A Letter to Prime Minister Mackenzie King from the Japanese Canadians of Slocan Valley Petitioning for the Cancellation of Repatriation to Japan; Slocan, BC

From this item, LOI has digitized a textual record.

The letter is a two page photocopy of a letter sent to the "Prime Minister of Canada and the Office of the Minister of External Affairs, and the Honourable Mackenzie King Esq" from the "Canadian Born Japanese of Slocan Valley District". The first page contains a letter in which the first paragraph reads, "We, who are Canadian Born, do hereby extend a petition on behalf of our parents and others some of whom are Naturalized and others who are Japanese Nationals who have asked for cancellation of repatriation forms signed by them...". There is a stamp on the front that reads "[Department] of Labour, RECEIVED [March] 7 [1946] Secretary to Minister".

The second page is a list of handwritten signatures of Japanese Canadian internees and their internment number.

Tom (Itsuro) Tagami was born on February 10, 1920 in Koksilah, BC. He was the son of Jirosaku Tagami from Higashimuro in Wakayama-ken, Japan and Koyoshi Tagami (nee Yamamoto) from Nishimuro, Wakayama-ken.

During the internment, Tom and his family were sent to Hastings Park, where they stayed for three months before relocating to Slocan. In Slocan, he continued his trade and worked at various lumber companies.

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

This record was digitized in full.