The Reach P9320  The Japanese community at Clayburn just prior to the evacuation to internment camps in 1942.

Back row, left to right: Minoru Kodama, Ken Sugimura, Riichi Sasaki, Genichi Sasaki, Mr. Takaki, Mr. Yanoshita, Mr. Matsui, Mr. Sugiyama, Mr. S. Fujikawa & child, Mr. Matsumoto & child, Muney Sameshima,
Hiroshi Sameshima, Yoshio Sugimura, Kaoru Matsui.
3rd row, left to right: Tsuyoshi Kodama, Kazuo Matsui, Jiro Sasaki, Masao Matsui, Isamu Kodama, Mr. Morizaki, Mr. Sekine, Mr. M. Sameshima, Yasuye Adachi, Sumi Matsui, Yoshi Sasaki, Hannah Kodama, Chitoa “Alice” Sasaki, Tomi Sasaki, Betty Sugimura, Fusako Sameshima, Ruriko Adachi, Michiko Matsumoto,
2nd row, left to right: Toshiko Sameshima, Mitsue Matsui, Kyoko Sameshima, Mrs. Takaki & child, Mrs. Morizaki, Mrs, Adachi, Mrs. Sugiyama, Mrs. Yanoshita & child, Mrs. Sameshima & Teruo, Mrs. Fujikawa, Mrs. M. Sasaki, Mrs. Matsumoto & Tsutomu, Akiye Kodama, Kazuko Yamumatsu.
Front row, left to right: Tadao Kodama, Masaru Morizaki, ? Takaki, ? Takaki, Tsuguo Matsumoto, Tomio Adachi, Toshio Adachi, Mrs. Matsui, Yoshiko Morizaki, Setsuko Morizaki, Fumiko Adachi, Mary Sugiyama, Yemiko Sasaki, Leiko Sameshima, Emiko Sameshima, ? Yanoshita, Lillian Fujikawa, ? Yanoshita, ? Fujikawa, Minoru Matsui, Shizue Matsumoto.

The first wave of Japanese immigration to Canada (B.C.) aarived between 1877 and 1928 and were known as the Issei.  In the beginning, most of these immigrants were young men, literate, who hailed from overcrowded fishing villages on the southern islands of Kyushu and Honshu.  Most settled in or around Victoria or Vancouver, in fishing villages or pulp towns along the coast, and on farms in the Fraser Valley.  Upon arrival there, pioneer Japanese immigrants took up jobs in mines, logging camps, sawmills, or on fishing boats in local coastal villages and later began to explore working as merchants and shopkeepers.  Others used farming experience to prosper in the Fraser Valley and Okanagan; as they gained skills and knowledge of the Canadian agricultural landscape they moved into the front ranks of fruit and garden industries.

Large Japanese communities established at Mt. Lehman, Bradner and Clayburn.  A Buddhist Temple and Japanese language school were built at Mt. Lehman and the Clayburn Japanese community school building still stands today on Murphy Road.  The Abbotsford Lumber Company provided employment to many local men struggling to make their property profitable and the Japanese were no exception.  A local newspaper’s 1921 study found that in the Matsqui district, Japanese farmers owned 680 acres of land.

The Japanese population in B.C. continued to grow despite continuing efforts to curb immigration but a significant chapter in Japanese-Canadian history occurred on December 7th, 1941, when the American naval base Pearl Harbour was targeted in a surprise attack by Japan.  In Canada, years of smoldering hostility and resentment exploded into panic and anger, particularly in British Columbia. Within days of the Pearl Harbour attacks, the CPR had fired all of its Japanese workers, and other Canadian businesses quickly following suit.  Japanese fishing boats were ordered to stay in port, and some 1,200 fishing boats were seized by the Canadian navy. While initially Ottawa and the RCMP tried to calm the panic by insisting that fears of disloyalty and sabotage by Japanese Canadians were unfounded, they quickly bowed under the pressure of public opinion.  On December 18th, 1941, hostilities increased exponentially as Japan attacked Hong Kong, killing or imprisoning most of the 2,000 Canadian soldiers stationed on the island.

By January of the next year a 100-mile wide strip of coast had been designated a “protected area” by the federal government operating under the protection of the “War Measures Act”, and all Japanese males aged 18 to 45 were removed from the area and taken to camps in the interior of the province. On March 4th, this order was extended to include all people of Japanese origin who lived within the protected area. Families were separated as men joined work gangs, and women and children were held in shantytowns deep in the B.C. wilderness.