Dorothy Arnet, interviewed by Kyla Fitzgerald, 12 April 2016

Dorothy Arnet, interviewed by Kyla Fitzgerald, 12 April 2016

Abstract
Dorothy Arnet is a former long-time resident of Tofino, BC. Dorothy reached out to the Landscapes of Injustice Project because she was compelled to share her late husband’s family, the Arnets, history and their connection to the Japanese-Canadian community. In this interview, Dorothy shares her husband’s, Edward Arnet, family history of owning a chicken farm in Tofino, BC where many Japanese-Canadian families rented cottages on the Arnet farm to live and the subsequent uprooting. This family history includes stories such as Edward’s grandfather’s role as a Custodian of Enemy Alien Property in Tofino and liquidating his own farm, Edward’s memories of losing his childhood friends, and the impact of the uprooting on the family. Dorothy also talks about getting in touch with some of Edward’s Japanese-Canadian friends years later, learning about the uprooting and internment, and keeping a personal archive of family heirlooms, letters, and mementos from this time period. Furthermore, Dorothy discusses her own family history and wartime memories in Winnipeg when she was young. The interview concludes with Dorothy’s personal mission to have the Tofino Council acknowledge and commemorate the Japanese-Canadian community of the past, the current state of the Arnet family farm postwar (now called Eik’s Landing) and sharing her husband’s stories to the community.
This oral history is from an interview conducted by the Oral History cluster of the Landscapes of Injustice project.
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Kyla Fitzgerald (KF)
Today is April 12th, 2016 and I am sitting here at Dorothy Arnet’s house and we are going to be doing an interview for the Landscapes of Injustice project. So I just want to say thank you so much, Dorothy, for sitting down and meeting with me. I think this is gonna be a really great interview, I’m really looking forward to it. So can you maybe start with a little bit of background about yourself and how we came to meet and you reached out to the project?
Dorothy Arnet (DA)
I lived in Tofino and worked in Tofino from 1980 to 1990 for Pacific Rim National Park. And I met my husband there who was with Federal Fisheries and Oceans. He ran the fisheries vessel for 30 years out of Tofino and we were both divorced and we met and we married and we both said that we had wished we had met when we were really young Laughs. or when we were much younger. And I retired from the National Park and my husband retired from Fisheries and we actually moved to North Saanich and lived there for about five years and my husband died. He had a very serious bone marrow cancer and as soon as he passed away, I sold the house and moved right back to Tofino. And I lived there again from 2005 to 2014 and have moved now to Sidney and I miss Tofino very much. But I heard about this on CBC one day. I heard the young man, Michael Abe? Talking about this - wanting to talk to people who had some knowledge of the Japanese Canadians. And I perked up right away and I thought, “That’s for me! I’m going to tell my husband’s story.” And so now we’re actually going to have this interview.
KF
Mhm, so what is your husband’s story? And do you think you can tell people what is your husband’s family history with Tofino and Japanese Canadians? Because it really is an incredible story and quite a long lasting friendship as well.
DA
My husband was involved in or knew about the Japanese Canadians because his grandfather, who was John Eik that’s E-I-K, owned a property. He actually had a chicken farm on this property and when he developed the chicken farm, they were hoping that there was going to be a road between Tofino and Port Alberni. And of course it never developed and he finally gave up and he had all these little cottages so when the Japanese came to Tofino, some of them came and asked him could they use them to live in, and he said, “Well they’re not very livable,” but they said, “Don’t worry about that, we will fix them up,” and so they did. And they had several homes on John Eik’s property, which is now called Eik’s landing in Tofino. And they rented these cottages and grandfather Eik had a wonderful relationship with all of these Japanese people, they all became his close friends and he could not understand why they were sent away and my husband Edward said that he felt that his grandfather Eik never really got over it because he lost all of his friends and then he was forced to be a custodian for what was left of their properties. Because he was the owner of the property, he had to do it, he was forced to do it and that really upset him. He tried very hard, he was supposed to go into each house and make a record of what was left and then he would lock these houses up, he tried to keep them locked up, but he said that people would come – some people would come and rob these cottages at night and a lot of things were taken. And that really upset him that local people would do that and . . . so I wanted to tell that story that Eik's Landing is still there, it’s now a condo, a condo project, but as you come down the hill on the right hand side, there’s a huge tree, a huge cedar tree, that is called the Eik Tree. And when they were going to build these condos on Eik's Landing, they wanted to chop that tree down and a group of people got together and they preserved it. So now there is a picture there of John, Grandfather Eik and who he was and the history – a little history of the property. So that’s the family connection is my husband’s maternal grandfather was so involved with the Japanese.
00:06:35.000
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KF
So those Japanese Canadians that were living on the property, do you know what their profession was?
DA
They were all fishermen.
KF
All fishermen.
DA
Yeah. And there was a big fishing industry at that time. You were either a logger or a fisherman and their boats were all taken away and yeah it’s a very, very sad story. And I can understand how Grandfather Eik, because he was a very loving, kind man, that it would affect him very deeply. So they . . . Whispers. what else would you like me . . . ?
KF
Well you had mentioned just briefly in your story about your family’s connection to this property about how many things were left over in these cottages. Did Grandfather Eik or your husband ever describe what kind of things were left over? What was stolen? Especially from when you were talking about the locals, Dorothy Arnet reaches towards her file and opens it, pulling out personal letters and papers. is it mentioned in some of these papers?
DA
Papers rustling. Yeah it did. I have the papers here from the Department of the Secretary of State, Office of the Custodian and it was mostly fishing gear.
KF
Fishing gear, okay.
DA
Yeah and there were – it was mostly fishing gear. And there was one – there’s carpet and looking through here there’s- yeah it’s fishing gear, kitchen wear, porcelain, eight sets of J Swan Gurdies Fishing Supplies. They were very valuable at that time, three hundred dollars.
KF
Wow!
DA
Yeah, that’s a lot of money in those days.
KF
That’s a lot of money!
DA
Some of the things that are written in these letters to Grandfather Eik, one says that, “We understand that the above time,” there’s several names listed and says that, “very personal effects in the houses were left,” they wanted him to safely store and they actually wanted him to sell some things too. And the last letter in this group of letters from the Office of the Custodian, Department of the Secretary State for Canada, he writes, “RE: Sakauye, Kazuo and Nishimura, Chonosuke, thank you very much for your letter of November 2nd. While it is a fact that you actually did sign for some articles of Japanese equipment underneath the statement that you would account for them to this office. We appreciate that you have done what you can and we would not expect you to be responsible for any losses after the precautions that you have taken.” And that is referring to the fact that – it’s saying to Grandfather Eik that even though he locked the cottages up that somebody was coming in during the night and stealing things.
00:10:01.000
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KF
Right . . .
DA
Which is very, very sad. Flips through papers. Anyway they thanked him very much for what he did. It was very, very difficult for Grandfather Eik to do, to be forced to do that, but he did what he could.
KF
Now in these letters, what is the tone from the Japanese Canadians who are writing to Mr. Eik at the time? Are they of concern? Are they angry? –
DA
No, none of the Japanese wrote to – they weren’t allowed to write.
KF
Oh, they weren’t allowed.
DA
No, no. All of these letters although it’s regarding Kazuo Sakuye and so on, all these letters are from this Department Office of the Secretary State, Office of the Custodian to John Eik.
KF
I see.
DA
It’s regarding the people that lived in these houses.
KF
So Mr. Eik then was essentially writing to the Secretary of State asking to preserve – what he could do with the property.
DA
Flipping through pages. Well, yeah and I guess in his letter . . . Flipping through more pages. I guess he wrote to them, it doesn’t say the date on his letter, but he wrote to them saying what he had, that he had tried to protect and he had sold a lot of this and he’s got the amount of money that he received and that money was turned over to this Department of the Secretary of State.
KF
Mmm, interesting . . .
DA
So Grandfather Eik did not keep any money.
KF
I see.
DA
Yeah.
KF
So his role as a custodian was to sell it.
DA
Yeah, he was to sell some of the articles and then there were some things I think that . . . there’s a list of things here that . . . Flipping through pages. that were sold to, I guess, probably local people, but all the money was – he was, I say forced- he was forced to do this! And because he owned the property and that makes me very sad because he didn’t want to do it.
