Land Titles

The land titles collection contains legal descriptions for 7397 real estate properties and represents the genesis of research for the Landscapes of Injustice project. Director Jordan Stanger-Ross initially gathered records from the BC Lands Titles and Survey Authority (LTSA) for an earlier study that evolved into LOI. The research team focussed on four sites of study: (1) Vancouver, specifically the Powell Street Neighbourhood, which prior to the dispossession included the oldest and largest Japanese Canadian enclave (in the present-day Downtown Eastside); (2) Fraser Valley farming communities in Maple Ridge; (3) Steveston, where a large Japanese Canadian settlement surrounded the fishing industry; and (4) Salt Spring Island, where the dispossession tore through a small community. The LOI team compiled this data to track ownership changes over time and create “stories” about these properties in the context of dispossession. The data was encoded in a MySQL database and available to view as raw data as well as on a digital map. GeoJSON coordinates can also be downloaded. For more details on the usage of this dataset, please see the “Data Guide” for Jordan Stanger-Ross’s chapter, “The Economic Impacts of the Dispossession,” in Landscape of Injustice: A New Perspective on the Internment and Dispossession of Japanese Canadians.