Resource Library

The resource library is designed to enhance the lesson activities, create enrichment opportunities for students, and extend the depth of the lessons. The library contains all of the images, source material, audio clips, and films contained in the lesson packages. It also includes bonus archival materials. To aid student inquiry and extension, the library follows the same chronology as the lessons. Additional materials will be added to the site over time; check back for new and exciting materials.

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Explore this History Further

Going Deeper

Lesson 1: Emigration, Settlement, and Aspiration

In this section you can find records that relate to the families highlighted in the lesson activities, including the Information Gap and Post Card activities. Additional images, audio clips and other source materials are also located here.

Photos

These archival photographs and documents offer a glimpse into Japanese Canadian life in British Columbia before 1942.

A-man-and-child-holding-hands-at-Stanley-Park
A-parade-on-Powell-Street-to-celebrate-the-1938-royal-visit
A-studio-portrait-of-the-Gakuyaki-Harmonica-Band
A-young-Hashizumi-standing-at-a-plow
Asahi-baseball-game
Atagi-brothers
Atagi-family-with-friends
Building-at-the-corner-of-an-intersection
Ebisuzaki-and-Morishita-families
Eiko-Maikawa
Fishing-boats
Fuji-Chop-Suey-banquet-hall
Grade-4-Class-Strathcona-Elementary-School
Hashizumi-berry-field
Japanese-Canadian-living-room-portrait
Japanese-Fishermen's-Hospital
Japanese-paper-company
Japanese-United-Church
Kagetsu-and-workers-sitting-around-a-large-tree
Kagetsu-family-at-Burrard-Inlet
Kagetsu-family-outside-home
Landscape-of-Salt-Spring-Island
Maikawa-Nippon-Auto-Supplies
Man-feeding-chickens
Maple-Ridge-Japanese-Canadian-Property
Masue-Tagashira-and-children
Morishita-family-on-beach
Murakami-family
Nakamura-florist-shop
Portrait-of-judo-club-members
Portrait-of-the-Yoneyama-family
Portrait-of-Yama-Taxi-Drivers
Powell-Street-map-1941
Salmon-catch-in-Prince-Rupert
Sawa-Morishita-and-children
Scene-from-the-Hashizumi-family-home
Shimizu-marriage-portrait
Shimotakahara-family-home
Shotaro-Yamakami-in-the-Fairview-Cleaners-and-Dressmakers-shop
Street-view-of-Fuji-Chop-Suey
The-Atagi-Boatworks
Vancouver-apartment-building
Workers-at-the-Yamamoto-berry-farm
Yama-Taxi-calendar
Yama-Taxis-parked-on-a-street.

Audio

In these oral history clips, Japanese Canadians remember their lives from before 1942. Find clips that relate to the families in the Write a Postcard

Audio clip of Susumu Tabata

Audio clip of Tadao Wakabayashi

Audio clip of Eiko (Maikawa) Ogino

Audio clip of Takako Kagetsu Huang

Audio clip of Terry Nakamura part 1

Audio clip of Terry Nakamura part 2

Audio clip of Nancy Morishita

Audio clip of Masue-Tagashira

Video Resource

These videos offer a window into life for Japanese Canadians in British Columbia before 1942. Find videos that relate to the families highlighted in the Write a Postcard Activity.

Film clip of Bill Hashizumi

Film clip of Powell Street neighbhourhood

Film clip of Henry Shimizu

An educational film about tuberculosis

Lesson 2: War and National Security

In this section you can find records that relate to the lesson activities, including the Spotlight, Perspective Taking 101 and Tug-for-Truth activities. Additional images, audio clips and other source materials are also located here.

Photos

These archival photographs and documents offer a glimpse into Japanese Canadian life in British Columbia before 1942.

Baggage-limit-notice
Canadian-Prime-Minister-and-cabinet-1945
Family-in-an-internment-shack
Government-Notice-to-Japanese-Canadians
Japanese-Canadian-processing-centre
Lemon-Creek-internment-camp.
Mother-and-children-standing-with-luggage
Parliament-Hill
Portrait-of-Prime-Minister-William-Lyon-McKenzie-King
RCMP-officer-posting-notice
RCMP-officer-registers-Japanese-Canadians
Registering-with-the-Office-of-the-Custodian-at-Hastings-Park
Registration-Card-Kimiko-Sato
Registration-card-of-Hiroshi-Okuda
Woman-fetching-water-in-internment-camp

Audio

Listen to Japanese Canadians recall the moments of uprooting in 1942.

Audio clip of Elmer Hara

Uprooting by Jean Ikeda-Douglas

Audio clip of Mary Kimoto

Audio clip of Yoshiko Hasegawa

Video Resource

These videos offer a glimpse into the uprooting and internment of Japanese Canadians in 1942.