KF
Did you know Grandfather Eik quite well?
DA
No, he had passed away when I met my husband. He died in 1945 at the age of seventy-six.
KF
Oh wow, so –
DA
So it wasn’t too long after.
KF
Wasn’t too long . . .
DA
No. My husband Edward thinks that it really affected him so that it affected his health.
KF
Wow . . .
DA
The whole thing, yeah. Flipping through pages.
KF
Now has Edward ever described what his father was like? Just as a person, not just as a custodian because that’s one label, but that’s quite a heavy label, but even as a person what did Edward say he was like?
DA
Well he was a fisherman all his life. I actually have a little write up here that I could maybe read?
KF
Sure!
DA
Reading from a piece of paper from her file. “Who was John Eik? Johanne was really his name. He was born May the 5th 1869 in Norway on the Island of Sekken. He left Norway in 1891 at aged 22. He landed in New York and traveled to Seattle to work on halibut schooners fishing in the Bering Sea. He first saw Clayoquot Sound,” where Tofino is, “from a schooner when it sought shelter in the sound and stormy weather. He decided he would someday live in Clayoquot Sound because it reminded him of Norway. In 1895, he did come to Clayoquot Sound via Victoria in his own sailing sloop living aboard for a time and then building a float house. He later preempted land where Tofino is today, and that was Eik’s Landing. In 1903, he went to Seattle to marry Serianna Flovick from Norway then returning to Clayoquot Sound to raise a family. They had two children, Amelia,” my husband’s mother, “and Hubert. In those early days, he was actively involved in the fishing industry and during the fishing season, moved his family and float house to Kennedy Cove to be near his work. Serianna, his wife, predeceased him in 1927 at the age of 57.”
KF
Wow.
DA
She was very young, and he at 76 so they were quite young when they died, really.
KF
No kidding.
DA
In, you know, our standards today. So that was John Eik, yeah. And I really wanted to tell this story about Grandfather Eik because my husband, Edward Arnet, felt very badly for his grandfather. And felt that the story needed to be told that he did the best that he could, you know, under the circumstances.
00:15:24.000
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KF
What were Edward’s memories of this particular time? Can you give us a sense of how old he was at the time of all of this happening?
DA
I forget what grade my husband was in, but all of his friends, many of them were Japanese. He had two very close friends and he said that when this all happened, he said he couldn’t understand it. Why were they being sent away? And he said all these stupid rumors about them being spies and so on, he said, “I did not believe that.” And that he was there at the dock in Tofino when his two Pauses, and starts to get emotional. school friends were taken away. And when he told the story he had tears in his eyes as well. So he tried, he knew that they had gone to the horse barns at the exhibition grounds in Vancouver. And he wrote to them. He wrote to his two friends. And of course he never ever heard back. And whether they ever – they probably didn’t even get – I don’t think they ever got the letters. So it bothered him all of his life, you know. He always said that he wished that he could contact them. Well he was contacted by a Japanese historian whose name was Midge Ayukawa and she had heard about Edward and she came to see us when we lived in North Saanich and she sat down with Edward and he had so much history that he could remember that she was just absolutely so happy that to have met him and he drew a picture. He drew a picture of the Japanese little town in Eik Bay and it was published in the Japanese newspaper and the two school friends – it was mentioned that he had never heard from his two school friends and when it was published in the Japanese newspaper, these two school friends telephoned me in Tofino. Laughs.
KF
It’s just crazy.
DA
I was shocked, you know? And my husband had just passed away, he was gone about a year and a half or so, which was really very sad because he would have been so excited, you know, to . . .
KF
No kidding.
DA
So I’ve been in touch with these two people from then on from the 1980’s until now, I’m still in touch with them. And talk with both of them in March. And one of them is 90 years old, he and his wife are 90 years old and living in Toronto and they’re in a Japanese seniors care facility. And the other friend is – should’ve said their names. They are both living in Toronto and they’re . . . Dorothy walks away to get something, and a bag rustles. just going to get this out . . . Now both of his schools friends, one was Hiro Izumi and the other friend was Tatsuo Sakauye and I was so amazed that they had phoned me and I’ve been keeping in touch with them all of this time and spoke to them again last in March and . . . yeah they’re still very, very grateful to me for – well grateful to my husband for all the history he gave to Midge Ayukawa, the historian.
00:20:12.000
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KF
Now these letters though, through which you’ve been keeping in touch with these two individuals, a lot of what the letters contain describe what life was like in Tofino when they were uprooted and also pre-war times, correct?
DA
Nods in the affirmative. Yes they do talk a lot about it and they actually visited me, both families, visited me in Tofino, but in their letters, every letter said that they had such a happy life in Tofino. It was wonderful and they told all kinds of stories about how they had to go to church on Sunday, had to go to Sunday school on Sunday and they always took their fishing gear along and hid it under the crosswalk going to the church, they hid it under there. And as soon as Sunday school was over, out they would go and pick up their fishing gear and a way they would go and fish. And they said that they had such a happy, happy childhood and loved school, they went to the regular school and all of their friends – we didn’t know any difference between the Japanese Canadians and the Canadians, we just all were kids together. Yeah.
KF
Well and I think that really is exemplified through the school photo that your husband kept, which we’ve got here and we’ll take a photo so people can see it later, but this is a school photo of Tofino Public Division Two or Division Two? Yeah May 1939, and if you look at the photo, it’s a mixed class photo.
DA
Oh it is. And my husband is in the photo and his two sisters are in the photo too.
KF
Right, yeah. Yeah and it’s such a great moment to capture, to see the composition of the schools and the kids.
DA
And all of those children my husband said, “We were just all kids together, we didn’t know any difference, you know whether Japanese, or Chinese or a lot of us were Norwegians and nobody ever thought about that.” But it affected a lot of the children. Especially being on the dock when you see your friends leaving.
KF
No kidding.
DA
With a few little bundles that they were allowed – they were only allowed a couple of bags . . . it’s a . . . I still get tears in my eyes just thinking about it Sniffs. yeah.
KF
Does Edward have – has he passed on or did he pass on any memories of what was happening after the Japanese Canadians were uprooted because you were talking about Grandfather Eik and how he struggled to protect a lot of the cottage properties and the families’ personal items. Did Edward ever share any memories of what it was like to be there when all of that was happening?
DA
Well what he said was he would go down on the property with his grandfather and grandfather was so upset, you know? And he really felt badly himself for the loss of his friends and also for what his grandfather was going through. And eventually my husband left Tofino to go to private school to Qualicum Boys School and so he was away from Tofino for many years. But just at that time he just said that he just couldn’t understand it and he never ever mentioned about how other people talked about it or he just knew that his own little circle of friends, they were very sad and that they missed their friends. And they were at the age where they didn’t really understand a lot of what was going on, but when they heard all these rumors, my husband said, “I knew every one of those people and there’s not one of them that I would ever suspect of being a spy or having a radio or some stupid thing,” yeah . . .
KF
So how old was Edward around this time? It looks like this photo was taken in 1939. What year was Edward born?
00:25:21.000
00:25:21.000
DA
He was born in 1930.
KF
1930 so yeah, he –
DA
Oh wait a – yeah he was in 30, yeah I was born in 33, he was born in 30.
KF
Yeah so I mean for him, nine, ten years old, that’s pretty good. Like you had mentioned, you don’t understand everything completely and it sounds like it was quite a very overwhelming experience to experience that, but at the same time, he still has a very strong visual memory of what was going on during those years.
DA
Mhm, well and of course being close to his grandfather and seeing what was happening, and actually being on the property with his grandfather and see what was happening and see how upset his grandfather was, it really affected him. Yeah and so he never ever forgot it. So corresponding with his two school friends has been very, very heartwarming for me and I learned an awful lot about what it was like for them when they lived in Tofino and how they felt when they were forced to leave. So I have these two huge files Laughs. of correspondence and both of these school friends came to Tofino to see me in the 1980’s. And it was wonderful to meet them, actually meet them.
KF
Did you return to Eik’s Landing and go through that property with them? Or did you just . . .
