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This oral history is from an interview conducted by the Oral History cluster of the Landscapes of Injustice project.
Well, I can't give you any money.Daddy said,
I don't want any money.He said,
Well, I can't give you anything then.Finally, Daddy, he said
Well, if you can't do anything else bring a chair because we're short of chairs.Well, he brought a little yellow chair, just a kitchen chair, and we gave it his name because he brought it, little old yellow chair. Anyway, that was the way it kind of started with the boys coming to night school to mom and daddy's. Daddy had a big round table in our living room and there daddy sat with the boys that were a little more advanced in there and mom sat with the boys in the kitchen. Us kids who were supposed to be doing homework. We're sitting around listening to the boys instead of doing homework. Anyway, we managed to get through school but that part was quite difficult. We enjoyed those boys so much and they were so kind, you know, always to us. Christmas time, oh, we'd get . . . They'd bring boxes of oranges and, oh, we loved those Japanese oranges. Of course, they knew we liked them. They'd bring them and then we'd have to hide them because one boy would bring a box of oranges, another boy would bring a box, and another boy. We'd have so many boxes of oranges we didn't know what to do with them so we had to, kind of, hide them so the boys wouldn't see them
Well, what kind of a character does he have?If he was friendly and did the best that he could we'd all name him. We'd give him a name. We all enjoyed that so much with giving the boys names. Your brother, he was daddy's special . . . They chummed together, Charlie and daddy, they had a good time together. All the Japanese boys that come to mom and dad's place, they all went to your place to learn English and we lived so close, about ten minutes walk. A lot of them worked on our farm.
Now, this little boy, I want you to know that when he first came to kindergarten he did nothing but cry. Now, he's going to sing for you.That little boy, all by himself, mom told him
Now you go outand he got out in the platform and he sang all by himself. Oh, they clapped and they clapped. They were so happy to hear that he'd did so well because he did well. That little boy, I don't know where he is now. He probably remembers that story, I don't know. I'm sure all this happened, I think, in the early '30s. Yeah. Okay. What did he say? Was in the '30s? I think so. Yeah. Could be, could be. Yeah, it would be the early '30s. Yeah. Mhm. When did you come out here to Canada? I was born here
I don't like him. Yeah, he scares meand I cried and I cried and I cried. I thought I'd get heck when I got home, from mom, but mom said
That's okay. Tomorrow she'll go. She's a good girl. She'll go.She didn't even scold me. The next day I went nice with your mom and went to school
Why don't we get Mrs. Barnett to teach the kids?and that got rolling and, yeah. What kinds of organizations? Was it farming organizations that your father was involved in? What kinds of community, I guess . . . Yeah, farming and trying to get the farmers all together. You know, somebody has to head it. Not a lot of families can do their business. Your dad had the ability. He was a good . . . So he was never home. He was at meetings here, meetings there. Busy, busy, very involved. Very strict. Very serious, yeah. What about your mother? My mother got sick. I see. I see. Yeah, she worked so hard and she was so tiny. So when I got back from Japan, you'd think I would really enjoy myself. I looked after my mom for seventeen years. She was bedridden. She was a vegetable. Oh, that's too bad. I had to carry her in the morning, wash her, bring her back, feed her three meals a day. Oh, my. So my niece wrote to Ottawa when they had . . . What was it? Homecare. You know, they wanted to give somebody what they did. Award. Award, and I didn't want anything, you know, I mean, I just did it for my mom. I didn't want it, but she lives in Calgary. She did it all. One day in the paper that I got the second award. You got the award? Wow. Second. Oh. Good for you. I don't know who got the top award but they thought it was . . . I need to go to the bathroom. You go right ahead. Do you need help up? I have a weakness this way now, at 100 years old. Can you get off of the couch okay, it's pretty . . . Well, a little push. Can I help you under your arm? Does that help? There you go. Okay, thank you. Could you walk? Isn't she wonderful for 100? Yes, amazing. Amazing
I'll carry her if I'm homeand he carries her. He says,
I got the best mother-in-law in the world. She never says a word
Why do I have to do it? Why do I have to do it?Well, you can't do it. I had three other sisters and two brothers. If you think
Why do I have to do it?Just think
I'm the only daughter that could do it.You could do it. It was hard. I had a nervous breakdown after she died and he had to look after me
Oh, this is okay. That's okay.How long did it take before you could . . . She just about turned four when we got her and we started when she was a baby. Wow. You were the baby. Weren't you the baby in the family? Roy was the baby. Pardon? Roy was the baby. Oh, Roy. That's right, yeah. He was the baby. Yeah, great big boy, great big tall boy. Yeah, not tall anymore. He's not? Huh? He's not? No, he's got dementia. Oh, no, not Roy. Yeah, he's in a home. Is that right? The only thing he'll say is
Oh, my sister, my sister.That's about all.
Open your eyes. Open your eyes.She looks up and . . . Before, she used to say
Oh, Toshi.She used to kind of want to get up but not anymore. She says,
I want to go nowshe says. Yeah, she's getting old with the birds. So Roy and Fumi was the smart one in the family. Fumi, she's okay. No, they're the ones that's . . . Oh, Fumi and who? Roy. Roy. Roy was . . . They're the bright ones. Roy went through university. He was an engineer. You're fine, your brain is fine. Yeah, because I'm dumb