Essondale Patient File for Yasukichi Goto

From this file, LOI has digitized one textual record or image.

Yasukichi Goto was admitted to Essondale on 28 April 1942, referred by G.A. Davidson of the British Columbia Security Commission. He had been interned at Kamloops on 11 March. He died at the age of 69 on 19 September 1967 of pulmonary edema due to military tuberculosis of the lungs and tuberculous pericarditis. He also had a diagnosis of Chronic Brain Syndrome due to Central Nervous System syphilis – meningovascular with psychosis. He was born in Japan and had lived B.C. for 40 years. He had a wife, Miyoshi, and two children. His permanent residence was listed as Hastings Park on his death certificate. A social service note from 1 May 1942 lists his occupation as ‘carpenter and poultry farmer’ in Delta. The note indicated that his wife and daughter had compensated around the farm for 4 or 5 years due to “something wrong with his head”. His medical certificate Form A indicates that Goto “has been taken care of at home on previous occasions.” The same form indicated that he was “held by government as enemy alien.” His record of property included a certificate of parole and national registration card. Form 7 15C lists “poultry farm” under his property. On 29 March 1944, Miyoshi wrote a letter requesting that her husband be discharged so he could be reunited with his family in Slocan. His daughter wrote a letter from Toronto on 17 February 1947 inquiring about his condition and lamenting that she was unable to visit him. File includes correspondence from Essondale business manager F.A. Matheson indicating that the Custodian of Japanese Affairs was paying his hospital bill. A letter from A. Dean at the office of the Collector of Institutional Revenue to R.J. McMaster on 23 January 1951 indicates that the Japanese Property Claims Commission paid 853.10 to Miyoshi Goto. Goto’s son corresponds from Toronto with hospital officials beginning in 1956. On 11 January he wrote that, “if we were living in the vicinity we would be visiting him quite regularly but as we are living here in Ontario, it will be a great financial strain on us to visit regularly or otherwise.” Later letters from Goto’s son indicate that the family wanted to bring Yasukichi to Toronto but became occupied when Miyoshi fell ill. A letter to Goto’s son on 6 June 1961 indicates Essondale officials attempted to discharge Yasukichi to a boarding house but he refused to leave the hospital. File includes financial summary and correspondence regarding the Old Age Pension.

British Columbia. Mental Health Services created this archive which were transferred to the BC Archives from 1987 to 2000.

The digital copies of the records were acquired by the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective between 2014 and 2018.

This record was digitized selectively.