DA
Well the condo complex is on it now and of course they went to see the Eik Tree and there’s a little history about the Japanese living there. And you know, that’s really the only thing relating to the Japanese in that whole town, is that tree, it actually mentions him and that there was a little Japanese community there. Yeah it was sad for them to come and look around. A lot had changed, but – there weren’t as many tourists as there are now Laughs. but I really enjoyed their visit and they wanted to see the church and the inside of the church. This picture is actually hanging in St Columba Church.
KF
Oh right now?
DA
Yeah.
KF
Oh the same one? Oh cool.
DA
A copy that I had framed and put in the church. And it’s interesting how many visitors would look at that picture and were surprised that how many Japanese lived in Tofino.
KF
Really? Do you know off the top your head what the population was like before the war started?
DA
No, I don’t.
KF
No . . . yeah.
DA
I would have to talk to the district of Tofino and they would have to go through all their books and see. Laughs.
KF
Yeah, no kidding. Well but even just from this photo and what you’ve said so far, it does sound like it was quite blended and not segregated.
DA
Oh yeah! Oh yeah, that was another thing my husband said, there were a lot of Japanese families and a lot of Norwegian families and Scottish families and we just all lived together. And what was going on with the adults may have been a different story, but as far as the children were concerned he said – his family, he said, “My mum and dad and my grandfather, we had loved that we had Japanese friends, you know, loved them.”
KF
Did Edward ever hear of anything- you know, you say he was a child so for him everything was the relationships with the Japanese-Canadian children was quite positive, but did he ever encounter or see any racism or discrimination towards the Japanese Canadians?
DA
He never said anything about that.
KF
Okay.
DA
He never said anything, but I’m sure there probably was some. He never said anything, he just said, “They were are friends, our neighbours and we all grew up together and that’s that.”
KF
Yeah it’s really quite that simple, isn’t it?
DA
Yeah.
KF
Yeah . . .
00:30:02.000
00:30:02.000
DA
So I’m not sure what else you’d like me to –
KF
Yeah well, I mean we’ve heard a little bit about Grandfather Eik, but what about the response from Edward’s parents? How did they react to the whole thing or did they have much to say about the whole situation with their maternal grandfather?
DA
No, Edward’s parents, they loved the Japanese; they lived right next door to them. They, no, they were just members of the community. Whether they knew people in the community who had other feelings, they never ever said anything. But they let the Japanese people know that they were just all together.
KF
Now just to go back to touching base with Edward’s friends several years later, what are some of your highlights or fondest memories of what you learned from some of the letters that they had sent you. Are there key moments or letters that really stood out?
DA
Well practically every letter mentions how much they loved living in Tofino.
KF
Really?
DA
Yeah because they said, “Oh the fishing!” That’s the thing that I’ve seen many times in the letters, “The fishing was so wonderful. We as kids just fishing with our little line off the dock. And then in later years we were all fishing families, we were too young to actually go out on the boats, but our parents were all fishermen.” No, they had very happy memories of Tofino and it was very hard for them to leave and . . . but they were glad that they had the happy memories of Tofino. And coming back was . . . they enjoyed actually coming back and going to where their houses were and so on and going to the church and looking where they used to hide their fishing gear.
KF
Yeah, that’s funny. And can I ask you what compelled you to keep all these letters and all these pieces of history, really, I mean, the fact that you have these custodian papers and letters, nobody knows that they’re sitting in your house, which is pretty remarkable, and they’re in such great condition. What compelled you to keep those?
DA
Well because it was very important to my husband Edward. And he always said that, “These will have to go to the museum or wherever,” and I heard that and so I meticulously kept all of this information. And I have actually given permission to you and your group to copy anything that you would like from the files, but I want the files back –
KF
Absolutely.
DA
And eventually I’m going to give them to the Clayoquot, it’s called the Clayoquot Tofino Heritage Society in Tofino who have been working toward a museum in Tofino. And I would like all of this to be stored there eventually. And because my husband wanted this to be preserved and I just wished that he would have been able to talk and write to his school friends again. Yeah . . .
KF
Yeah. So you’ve been able to carry on these memories and share these stories back to Tofino and back to your husband’s friends, was this a conversation that happened frequently during your time that you were married to Edward? Was this something that was discussed regularly or mentioned, you know, casually off hand but with no awkwardness?
00:35:04.000
00:35:04.000
DA
My husband knew I was interested in history because I had started compiling my family history and I said, “You’ve got a lot of history, Edward,” like I still have Grandfather Eik’s trunk if you can imagine that in my cupboard here and there’s still all kinds of things in there. I’ve rescued most of everything to do with the Japanese, but you know, I said, “Something has to be done with all of this, it has to be – you either have got to compile a history or I’ll do it for you, but we have to see that all this information is kept somewhere,” and he agreed. I was starting to work on my family history and that as over ten years ago and I’m sure it’s a lot easier now to find – it was amazing what I found out about my own history and I said, “I’m willing to do this for your family history as well.” “Well, yeah, yeah we’ll do it,” you know.
KF
Laughs. Yeah!
DA
So of course when he passed away, we never talked about it when he was ill. I knew that he wanted it preserved, to be preserved so I want to do that for him.
KF
Well and the first time we met, I was so impressed with the mini archive of which you’ve kept because I wasn’t expecting that at all when you were like, “Oh, by the way! I have some folders that I wanted to show you,” and it was just everything, like you said meticulously kept. And it was a really, it is still a really great snapshot of some of the history in Tofino. Yeah, I was really blown away and especially, I mean, going back to Edward’s drawing of Eik’s Landing at that time. And we’ll take a photo so people can see but I’m so blown away by the detail. Just if you look at the map, everything is so neatly numbered and like I was saying to you earlier on today, like even just labeling things like “grassy area,” “pebble area,” “high water salt line,” “laundry facilities.” And then on top of that, those neat little things, there’s family names, Japanese-Canadian family names, of all the families that lived on this property. Now do you know how large Eik’s Landing was at the time? Does it say on the map here?
DA
I think Dorothy takes the map. . . . I’m not sure . . .
KF
I mean just from the map that Edward drew, it seems to be a substantial piece of land; there were multiple cottages.
DA
Oh well it is quite a large piece of land, though I don’t know . . . on the second page there . . . I don’t think that it actually said anything about that in the article that was put in the . . . uhh no it doesn’t say anything . . . about the . . . Dorothy scans the drawn map. . . . and he remembered every name who lived –
KF
Oh, I know! And the other thing that’s really remarkable is the detail of each of the cottages, they’re not just generic boxed, houses or buildings. He’s got the porches drawn out the way they’re supposed to be. Which ones had stairs on the side, which ones have little light posts and which ones look like they were single level and then there are others that are two-storey’s and you –
DA
And you can surmise from that that he spent a lot of time with his friends in their homes and on the property. How else would he remember so clearly? You know? So he must’ve spent a lot of time there.
KF
Yeah, I think, like you said, I think this map really exemplifies his connection and memories of just being in this – you know it says titled here, “Japanese Fishing Village,” you know spending his childhood here.
DA
Yeah.
KF
Because the detail is remarkable, like it’s such a simple drawing, but there’s so much that you can get from it.
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KF
And this one, the drawing says it’s an image of Tofino in 1941. Like, I just love how this specific Unclear.. That’s remarkable.
DA
Yeah, yeah. Yeah I don’t remember ever seeing anything about the size of the property. But Midge Ayukawa, the Japanese historian, she was totally amazed. She said, “How could I have been so fortunate to get in touch with you?” Laughs. They sat for hours, I’ve got pictures of the two of them sitting together, yeah. Papers rustling.
KF
Yeah, no it’s such an amazing collection of items. Now let’s maybe just talk about – you know you were talking to me earlier about your connection to the war and some of your own experiences and reasons as to why you’re so . . . you feel so strongly about what happened to the Japanese Canadians during the war and afterwards. Do you mind sharing the story about your own personal history during the war?
DA
Yeah, no, not at all. My maiden name was Bauer, B-A-U-E-R. Which is a German name, it actually means farmer in German, or peasant.
KF
Oh, I didn’t know that.
