Suitcase Travelers: Japanese Immigrants

1912 to 1941

Population of Pitt Meadows: 1,100 people (1941)

Japanese Canadian immigrants were treated terribly when they arrived in this country. There was a surge of anti-Asian discrimination and violence towards them, and in September of 1907, there were violent anti-Asian riots in Vancouver! These Japanese immigrants faced a country that was hostile towards them, and yet they thrived until the Second World War when a country in fear forcibly removed them from their homes.

How they would have gotten to Pitt Meadows during this time

At this time to arrive in Pitt Meadows from Japan, immigrants would have had to sail across the Pacific Ocean which would take approximately 10 to 14 days depending on the weather conditions and the ship's speed. Then you would have to pass through immigration and customs which could take a while. Once you were released, you would have to travel to Pitt Meadows by train or vehicle as by this point Pitt Meadows was accessible by train (only two trains a day though) or car (as we finally had the Pitt River Bridge built in 1915).

History of Pitt Meadows and British Columbia during that time

Around the 20th century, Japanese immigrants began arriving in Canada much to the anger of many white citizens. This group was denied voting rights on racial grounds regardless of whether they were British subjects or not and denied work in certain industries. The province also attempted to limit immigration with little success at the beginning. By 1907, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier negotiated a deal with Japanese officials to limit immigration from Japan to 400 adult men per year, with the number dwindling to 150 by 1928 (Although this number was rarely met). Many immigrants afterwards would be women joining their husbands or unmarried women who had fiancés in Canada at the time. The Continuous Journey Regulation 1908 that targeted Indian immigrants also impacted Japanese immigrants, as they also had to do a continuous journey and therefore could no longer have a stop in Hawaii which was a primary immigration route In 1940, by allying with Nazi Germany, immigration from Japan was ceased and would not begin again until the mid-1960’s.

Around the same time Pitt Meadows became a municipality (1914),Japanese Canadian farmers began to arrive in the area. Many of the Japanese farmers grew berries for a living. Most of these berries were strawberries. Some families, such as the Fujimoto’s, had arrived in the community as early as 1912. By the 1920s, Pitt Meadows had a vibrant Japanese Community with activities at the Japanese Canadian Meeting Hall which supported activities like farming and preserving their language. The Pitt Meadows Japanese Farmers' Association was organized in the 1920s for educational purposes and community activities. It provided information related to agricultural practices and skills through means such as seminars and brochures. Its leadership closely overlapped that of other organizations in the community such as the Japanese Language School. In 1928, it was united with other similar organizations of Japanese farmers in the Lower Fraser Valley under the Consolidated Farmers' Association of the Fraser Valley. The Association ceased to be active after the war broke out in the Pacific in December 1941, when all the Japanese Canadian organizations were ordered to stop operating. The chairpersons and leaders of the Association in the 1930s and early 1940s included Keizo Yamada, Usaburo Hirami, Kinya Hinatsu, Kunizo Mori, Mankicki Iemoto and Sukesaku Hayakawa. The Japanese Canadian Meeting Hall, which is located on Advent Road a short distance west from Harris Road was built in 1939 on two acres of land that had been purchased a few years earlier for $200.00. The Pitt Meadows Japanese Canadian community had only a few short years to enjoy it as it was expropriated by the government in 1942.

What they would have brought with them

Often, the only items most immigrants would have brought with them were clothes. They were also a way to keep their culture, as they would have been very different from Western clothing options. Most would bring minimal items, like clothing, religious items, or photographs and mementos, as it would have been too expensive to ship heavier/bulky items across the Pacific. If one could bring items of significance, they would have been costly but would have brought back memories that would have been worth the price. Families would have also “brought” with them traditional recipes, and that would have been a way to connect with their culture and memories from home.

Internment

History of Pitt Meadows and British Columbia during that time

By 1941, Japanese Canadians in the area were already limiting themselves due to government requirements. Notifications were given to the Japanese Citizens of the area of things to avoid such as: Shutting off lights at night and drawing the blinds, using candles instead of electric lights, not using telephones, not volunteering for the Canadian military, taking down your radio antennas, don’t write anything political, always bring your ID card, don’t bring any cameras in public. The Japanese had to give up their land, their hall, and most of their possessions when they were forced to leave Pitt Meadows during the War in 1942. In Pitt Meadows, there were 238 Japanese Canadians who were forced to leave.

In March 1941, all Japanese Canadians were required to register with the government and were fingerprinted and given ID cards that they would have to carry with them. Beginning on February 24th, 1942 (Order-In-Council P.C. 1486),around 21,000 Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed from their home, and all people of Japanese ancestry (citizen or not) were to be removed from the 100-mile zone inland from the Coast. They were stripped of their property which was later sold off with the profits being taken from them. They were then placed in internment camps where they would remain for the rest of the war. The Japanese were forced to pay to support their internment, with exploited labour or their funds. A lot of the Japanese were pressured into accepting mass deportation back to Japan rather than their homes on the Coast once the war ended or they were offered to settle outside of British Columbia. The Japanese were not allowed to return to the West Coast until April 1st, 1949. All the Japanese Canadians that once called Pitt Meadows home before the war never returned, some choosing to settle in their displaced places in Manitoba.

In 1988, the federal government officially apologized for its treatment of Japanese Canadians. A redress payment of $21,000 was made to each survivor.

What they would have brought with them to internment Camps

In Canada, the Japanese internees were given weight limits of what they were allowed to bring to the internment camps, those weights were 150 pounds per adult and 75 pounds per child. There wasn’t a list or anything that they were told to bring in Canada, it was left open-ended for the person to decide.

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This family story is told to us via Toshio Suzuki. He was seven years old in the spring of 1942 when he and his family were ordered off their farm and put on a train at Port Hammond for the internment camps.

Suzuki family history

“My parents' names were Sadao and Kuni Suzuki who immigrated to Canada around 1929 and settled in Pitt Meadows. They owned a 10-acre property on Advent Road as well as a 6-acre plot on the north side of Hammond Road at the “escarpment”. They grew strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, asparagus and daikon. In 1942, at the start of WW2, they and three children were forced out of their home by the government and interned in Manitoba to toil in the sugar beet fields. Like other Japanese in Pitt Meadows and elsewhere, their properties were seized and sold off with very little compensation.

As a young boy, I remember toiling in the sugar beet fields. From Grade 4 through Grade 10, it was necessary for me to miss 4 to 6 weeks of school each year to work in the beet fields to supplement the family income. Our family’s economic survival depended on my two older siblings and I to contribute. Towards the end of the war, German POW’s were brought to Manitoba to work in the same sugar beet fields. We worked 10 hours per day but they only worked from 8 am to 4 pm. Incredibly, they were allowed to return home to Germany as soon as the war ended while we did not have permission to return to BC until 1949.

However, my parent’s first choice was to stay in Manitoba. They entered an agreement to purchase a small market garden farm near Winnipeg during the fall of 1949. However, when the property was flooded during the 1950 Red River flood, they cancelled the purchase and decided to return to BC. The family resettled in Surrey, BC in late 1950.”

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Japanese Canadians in Pitt Meadows built a life for themselves here in their new country. It was fear, racism, and war that ripped them away from their community and changed their story.

Culture Days 2024.