photos from the Salt Spring Island Archives, unless otherwise noted
Government Registration
Canada
1941
On May 25, 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor, government registration became compulsory for Japanese Canadians. All people of Japanese descent over the age of 18 were ordered to register with the RCMP.
These are the identification cards of Kaysuyori and Kimiko Murakami.
Evacuation Notice
100-mile Strip of Coastal BC
1942
Japanese Canadians were only allowed to take with them what they could carry. They left their houses, vehicles, and other possessions behind. Some were only given 24 hours’ notice. Many of these possessions were ransacked from the empty houses. The rest was quickly auctioned off by the government for a small fraction of its worth.
Japanese Canadians Leaving Salt Spring
Salt Spring Island BC
1942
Members of the Salt Spring community watched as their Japanese Canadian friends and neighbours board the ship that for most of them, marked the end of their lives on Salt Spring.
Manson Toynbee was a boy in 1942. He remembered their departure like this: “…they had been hard-working, honest people. They supported island projects; the building of the new school, the building of St. George’s Church. They were community-minded people … and the thing that really hurt me most was that there weren't many islanders on hand to see them off when they went. I remember my father and I standing around the wharf in Ganges, and there wasn't much of a crowd. And I think really it was that a lot of people just were torn by this. Maybe they were afraid they'd break down, some of them if they were present. But they were sent away, and this did upset me.”
Japanese Canadians Leaving Salt Spring
Salt Spring Island BC
1942
Another view of members of the Japanese Canadian community boarding the vessel that will take them away from Salt Spring Island.
Most of them never returned.
2_100 Mile Protected Area and Internment Camps
100-mile Strip of Coastal BC
1942
On 16 January 1945 Order in Council PC 365 declared the area from the west coast inland for 100 miles to be a ‘protected area’. An order in council the following month (1486) would call for the removal of all ‘persons of the Japanese race’ from this ‘protected area’ to points inland.
Yellowhead Pass Prison
Yellowhead Pass, Alberta
1942
Katsuyori Murakami with Phillip and Luke Murakami and Ron Inouye at the Yellowhead Pass Prison Road Camp. In July 1942, married men were released from the camps and permitted to join their families if they agreed to work in the sugar beet fields of Alberta. Katsuyori reunited with his family in Magrath, Alberta in August 1942.
Katsuyori Murakami at the Road Camp
Yellowhead Pass, Alberta
1942
Kimiko Murakami and Family
Greenwood BC
1942
Kimiko Murakami with her children, Richard, Mary, Rose, Violet and Alice in Greenwood BC after the family had been removed from their home on Salt Spring Island.
Kimiko Murakami and Family
Greenwood BC
1942
Japanese Canadians were only allowed to take with them what they could carry. They left their houses, vehicles and other possessions behind. Many of these were ransacked from the empty houses. The rest was quickly auctioned off by the government for a small fraction of its worth.
Richard Murakami
Roseberry BC
1945
“The picture was taken in Roseberry, BC prison camp. Richard is standing in front of our house so you can't see it. The house behind Richard was across the street in front of our neigbour's house. That house looks as if the “owner” put extra lumber on the outside of the house to keep out the cold. Our dad put cedar shakes on the outside side of the house we lived in because the green lumber that was used dried creating a space between each lumber. In the winter, even with the cedar shakes, our bedding froze stuck to the wall. “ Rose Murakami
United Church Kindergarten
Roseberry BC
1945
“During the confinement of Japanese Canadian people in Roseberry, BC, the United Church set up a school so that the children could continue their education. Japanese Canadian girls were trained to be teachers and became part of the teaching staff. This is Richard Murakami’s kindergarten class. He is fourth from the right in the middle row.
Japanese Canadian children were not permitted to attend the public schools.” Rose Murakami
Kimiko and Bruce
Roseberry BC
1945
Vested Properties
Salt Spring Island BC
1942
Prior to, during and in the years following the war, Salt Spring’s economy was based mainly on agriculture, logging and fishing, with a population of around 1500 to 2500. There was a population of about 77 Japanese prior to the outbreak of the war. Of the 11 Japanese properties taken, eight properties were sold to the Director of Soldier Settlement for the Veterans’ Land Act for returning veterans from WWII. They were all sold in 1944 and 1945.
Of the three properties not sold through the VLA, a 9.74 acre property owned by Masakichi Inouye (#1 on the Vested Properties table) was sold for $1550 to a Joseph M. Ford in 1945, and a larger undeveloped property of 65.89 acres belonging to Masayoshi Okano (#6 on the table) was sold for $300 to a Fred Orr in 1945. The much larger Iwasaki property (598.85 acres) near the north end of the island (#3 on the table) was purchased by Salt Spring Lands in March 1945 for $5250.00. It was an extraordinary low price. For example, the Okano property at 49.32 acres sold for $2926.00 compared to $5250.00 for 598.85 acres.