DA
Yeah and my great-grandparents moved to Canada via Russia because in the early days, they were in Germany, Catherine the Great of Russia wanted to settle the Volga area and so she called on some German peasants who weren’t doing too well in Germany to come and live on the Volga. And they did, there was a whole very large group of them and a lot of my family. And she gave them every – she helped them in every way, and gave them everything, the money that they needed everything. They had a wonderful settlement, but there were – the reason Catherine the Great wanted this area settled was because of the – I forget what their names were that they called them – but they were thugs and they would come and raid any new settlement and so she wanted to have a large settlement to keep these thugs from coming and raiding the settlements, but it didn’t work, they actually – Cossacks, they were called Cossacks – and they terrorized the German community and so they somehow found a way to come to Canada. And they moved to Canada and settled in Winnipeg and I just wanted to say that their experience during the war was rather sad as well because of having a German name. And my own father sat my brother and I down one day and said to us, “I want you to listen to what I have to say. Our name is a German name and if you are ever asked at school where you were born, you say you were born in Canada and you make sure that you tell them that, make it clear.” And my brother and I, you know, paid attention to that, but later on my grandfather, who was my father’s father, who was a saddlery maker and he had a shop in Winnipeg. He made saddles for horses and all of the straps and so on. He made shoes, he was a shoe maker and he had a thriving business in Winnipeg and during the war because his name was Bauer and it was on the sign on his shop, the windows in his shop door and the main window in the shop were broken several times. And eventually he thought that he was being followed. Sometimes he used to walk to work and he was pretty sure that he was being followed and he was afraid for his life and very sadly I think that he developed a very serious mental illness through it and he committed suicide and he actually hung himself in the basement of his home, which was a terrible sadness for the whole family. But I feel it was caused from the war. Yeah . . . So I have some sadness in my family as well. Yeah . . .
00:46:02.000
00:46:02.000
KF
Mhm. How old were you when the Second World War was going on?
DA
Well I was born in ’33.
KF
’33, okay.
DA
Yeah, so and you know, I was always interested in what was happening. We used to listen to the radio to hear what was happening.
KF
Right.
DA
We’d lie on the floor, my brother and I would listen because my uncle was in – two uncles were soldiers in the war and we were always listening to see what was happening in the theatre of war that they were in. And both uncles came back, but both were very damaged mentally.
KF
And what theatre of war were they involved with?
DA
My one uncle . . . I’m not sure about the one, but the other one was taken prisoner at – what was that famous beach? Uh . . . it was during the beach landing and I’ve just forget the name of it, but they landed on the beach and they were taken prisoner by the Germans right away. And they were in several different camps and it was pretty cruel and gruesome what they went through. And he was lucky to come out of it alive, but as I said he had developed a mental illness through the whole thing, yeah . . . So as I’ve said before you know, the Japanese Canadians suffered very greatly and so did a lot of other people too . . . with German names. Yeah . . .
KF
Do you have memories of what happened when Pearl Harbour happened? I asked because you said you were quite an avid radio listener.
DA
Yeah, yeah.
KF
So do you remember where you were on Pearl Harbour?
DA
Well you know I was living in Winnipeg. We were always interested in what was happening and I don’t ever recall saying that we said – I can remember my father saying, “Well maybe the war will be over soon,” but I don’t remember any overt things like what might’ve been said, my father just was not like that and my step-mother either. So yeah I do remember hearing it on the radio and my father saying that “Maybe the war will be over soon.”
KF
Because of what had gone on in Pearl Harbour?
DA
Yeah because of what happened and “Maybe uncle Leo will be coming home soon.”
KF
Wow . . .
DA
Yeah he was in a prisoner of war camp.
KF
What other memories of war do you have of that time period? Do you remember what the atmosphere was like in Winnipeg, in your hometown, in your neighbourhood?
DA
Well I remember the rationing.
KF
Do you?
DA
Oh I remember the rationing, yeah.
KF
What was that like?
DA
Well it was certain things that we couldn’t get. And as a child I didn’t pay too much attention to it, but my stepmother, I remember her complaining, you know, “Well I can’t get this, I can’t - ” butter was rationed; you actually couldn’t get butter, you had to use margarine. And yeah it wasn’t as bad as it was overseas in Britain for instance because it was very bad there, but we had a ration book.
00:50:00.000
00:50:00.000
DA
We had a ration book and I wish I still had one Laughs. or part of one. And you could only get so much of certain things, but we did not suffer at all, really, except worrying about our relatives who were in the war and having gone through what my grandfather did . . . we really didn’t suffer that much, no. Certainly when I hear how British people, how it was for them, I think we got off very easy.
KF
So your father sat you and your brother down and said, “Look, if you’re asked, say you were born in Canada,” was that question ever raised?
DA
No.
KF
No? Interesting.
DA
It was never ever raised. I can remember thinking about that, you know, “I wonder if one of my teachers is going to ask me.” Of course I would never ever say anything and no one ever asked us, neither one of us. And I liked to think that – we had people from every country in our school.
KF
Did you?
DA
We did, oh yes. And the ethnic backgrounds were never really mentioned. There were lots of Jewish kids, I can’t remember what other ethnic groups, there were lots of Germans, lots of German children and different names from ours, but you could definitely tell that they were German. And I never ever heard, I never ever saw another child crying or anything that maybe they had been talked to or questioned, I never ever saw that at all, no. No, our schools were a very caring atmosphere in our schools, even in that day, which was a long time ago.
KF
Yeah . . . Now going back to Tofino, maybe the aftermath of Tofino during the war. Can you maybe tell me about the situation of maybe acknowledging of what happened to the Japanese Canadians during this time? How the community is responding to this particular time in history, either when you and your husband were living there or later on or even now because we were talking about how you had written this letter to the mayor, the current mayor. So if you could describe what the community’s reaction –
DA
Well I’ve never actually spoken to someone in the community who has said anything about that period of Tofino and I’ve never brought it up either. I was kind of afraid to bring it up. Laughs.
KF
Really?
DA
But there’s still a family there that I know, there’s still members of the family that the people that lived during the war are long gone, but there may still be people there who, you know, a lot of the old timers have left now and so it’s really hard to tell, you know? Edward never ever said anything too much about it, but he knew, he did say there were people in the town that were crazy. I mean, the things that they thought were going to happen and that we were going to be bombed, you know? Or the Japanese were going to come to the west coast. They got pretty close; Light laugh. they did get pretty close. So I’m sure that if you went and interviewed the older families, you might be surprised, but I don’t really know anybody. Nobody has ever said anything, but I do still wonder about the minutes of meetings of the town counsel. You know why there isn’t any record of – like my cousin, that’s fairly recent. Roly Arnet, he was a councilor and he brought it up and it’s not in the minutes.
KF
Funny, very funny.
DA
Something not right there. But how do you – what do you do? Try and find the secretary there? Or the councilor that said, “Take that out of the minutes, don’t put that in the minutes.” It’s obvious that something happened, but how would you ever prove it?
00:55:28.000
00:55:28.000
KF
Now so what compelled you to write to the mayor of Tofino about acknowledging the past history of what had happened to those Japanese Canadians who lived in Tofino, to get some sort of apology from the community of Tofino. What reason did you want to do that for?
DA
Well I felt that the Japanese Canadians needed to be recognized in some way in the community . . . Either by a tree in their memory or a just something in the town and the town is now fixing up the main street in the town and I again suggested to them that something needed to be – the Japanese Canadians needed to be recognized. And I’m going to keep pursuing that because I think it’s necessary and I know my husband would have wanted it as well. So we’ll see what happens, but I will pursue it Laughs. further. I will be letting them know about my interview and that Edward, my husband Edward, he was also a town councilor at one time and that he would have wanted it, he would have wanted this. And I just don’t understand why it’s not- it should be so plain, should be so simple. Why are they beating around the bush? Laughs. So I will continue to pursue that to see that something is . . . there should be something to signify Japanese Canadians lived here at one time.
KF
So you had mentioned the idea of a tree, is that your idea of a possible way to commemorate and recognize the community?
DA
Well in my or note to the mayor and the councilor, I said, “Just even a tree!” Identifying what it is in memory of, you know, something. I just said tree just out of – so it could be a plaque, it could be all kinds of things! The only mention of the Japanese community is at Eik’s Landing itself where the Eik Tree is. There’s a little bit there about John Eik and the fact that the Japanese – there was a Japanese village there one time, that’s it. So as long as I’m around, I’m going to keep after them and hope one day that there will be – there has to be – has to be an acknowledgement.
