Correspondence re: deportations and Bird Commission

This series contains 2 textual records and other records.

This series was originally a file that was separated into two folders when it was initially accessioned. The file contains a mixture of correspondence to and from Robert J. McMaster relating to the Bird Commission and the deportation of Japanese Canadians. The material regarding Bird Commission claims includes correspondence with Chiyoto Ohori, Keitaro Kadonaga, Tsurue Okano, N. K. Naruse, Kanichiro Yoshida, Reverend W. R. McWilliams, S. Takemoto, Charlie Nakamura, Hideo Sakamoto. It also includes a copy of a transcript from Sadao Maikoawa’s Bird Commission hearing and a claim form from Iawasaki Akira.

This file also consists of release forms, exonerating Campbell, Brazier, Fisher and McMaster Barristers and Solicitors from being sued by Japanese claimants represented by the firm. Accompanying the release forms are forms consisting of biographical information pertaining to the claimants, and a series of questions including the reasons why the claimants were renouncing their deportation.

Clients include:

Takeharu Ryrygin – Kamloops – (wife) Shinae, (children) Taketoshi, Masumi, Kyoko, Eiko

Sakamoto Manzo – Tashme – (wife) Take, (children) Taketoshi, Kasumi, Miyoshi, Katsumi, David U, Toshiyuki, Ronnie,

Take Sakamoto – Toronto

ShinoeRyujin- Kamloops – Takeharu, Taketoshi, Masumi, Kyoko, Eiko

Manzo Sakamoto – Toronto

R.J. McMaster was a committee member of the Co-operative Committee on Japanese Canadians, while he was employed as an attorney for Campbell, Brazier, Fisher and McMaster Barristers and Solicitors law firm (now Davis & Co.) in Vancouver, BC

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