of six children.
During the war Annie and her family worked on a beet farm in Alberta and ‘started a new life in a community close to Lethbridge.’
Ai Kosumi may be the daughter of Chotara Kosumi who settled on Mayne Island and established a poultry farm and greenhouses.
Several Japanese Canadian farmers were members of the Active Pass Growers’ Association: a collective with eight acres under glass, growing tomatoes for export from Mayne Island to the Mainland and Vancouver Island.
Naka Adachi: not much is known about Naka. She was likely a friend to one or all of the young women shown here and she undoubtedly would have been with the over fifty Japanese Canadian residents of Mayne Island that were removed to the Hastings Park cattle barns on the CPR Steamship Princess Mary, April 21, 1942.
Photos courtesy Mayne Island Museum
Fishing Fleet
Mayne Island BC
pre-1942
While the date of this photo is unknown, we can assume it was before the War Measures Act was enacted in February, 1942. Fishing licenses for Japanese Canadians had slowly been rescinded by the government since 1925, but immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, 1,800 Japanese Canadian fishing boats were seized and impounded.