KF
When you were living in Tofino, were there families that you had met in Ucluelet that had come back that you talked to about what had happened? You’d said that Japanese-Canadians families weren’t allowed to return to Tofino, that the council had vetoed it when it was discussed, so when you were still living in Tofino did you ever touch base with families in Ucluelet?
DA
Oh, from time to time. In fact, in one of these files you’ll see that my husband gave a eulogy for one of the Japanese fisherman.
KF
Really?
DA
Yeah and I kept all of that Dorothy Arnet reaches for the file. . . . because my husband knew him, well he knew all of the fishermen because he worked for the Federal Fisheries.
KF
Right.
DA
And I’m just wondering where – where I’ve got that now Dorothy Arnet reaches for the file and shuffles through papers – Smudge, Dorothy’s dog, begins to bark loudly in the background.
KF
Laughs. No, that’s okay.
DA
Did somebody move it to . . .
01:00:00.000
01:00:00.000
DA
Anyway, I’ll find it here . . . um Smudge continues barking. . . . he’s disturbed me now and my thought process is . . . um . . . what were we talking about again?
KF
Your husband had written a eulogy to one of the Japanese-Canadian fisherman in Ucluelet.
DA
Right, yeah. And just a second, I think I’ve got it here. I wanted to show it to you because it was so, such a moving eulogy, you know?
KF
Was it?
DA
And Smudge starts barking again, and makes it so we are unable to hear Dorothy. . . . Tommy Kimoto.
KF
Okay.
DA
I’ve just got it here. Yeah and I heard from his family after that, they wrote to me saying how wonderful it was, the eulogy, and he was a pallbearer to his funeral.
KF
Wow . . .
DA
And I think I typed it out as well, but that’s in his own writing, yeah. And my husband was honored to be asked, to do that. He said, “Can you imagine they want me to give the eulogy at Tommy’s funeral?”
KF
Just thinking back when your husband’s family had Eik’s Landing and they had their own house, did Grandfather Eik ever take any of the leftover family items and try to keep them in his own house for protection? Dorothy shakes her head. No.
DA
No he did not want to do that and he felt that the houses – they had locks on the doors and that they should be safe there.
KF
Right, I see.
DA
And if you go and once you actually look at those letters from the . . . I forget what the . . . from the Government to . . . they wanted him to sell all of these articles, they wanted him to sell them, which he did, he sold a lot you’ll see it in the letters. He wrote down everything that he sold and all that money was – he was glad to do it because he thought that money was going to go back to the Japanese families. That’s what he was told.
KF
Oh, wow!
DA
And of course, it didn’t. They came, the Government came and got it because it was all in cash then, a lot of cash. But Grandfather never kept a penny of it. So . . .
KF
So what happened to that on Eik’s Landing, you said now it’s a condo development, but between the time it was Eik’s Landing and to what it is now, which is a condo development, what happened in between? What happened to the property then?
DA
Well some of the houses were moved to other – they were actually barged, there were a couple of the houses sent to different areas. See the Government, I guess,Unclear. grandfather had died, and my husband’s mother inherited that property so I guess the houses were sold. Some of them were kept and they were actually rented, my grandmother rented the houses to Tofino people. Yeah and in 1980 there were still houses there, there were a couple of houses there and one of them was still rented. And so it eventually sold – my grandmother sold the property then to many years later it was sold to . . . I don’t remember. I don’t remember that, but I know that in 1980 there were still one or two houses that were rented and then it was sold to a builder.
01:05:23.000
01:05:23.000
KF
I see.
DA
You know, some company, but that was a long, well into the eighties, even into the nineties, I’m not sure. People actually lived on there, but the property had been sold and it was no longer in the Arnet family.
KF
I see. And the house that your husband’s family lived in, what was that house like?
DA
It’s still there and it’s now Jamie’s Whaling Station.
KF
Oh get out! Really?!
DA
Yup, it was my husband’s family home.
KF
Really?!
DA
Yeah, did you go in there?
KF
Well I’ve passed by Jamie’s many times!
DA
Yeah, that was my husband’s family home.
KF
That was connected to the rest of the property that was rented to Japanese Canadians?
DA
Mhm, yeah.
KF
Oh my god, I didn’t realize that.
DA
Yeah, but you know Eik’s Landing was long gone when my husband uh . . . his father died and for a time we rented the house, you know, I was married to my husband then and his father passed away and my husband really wanted to keep it in the family and so we rented the house and they had the waterfront property as well, down below.
KF
It’s a beautiful area.
DA
Yeah and we had a boat, what do you called it? A boat launch and we rented spaces for boats there and my husband was so happy to still have this in the family and we had a house across the road just kiddy-corner from that property, but as the Unclear. years and his two sisters, they wanted the money. And that broke my husband’s heart. Yup and that’s why he wanted to move from Tofino. He said, “I don’t want to stay here anymore.” Yeah . . . so he sold the property to Jamie.
KF
Oh wow.
DA
It’s actually hard for me to go into the house now –
KF
Yeah, what’s it like?
DA
I mean it’s all changed, you know? But when you go in the stairway is still there and it all comes back to me. Yeah, and so he sold it and the sisters got their money and he said, “I don’t want to stay here anymore. Number one I don’t like the tourists.” Laughs.
KF
Laughs. Fair, fair.
DA
I mean if you could see it now!
KF
Oh well, we’ve got Victoria, right, which gets crazy in the harbour in the summer.
DA
No and so he said, “No I want to move,” I really didn’t want to move because I loved Tofino, but I understood so we came and we started looking in, I don’t know, several places along the island, and we finally settled in North Saanich. We bought a beautiful, beautiful home and he was really happy, he enjoyed it. He got involved in the community and it took me a long time to hang up my Tofino pictures because every time I looked at them, I started to cry, Laughs. but finally we settled in there and got to know a lot of people, joined different things, Sons of Norway, and all sorts. We were involved with a lot of things. And then he suddenly got this bone cancer and they told him right away that it was incurable so he said, “Well, I want to live as long as possible so just give me everything you got,” and that’s what they did, but it didn’t do any good. So we knew this, we knew right from the start that he wasn’t going to live. But his illness it was very painful.
KF
Was it?
DA
I had been working on our family histories and so on and I had to put it all away and took care of my husband. Yeah and he actually passed away in the Saanich Peninsula Hospital, in the palliative care unit. We tried to keep him home, but he was in such pain that he had to have very frequent pain medication injections.
01:10:01.000
01:10:01.000
DA
And it was just – I wasn’t able to – I mean I tried to do it, but it was so painful for me to do it as well –
KF
No kidding.
DA
So he finally said, “No, I’ll go up to the hospital,” so he passed away and so it’s hard for me to go there when I have to go up there for an x-ray.
KF
Oh, no kidding.
DA
Because he passed away there and I just lived there. There’s a cot in the room and a bathroom and everything and I just lived there. I only went home when some relatives, somebody would come to see Edward. My stepdaughters would come and I would go home and have a shower, get some clean clothes and so on. Unclear. So I was there when he passed away, it was very hard for us all. It still is and the anniversary of his passing was April the 4th.
KF
Wow . . .
DA
Which has just passed now and it’s eleven years now. And I’ll show you, I have a picture that I’ve just sent around to the Westerly News Dorothy Walks away to grab some papers. . . . So he’ll be remembered in the Westerly News this week.
KF
Oh, that’s a nice photo!
DA
Isn’t that nice? Yeah a lovely photo of him.
KF
I love the Captain too, I think that’s a great title.
DA
He was a captain and he had his captain’s papers and he was very proud of that. Laughs.
KF
No, that’s a great photo.
DA
Mhm, yeah . . . So we remember him, like I said, every day. It’s very hard to lose someone, someone so special, you know? He was a really special person.
KF
Well, I mean – Smudge, the dog, begins barking again.
DA
No Smudge! Come!
KF
And you’re carrying on his legacy though in so many different ways, I mean, for us through the Landscapes Project, I mean, to hear your husband’s stories, just are so remarkable, especially Grandfather Eik’s story and what this particular community meant to him and his family. It’s really remarkable to listen and –
DA
Well I’m so happy to tell my husband’s story because I know he’s probably looking down right now and saying, “Good for you Dorothy!” Laughs.
