Internment Site

The First Internment Site

It happened on a chilly Sunday afternoon on April 26th, 1942. Mayor McArthur and residents were at the train station [in Greenwood] to welcome their new neighbours and offer them transportation to the accommodations provided by the B.C. Security Commission. (Tasaka, 2014)

In January 1942, during the initial phase of the mass evacuation of the Nikkei, families were split up as Japanese nationals and physically fit men aged 18-45 were sent to road camps in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario under the order of the B.C. Security Commission (BCSC). The following month the federal government ordered the removal of all Nikkei from the protected zone, and it was not until July 1, 1942 that the BCSC agreed to reunite the men with their families.

Greenwood became the first internment site of Japanese Canadians, and many of the internees were from Steveston, the second largest community of Nikkei in Canada whose population reached an estimated 1,199 males and 952 females by 1940. As several fishing families wished to remain together, they approached the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement from the Catholic Mission who had played an active role in their community including the operation of the Japanese daycare and kindergarten facility in Steveston since 1931. Of the approximately 1,200 Nikkei sent to Greenwood, the Catholic Church organized the relocation of approximately 500 individuals or 100 families to this small community in the interior of B.C. Besides Steveston, the internees came from Vancouver and other parts of B.C. including Vancouver Island.

The role that the Catholic Church played in relocating Japanese families to Greenwood cannot be overstated. The wheels may have been set in motion when the Franciscan Sisters read a newspaper article that began, “The Mayor of Greenwood does not refuse to accept the Japanese into his ghost town.” Father Benedict Quigley, "considered to be the patron saint of the Nikkei Catholics,” negotiated with the Greenwood City Council and the BCSC to relocate Nikkei from the Catholic congregations in Vancouver and Steveston to Greenwood.

Greenwood was considered to be suitable with its many vacant buildings that could house the internees. Despite minor opposition from the Greenwood Council and its citizens to accept Japanese Canadians into their community, the proposal was passed almost unanimously after consulting with Mr. Boultbee, the BCSC representative. Purchases related to the internment site would be from the local merchants, and the BCSC hoped that an industry would be established to create employment for the Nikkei. To allay fears that they would move around the country, permits issued by the police would be required. Mayor W.E. McArthur was able to convince the Council to approve the plan by claiming that it would help to revive the town’s declining economy and dwindling population of two hundred residents. In addition to the Catholic Church’s guarantee to protect the safety of the residents, he argued that “the Japanese could stay “for the duration only” and that they would be “repatriated” to Japan after the end of the war.”

While none of the ten internment sites comprised only one religious group, several denominations followed in the steps of the Catholic Church by assisting in the relocation of their parishioners such as the Anglicans in Slocan, the Buddhists in Sandon, and the United Church in Kaslo.

Sister Eugenia Koppes and Sister Jerome Kelliher greeting the first group of evacuees from Steveston to Greenwood, April 26, 1942

Photo credit Ichio Miki

Loading suitcases onto a truck upon arrival by train in Greenwood, B.C.

Photo credit Greenwood Museum

By early April 1942, carpenters were already renovating vacant buildings in Greenwood to prepare for the arrival of the Nikkei of approximately 100 men over 60 years old, 300-400 mothers, and 500-600 young women and children. On April 21, 1942, Issei and Nisei men were sent to this city in response to a request for tradespersons such as electricians and other labourers to assist with the preparation of housing facilities. On April 26 after an 18-hour journey, the first train load of internees arrived in Greenwood. Except for a few elderly and ill men, the rest of the group comprised seventy women accompanied by their children but no husbands who had been sent earlier to road camps. Months later they would be permitted to reunite with their families.

Upon reaching Greenwood, the first Nikkei internees were welcomed by Father Benedict Quigley, Sister Jerome Kelliher, and Sister Eugenia Koppes who had arrived the previous day. Mayor McArthur and local residents were also on hand to greet their new neighbours, and a truck to transport them and their suitcases to their new accommodations.

References

Adachi, K. (1976). The enemy that never was: A history of Japanese Canadians.

Grand Forks Gazette. (1942, April 18). G.F. Gazette says Greenwood will have $25,000 monthly.

JapaneseCanadianHistory.net. (n.d.). Internment and redress: The Japanese Canadian experience.

Kawamoto Reid, L., & Carter, B. (2012). Karizumai: A guide to Japanese Canadian internment sites.

New Canadian. (1942, April 10). Carpenters at work in Greenwood now.

Nikkei National Museum. (2016). Taiken: Japanese Canadians since 1877.

Takata, T. (1983). Nikkei legacy: The story of Japanese Canadians from settlement to today.

Tasaka, C. (2012). Hanatare bozu: Runny-nosed brats of Greenwood (2nd edition).

Tasaka, C. (2014). My hometown my furusato.

Yesaki, M. (2003). Sutebusuton: A Japanese village on the British Columbia coast.