Land Titles

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.

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Land Titles
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Terminology

Readers of these historical materials will encounter derogatory references to Japanese Canadians and euphemisms used to obscure the intent and impacts of the internment and dispossession. While these are important realities of the history, the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective urges users to carefully consider their own terminological choices in writing and speaking about this topic today as we confront past injustice. See our statement on terminology, and related sources here.