KF
Laughs.
DA
Yeah, I’m glad that we got it out.
KF
Yeah. Now maybe we’ll finish up this section and then maybe we’ll spend some time going through some of the files, but . . . I just want to ask you what does this Japanese-Canadian history mean to you as a person?
DA
Well it makes me very sad. And particularly because I knew a little bit about it with my own family having a German name and then hearing my husband’s story. No it really resonates with me very, very deeply. And I just think that that’s why I want to keep pursuing the Tofino Council to recognize the Japanese Canadians. And yeah, that’s what It’s really all about. And I wanted to carry it on because I know it was very important to my husband, very, very important.
KF
How do you feel about – I mean, maybe I’m being redundant by asking this, but how do you feel about the whole situation with what happened to the Japanese Canadians at this time? During the war, especially –
DA
Well it was just total stupidity on the Canadian government’s part as far as I’m concerned. And so many people, you know, my family, my friends, they all say the same thing.
01:15:06.000
01:15:06.000
KF
Do they?
DA
It was just like, oh! It’s like they didn’t really think about it, they just did it! It’s terrible, terrible thing. And I hope and pray that it never ever happens, you know, that some other group isn’t – because we’ve got a lot of immigrants coming into Canada now and I hope that they’re going to be okay. And not have the same thing happen to them and there’s already people are saying things about them and I think we have to try and speak out about it whenever we get a chance that they are Canada to become Canadians and let’s accept them as Canadians and forget about all this other nonsense about them being, I don’t know what they called them . . . So no . . . Because it affected my family, the war affected my family too and then hearing how my husband, how sad it was for him and his grandfather.
KF
So for those who are going to be listening to this interview in the future because it will be saved in an archive for people to listen to, what message do you have for future Canadians, for younger generations who may listen to this interview, who want to learn about this particular time in history, do you have a message that you’d like to pass on knowing your husband’s story, but also your own experiences with war?
DA
Well, whenever I get the chance, that’s with my grandchildren or other people that I talk to, any of this ever comes up or if they know the new immigrants coming in if it comes up, I tell them look, we’re all immigrants. If you really look at Canada we are all immigrants. First nations people were here first and then the immigrants started coming in so we’re really all immigrants and remember that and accept them and welcome them and that’s my feeling. And I tell my grandchildren and anybody else that I get a chance to talk to.
KF
So have you shared your husband’s story with your grandchildren quite a bit? Have you made sure to pass on those wartime memories and experiences to them?
DA
Well I told them some things and like my grandchildren are Unclear. with my second marriage so my children are from my first marriage, but they absolutely admired him.
KF
Did they?
DA
They admired him, yeah, called him Captain because he’s a special person, you know. And I will certainly instill in . . . I hope to have some great-grandchildren one day, my grandchildren, if they ever get working on it. Laughs.
KF
Laughs.
DA
And I will tell them too. And so whenever I get a chance at church or if we’re ever having a discussion there and I get a chance . . . speak up. But our church, the Anglican Church is very much for the First Nations people. Our Bishop, you probably read that in the paper, but the Bishop walked – went on a walk of forgiveness –
KF
Ah, yes!
DA
Yeah and he’s Scottish, he’s as Scottish as they come. And sometimes you can hardly understand him; he’s so Scottish. Laughs.
KF
Oh, really? Laughs.
DA
Yeah and I was right agreeing with what he was doing and we need more of that, we need more of that. Just accept people for what they are and I hope that Canada will carry on, we have a new prime minister, got lots of hope in him, but you know, things are changing. But I still think we need to remember what has happened in the past. We need to remember that. My grandchildren will know about it and don’t let it happen again.
01:20:21.000
01:20:21.000
KF
Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me and sharing your husband and your husband’s family’s story, it’s such a great story to hear and also a complicated one, which I think really highlights the multidimensional aspect of this particular period of time. So thank you so much and maybe in the second part we’ll go through some of your files because I think they should be – we should pay homage to your beautiful archive that you have. Laughs.
DA
Laughs. Well thank you, I’ve enjoyed this. And I know, like I said before, I’m sure my husband’s looking down and being grateful for the stories being told.
KF
Yeah for sure, all right, thank you.
Start of Second recording.
KF
So, we've just been going through some of your archives, and I think this is one of my favourite pieces that you've kept. So, you've got some photos here, which look like, just a concrete vase or plant holder, I should say; it's not a vase.
DA
But, it's got a long, it's got a very interesting story.
KF
Yeah, and nobody would bat an eye lash to it if they just walked by it.
DA
No.
KF
But, do you want to explain what's so special about it?
DA
Well, I can tell you what I know about it.
KF
Sure!
DA
I know that it was used probably at Clayoquot because they, . . . the Japanese Canadians had a, . . . they were actually canning fish there. And they used to, they had a . . . I have it written down somewhere, about what they did with it. It may be in the, the attachment.
KF
Mhmm, yeah.
DA
But, they had a little machine, you know, that would crush and mash the fish.
KF
Yeah.
DA
And, how it got to my father-in-law, Thoughtful pause. how it got to my father-in-law's house, but I remember when I first came in 1980, it was in the garden.
KF
Okay.
DA
It was in the garden, and they had plants in it, yeah. I never paid any attention to it, you know? But then, I found out later that this was . . . so how did it not be included in the Laughs. what was the, you know that it was seen over at Clayoquot, how did it get from Clayoquot over to Tofino?
KF
Yeah,
DA
And, how did it land on my in-laws's front garden?
KF
Right. And, so what you ended up finding out was that it's?
DA
It belonged to the Japanese Canadians.
KF
Right.
DA
And, that they used it to grind fish; they had some kind of a motor attachment to it and they would grind fish and they were canning fish. They were actually going to start shipping this fish and they never . . . but then the war came along and then they. So, I don't know how it got from Clayoquot over to Tofino. I never found out.
KF
But it says here, in the little attachment, that Midge and your husband wrote, that it was a stone usu, which is spelled u-s-u. And then that it was,
DA
How was it supposed to be spelled? U?
KF
U-s-u, I think that's correct phonetics.
DA
Usu, yeah.
KF
It's phonetic spelling.
DA
What does he say?
KF
And, that it's meant to make kamaboko, which is, which I still eat on a very regular basis, and they're Japanese fish cakes. And they're,
DA
Yeah, that's right. It's fish cakes.
KF
They're a little gelatinous, like, the texture may throw people off. But you eat it a lot during Japanese New Years, which is called oshogatsu. And every Japanese New Years, you have, you can get different colours; they're dyed, so, if you make them plain, they usually come out as white. But then, you can also, purchase kamaboko in a package that's very bright pink, and then when you cut them, you're suppose to alternate between white and pink. And the pink is suppose to sort of symbolize the red in the flag, so the red and white flag. So, you eat it quite often during the new year, and I just, like I buy it at Fujiya all the time, so . . . but I just think it's so funny that this was just sitting in your family's garden.
01:25:01.000
01:25:01.000
DA
I know! Yeah, and I don't remember, by what my husband says, I can't remember what he said about it.
KF
Yeah, but, well since that, Pause. Mary had the usu, so Mary Kimoto?
DA
Mhmm.
KF
Had the usu in her backyard, but she had promised it to the planned Ucluelet museum. And then she said “There was, however, another usu, which the Nishimura family had left behind in Tofino in 1942.” According to Mary, Ed Arnet, whose grandparents had been pioneer Norwegians in Tofino, had the usu and he lived in the Victoria area.
DA
Yeah, that's how Midge got in touch with us.
KF
Yeah.
DA
Yeah.
KF
That's, like what a funny piece of history-
DA
I know.
KF
-just sitting on your front steps.
DA
And, my daughter, my step-daughter, Catherine, has it because, always, with . . . there is even a picture of her as a baby, she's standing up beside it.
KF
Yeah.
DA
But she always said “Daddy, when you die, will you give me that?” you know, I forget what she called it. “That bowl,”she called it.
KF
Bowl. Laughs. Yeah, it's huge.
