Yukio Yamada to Department of Secretary of State, Office of the Custodian, 13 August 1944

Yukio Yamada to Department of Secretary of State, Office of the Custodian, 13 August 1944

Oak Bluff, Man. Aug. 13, 1944.
File No. 5005.
Department of Secretary of State,
Dear Sir:
Referring to your letter of April 14, 1944, J.L. No. 456, File No. 5005, stating that you have sold my property at 2291 Advent Road, Pitt Meadows, B. C.
It has being quite some time since I received your letter, but just the same, I am writing you this protest.
I have written you before when you advised me if I wanted to sell my place last year. I have written you back and told you diffident that I had no intention of selling at anytime.
When we were evacuated from the prohibited area I handed my property to the Custodian, in trust, that they would hold it for safe keeping until we were able to return to our homes again after the war.
But instead of keeping you trust the Custodian have sold my property for measly four hundred and ten dollars, which is far less than the actual value of my property and further more selling the same without the consent of the owner. I think the Custodian is unworthy of the trust which was left in your hands. What do the Custodian think we are?
I think that selling my property is unjust and digression of Canadian fair play, which you have talked so much of.
I am saying again that I don't want my property sold for such a price. In fact I don't considered it sold. I'm a Canadian and wish to be treat as same not like an enemy alien.
Further more I would like to know what become of the thing I left behind at house when we left the coast?
Yours truly,
(Signed) "Yukio Yamada"

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Yukio Yamada to Department of Secretary of State, Office of the Custodian, 13 August 1944

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Encoder: Ariel Merriam
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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.