DA
Yeah, “That bowl.” And, so Edward asked me to, you know, he said “In my will I want it to go back to the museum, Japanese museum, but in the meantime I will let Catherine have it.”
KF
That's Unclear.
DA
So she has it. And, I asked her about it, and “Oh, yes,” she said “still have it.” And she knows that it's in the will, and she knows that it's to go to the Japanese museum. I'd like it to go sooner than later, but I can't do much about it, you know? Because he promised her that and he shouldn't have really done that but I guess father and his little daughter, you know? Laughs. And all that stuff.
KF
Yeah.
DA
Yeah, so that's where it is and we'll make sure that, you know, it is in the will. It should go there. I'm gonna talk to Catherine about it. I was actually going to talk to her the other day about it, but we were talking about the anniversary of her father's death. I didn't want to bring it up, so I thought, but I am going to bring it up and I'm gonna ask her if she'd like to, if she'd like to give it to the museum.
KF
Yeah, yeah.
DA
Sooner,
KF
Rather than later.
DA
Rather than later.
KF
Yeah, but it's quite heavy, isn't it?
DA
Oh! It's a heck of a thing to . . . the movers, I remember when the movers moved it here.
KF
Laughs. It was a bit of a challenge? Laughs.
DA
Well, it's heavy. Very heavy, yeah.
KF
Yeah, well, you can just tell from the photo, like, it looks so substantial. Yeah, so how can it get from Clayoquot to Tofino?
DA
I have no idea how it got there.
KF
Yeah,
DA
See my grandfather Eik and grandfather Arnet would know, but they're gone. Kyla and Dorothy hum in confirmation and understanding. Because the Arnet's had it, it was, you know, like I told you, I just thought it was a planter. When I first saw it, you know, it always had flowers in it, and,
KF
Well, yeah, when you first showed it to me the first time we met, Laughs. I thought “Aww,” Dorothy laughs. you know, “it's just a nice pot to put your flowers in, matches the concrete,”
DA
Yeah.
KF
“walk way, and” Pause. But yeah, what a funny piece of history. I should actually reach out to Mary and ask her about it because she's still around and it would be right Unclear. to ask her.
DA
Yes, ask her how did it get to Tofino?
KF
Mhmm.
DA
Cause, the story that I heard, it was actually at Clayoquot. That's where they were this canning, this fish.
KF
And, also, just even how it was made. Like, it's very,
DA
Mhmm, and how they made it, too. Yeah.
KF
Yeah, I should definitely ask Mary and get back in touch with her and see what she has to say.
DA
So, maybe we could add to the, cause is that the history of it?
KF
Yeah, it says,
DA
I haven't read it for a long time.
KF
Yeah, it just gives a brief history about how Mary was talking about it, and then, Pause. Also, just a brief history about the property that we had covered and then how Midge got in touch with you guys about it. Oh yeah, and see, so she explains what kamaboko is she said it was made from fresh cod and then canned.
01:29:50.000
01:29:50.000
KF
The Nishi, Ed believed that the Nishimura's had hoped to export it, but the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the subsequent expulsion had prevented the fruition of the enterprise.
DA
Does she mention it being at Clayoquot? Because that's, I thought that's where the Nishimura's were, was at Clayoquot. I don't think it mentions that in there.
KF
No, I don't see, see it mentioned, but Pause. yeah,
DA
Yeah, Edward felt kind of, cause you know he, he knew it was something to do with the Japanese but he would, he didn't really know what it was about until,
KF
Until later on.
DA
Until, yeah, until Midge contacted him, you know, and then, yeah, Pause.
KF
Yeah, what a neat story though. Dorothy agrees. What a funny piece of history, just, yeah.
DA
I know, and it hasn't got where it should be, yet. But, it will someday.
KF
It makes you wonder though: what other items are floating around in people's houses without them knowing, you know?
DA
One thing that my cousin Roy Arnet, ███████ told me that, he said that when, he said just before they were sent away, a lot of the Japanese women were selling a lot of their stuff.
KF
Okay.
DA
They would bring it to the community hall or they would have it, set it out, you know? And they sold an awful lot of their China, steel, tea pots, dishes, and all that stuff that they couldn't possibly take along with them. And, he said his grandmother had quite a few things that she had bought off of the Japanese.
KF
Oh, really?
DA
And, he doesn't know where they are now. No, he still lives in Adleridge the little Arnet home, on the water, ███████ If you ever go there that's the original Arnet home.
KF
Wow.
DA
Where Jacob and Johanna lived.
KF
So he talked about how all the China they would just try to sell it in Tofino, before hand?
DA
Yeah, and he said people bought it, you know, lots of, especially the women cause there was some lovely china pieces, you know, vases and tea cups and things. And he said, “Oh, a lot, they sold a lot of stuff.” I don't know whether it was all dishes and so on; it could have been other stuff, too, that they sold before they, before they left because they couldn't take it with them.
KF
Well, I know there's definitely other stories of people who talk about, going to a thrift shop and then spotting their family's porcelain and dishware that they had left behind and that had passed through, you know, however many hands and were now just sitting in this thrift shop just being sold for so little and,
DA
Did they buy it back?
KF
I don't know if all of them did. I know one story that I had heard when I was younger, just kind of in passing before I even started this project, was a lady who said that she was at a garage sale and this woman was selling china. And this woman had said “That's my family's dish set.” And I think the woman who was selling the items got quite flustered and was quite uncomfortable because I think she knew,
DA
Yeah, where it had come from.
KF
Mhm. Yeah, which,
DA
Yeah,
KF
It's really sad, but,
DA
Well, yeah, so one day the usu will be where, well, where does it really belong? I guess the only place is the museum. Wouldn't it be nice if it could be in front of a Japanese, or maybe in front of the Japanese museum or something, you know? Laughs. In a little garden setting.
KF
Hmm, yeah. Where does it belong? I think that's a really interesting question.
DA
Yeah, where does it belong?
KF
Yeah, so as for your other files, this was from one file, but what else do we have that we can go through?
DA
Yeah,
KF
Cause we have,
Dorothy and Kyla get up to look through Dorothy's files.
DA
This is the correspondence between the two,
KF
Oh, okay!
DA
The two Japanese,
KF
Yeah, let's look at that for a bit.
Kyla and Dorothy return to their seats and shuffle through the files. 01:34:38.000
01:34:38.000
KF
So you two, or you, well you have been keeping in touch with these family friends, now excuse me, for how long, a total of how many years?
DA
I think it says on the cover.
KF
On the cover here?
DA
That, does it say?
KF
Oh, yeah! 2006 to 2016.
DA
Yeah.
KF
Oh, ten years, yeah.
Papers shuffling can be heard.
DA
And you know they sometimes send me a lovely calendar or something,
KF
Yeah,
DA
At Christmas time.
Papers shuffling, followed by a pause. Dorothy laughs while going through the correspondence. Kyla and Dorothy looking through Dorothy's correspondence.
KF
So that book that you have in your hands there what's that for people who don't know?
DA
John Eik's fish log for vessel Anne H. and I just, it's making me feel so, you know, that's his writing, he wrote this. And, just makes you feel, really kind of close to him and I think this must be Norwegian, here.
KF
That he's got written down?
DA
Yeah, it looks like “Tum Han, 1926.” I don't know.
KF
Yeah, I saw his, his writing in the Custodian paper's, too. There's a little slip that he wrote of the amount that he had collected, and I thought “Oh, that's Dorothy chuckles. so neat.”
DA
Yeah, it's, he used to speak in English and Norwegian. Papers shuffle. Sockeye, yeah most of it's in Norwegian. But, you know, you think that holding this book in my hand, it was his book that he wrote in, you know?
KF
Yeah,
DA
What a Unclear.
KF
So, what, fish, for those who don't know, what is a fish log used for?
DA
Well, when you're fishing, you keep a log of the number of fish, they probably do it on a computer or something now, you know?
KF
Yeah, like self-spreadsheet or something.
DA
But, in those days, you know, each day they put the date down and then how many fish they caught. He's got coho on that page. Papers shuffling. Dogs, dog salmon, Dorothy laughs.
KF
Oh, really?
DA
He's got dogs.
KF
Oh, yeah,
DA
Yeah, and see this is the Anne H. that's the, this was the, one of the Clayoquot Cannery's boats that he skippered. Papers shuffling. “1932 Fish Account Book for the Anne H.”
KF
Isn't that neat.
DA
And this looks like, Papers shuffle. his writing. Pause as Dorothy and Kyla read. Tofino dogs and coho, September 2, 1935.”
KF
Wow. Papers shuffling.
DA
1935. Long pause as Dorothy and Kyla read. I've got a couple of fisheries friends who would love to see this.
KF
Oh, yeah, I'm sure.
DA
Well that's the other thing I was going to tell you, the fisheries office in Tofino, they have a new building,
KF
Okay?
DA
And in the building, if you ever go there, you can go in and have a look, but they have a huge, huge wall that's about that size. Gestures towards a wall in here home. And, the fishery officer there, she knew Edward really well, and she wants to have a, she's making a history wall out of it.
KF
Oh, really?
DA
Yeah, and I had his dress uniform and his hat you know the one I had in the cover, uniforms are not something which you throw in the garbage or, you know,
KF
No, especially the older ones are so nice.
DA
Yeah, and, anyway, she asked me, she said “Would you let me display it?” and that's what she's done.
KF
Oh, that's so nice. Oh, isn't that,
DA
Yeah, I'll show it to ya. She's just really got it started, but yeah Both moving from their sits. It's just a picture right here.
01:39:38.000
01:39:38.000 Sounds of movement, boxes being opened, and papers shuffling.
DA
She took a picture of it, and the ceiling light kind of got in to it. But that's,
KF
Oh, but look at that.
DA
So there's his,
KF
Oh, isn't that beautiful?
DA
And his hat and then these are three pictures of him, that she framed, yeah.
KF
But, that's so beautifully hung up on the wall.
DA
Mhm, yeah.
KF
Oh, isn't that nice.
DA
I think it's in a sort of a case, or like a
KF
Yeah, to protect it, that's nice. That way dust doesn't get on it.
DA
This is my favourite picture of my husband. He had just brought the new vessel into Tofino,
KF
Right.
DA
Right there, the bottom one here,
KF
Oh, right!
DA
Next to the reef, and he was so happy, you know, and I thought, doesn't he look happy?
KF
Yeah. Dorothy laughs.
DA
That's Tofino in the background there. Yeah, lots off happy memories, I'll tell ya. That was his crew.
KF
Was it?
DA
Yeah, he always had, well he had a cook, deckhand.
KF
Oh, yeah?
DA
A cook-deckhand and he finally, with this new vessel he got an engineer.
KF
Oh, interesting.
DA
Which, I am still in touch with these,
KF
Are you?
DA
This fellow's past away, but, yeah. This is his engineer and he and his wife keep in touch with me, too.
KF
Oh, that's nice. I'm just noticing here, like you said Dorothy, through these letters, that Hido has sent you, like how often the mention Tofino.
DA
Oh, I know, I know. Yeah. It was happy, happy days. They said that many times. Happy, happy days in Tofino. Shuffling or movement noises in the background.
KF
No, it's just amazing how, how much,
DA
Hello, bubby To her pet.
KF
How much they mentioned about Tofino and it's just in every paragraph almost,
DA
Oh, yeah,
KF
How much it means to them.
DA
Their happiest days were there and to have to leave there it must have been terrible.
KF
So, what did Hiro and the other gentlemen do when they were in Toronto? What was their career?
DA
One of them was a builder; he had a, he built houses and he did very, very well, and I can't remember what the other one did. Cause he mentioned it a lot. One of them mentions it a lot, what he did. Yeah, he built some big fancy homes for rich people and I can't remember what . . . what Tat, Tatsumo, I can't remember what he did. He's a Papers shuffling. was a little,
Papers shuffling, for a long time.
KF
Yeah, this is so neat. Hiro says in this letter “As to the Japanese school, which I attended, I was wondering what had happened to it.”
DA
Yeah, that's right. They had a Japanese school, and I remember the building.
KF
“We used to walk to the public school from Storm Bay, it was quite a walk in the winter when it used to pour rain.” Pause.
01:45:03.000
01:45:03.000
DA
Oh, here. Here's something about the usu! Papers shuffling.
KF
And, what's this? Where's this from?
DA
This is a, Tat's, Tatsumo and Kim Sakaye.
KF
Oh, okay!
DA
Yeah, so I just happened to look, notice it here cause I, Reading from a letter or journal. “The usu mentioned in this issue was bought by my father on one of their many trips to Japan.”
KF
Oh, wow, so it was brought from Japan? God, how do you bring something like that over?
DA
How could you bring that? “The Nishimura parents came from the same village as our parents, so the two families were very close to one another. The usu was used to pound the cod at their kamaboko plant. In fact we used to help them. I would like to thank Midge Ayukawa for the article as it brought many pleasant memories.”
KF
Oh, that's nice.
DA
Well, it is, it's absolutely fascinating to read all of these letters.
KF
No, I definitely agree.
DA
I like to do it from time to time.
KF
Do you?
DA
Yeah. Now what are we going to do about these letters? Now, do you wanna take a phot-, you can't take it with you? Could you take one file at a time?
KF
I could take one file at a time and copy them.
DA
Yeah, and copy whatever you want.
KF
And then I'll return them in good condition.
DA
And then you make sure they come back to me.
KF
Yes.
DA
And you were gonna photograph this, too?
KF
And, I'll photograph that. Dorothy pats an object. No, but thank you so much for letting me through your photos.
DA
And, you're welcome back anytime you want to talk to me if you want to talk to me some more about it.
KF
Yeah, absolutely.
DA
I think I've told you pretty well everything I know, but, Kyla chuckles.
KF
No, but I'm sure once I go through all the archives I'll have so many more questions to ask.
DA
Cause there is such a lot of stuff in here, you know that. Everyone of these files has got really interesting stuff in. So, what are you going to take with you this time? Did you want to take?
KF
Maybe, I'll start with the John Eik folder.
DA
Okay.
Audio ends. 01:46:51.000

Metadata

Title

Dorothy Arnet, interviewed by Kyla Fitzgerald, 12 April 2016

Abstract

Dorothy Arnet is a former long-time resident of Tofino, BC. Dorothy reached out to the Landscapes of Injustice Project because she was compelled to share her late husband’s family, the Arnets, history and their connection to the Japanese-Canadian community. In this interview, Dorothy shares her husband’s, Edward Arnet, family history of owning a chicken farm in Tofino, BC where many Japanese-Canadian families rented cottages on the Arnet farm to live and the subsequent uprooting. This family history includes stories such as Edward’s grandfather’s role as a Custodian of Enemy Alien Property in Tofino and liquidating his own farm, Edward’s memories of losing his childhood friends, and the impact of the uprooting on the family. Dorothy also talks about getting in touch with some of Edward’s Japanese-Canadian friends years later, learning about the uprooting and internment, and keeping a personal archive of family heirlooms, letters, and mementos from this time period. Furthermore, Dorothy discusses her own family history and wartime memories in Winnipeg when she was young. The interview concludes with Dorothy’s personal mission to have the Tofino Council acknowledge and commemorate the Japanese-Canadian community of the past, the current state of the Arnet family farm postwar (now called Eik’s Landing) and sharing her husband’s stories to the community.
This oral history is from an interview conducted by the Oral History cluster of the Landscapes of Injustice project.

Credits

Interviewer: Kyla Fitzgerald
Interviewee: Dorothy Arnet
Transcriber: Nathaniel Hayes
Audio Checker: Nathaniel Hayes
XML Encoder: Nathaniel Hayes
Publication Information: See Terms of Use for publication and licensing information.
Setting: Victoria, B.C., Canada
Keywords: Tofino ; Ucluelet ; John Eik ; Edward Arnet ; Eik's Landing ; Eik Tree; Saanich ; Clayoquot ; fishing; fishermen; fisherman; Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property ; custodian; Norway; Midge Ayukawa ; North Saanich ; school; children; map; drawing; Russia; German; Pearl Harbour ; Winnipeg ; community; Tofino council archive; museum; house; cottage; commemorate; apology; acknowledge; Anne H.; Pre-World War II, World War II, post war to present.

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.