Film Clip of Life in an Internment Camp

Lesson 3: Dispossession

Explore archival photographs and documents that document the dispossession of Japanese Canadians. Read the letters they wrote and how officials responded. In this section you can find records that relate to the families highlighted in the lesson activities, including the Think About It, Viewpoints on Dispossession, Voices of Protest, A Promise Broken, and Community Responds activities. Additional images, audio clips and other source materials are also located here.

Photos Section 1

Japanese Canadians protested the forced sale of their property.

Aya-Suzuki-protest-letter
Aya-Suzuki-reply
Henry-Naruse-protest-letter
Henry-Naruse-reply
Rikizo-Yoneyama-protest-letter
Rikizo-Yoneyama-reply
Rinkichi-Tagashira-protest-letter
Rinkichi-Tagashira-reply
Shichitaro-Odagaki-protest-letter
Shichitaro-Odagaki-reply
Toshiye-Hoshiko-reply
Toyemon-Fukumoto-protest-letter
Toyemon-Fukumoto-reply
Usaburo-Oikawa-protest-letter.
Usaburo-Oikawa-reply

Photos Section 2

These archival documents and photographs capture moments from the dispossession of Japanese Canadians.

Ad-for-auction-of-Ebisuzaki-merchandise
Ad-for-Murakami-and-Okano-possessions
Appraising-a-Japanese-Canadian-farm
Auction
Children-looking-into-empty-Japanese-Canadian-store
For-sale-sign
Government-officials-sitting-at-desk
Hatashita-boat-registry
News-coverage-of-Japanese-Canadian-legal-case-against-the-forced-sales
Powell-Street-map-1949
Pre-Christmas-sale-ad-for-Japanese-Canadian-property
Seized-automobiles
Seized-fishing-vessels

Photos Section 3

After the uprooting, government officials photographed and catalogued Japanese Canadians’ real estate and homes. Then, they sold them all without the owner’s consent. Explore some of the photos here.

Boat-house-of-Seishi-Mukai-and-Kanishi-Matsuba
Home-of-Asamatsu-Murakami
Home-of-Eisaburo-and-Muriel-Kitagawa
Home-of-Genshichi-Takahashi
Home-of-Hanjiro-Yoshijiro
Home-of-Kamekichi-Otsu
Home-of-Masajiro-Nishida
Home-of-Masaru-Suzuki
Home-of-Massa-Masui
Home-of-Ritsuichi-Uyeno
Home-of-Seijiro-Yamaoka
Home-of-Takichi-Takeuchi
Home-of-Uno-Kosaburo
Property-of-Bunjiro-Ohashi
Property-of-Denkichi-Machida
Property-of-Kenjiro-Kitamura
Property-of-Kiyoshi-Shibuya
Property-of-Kotaro-Nishikawa
Property-of-Koto-Hasaki
Property-of-Mary-Chiyona-Ozawa
Property-of-Tadayoshi-Sakamoto
Property-of-Tsude-Yamamoto
Property-of-Tsuneto-Yamashita
Property-of-Yoshitaka-Frank-and-Shuzo-Hatanaka

Audio

In these oral history clips, Japanese Canadians recall how their families reacted when they learned that the government had sold their properties.

Audio Clip of Yeiji Inouye

Audio Clip of Betty Toyota Part 1

Audio Clip of Betty Toyota Part 2

Lesson 4: Legacies of Dispossession

In this section you can find official records, photographs, audio and video clips that relate to the families highlighted in the lesson activities, including the Where is Home, Letters from Tashme and Shaken Identity activities. Additional images, audio clips and other source materials are also located here.

Photos

Explore photographs from the years that followed the dispossession.

Dancing-at-the-Powell-Street-Festival-1977
Izumi-family-at-train-station-in-Japan-after-deportation
Japanese-Canadians-protest-on-Parliament-Hill
Train-departing-Slocan-City-1946

Audio

Loss is complex. It ripples through families, shaping how they see themselves and their history. In time, new generations face the past. Listen to Japanese Canadians’ stories of loss and living with the legacies of dispossession.

Audio clip of Sachiko Okuda

Audio clip of Leslie Uyeda

Audio clip of Vivian Wakabayashi Rygnestad

Audio clip of Mary Kitagawa

Audio clip of Midori Bruns

Audio clip of Yoshiaki Nagao

Audio clip of Terry Watada

Audio clip of Emma Nishimura

Audio clip of Mark Sakamoto

Audio clip of Kathy Shimizu

Videos

As the president of the National Association of Japanese Canadians, Arthur Miki led the campaign for Redress in the 1980s. It was a community effort. Listen to Art describe the challenges and significance of the 1988 Redress Agreement.

Art Miki describes Japanese Canadian reactions to Redress

Art Miki describes the challenges the National Association of Japanese Canadians faced in the fight for Redresss

Art Miki describes the importance of Redress

Art Miki describes the Redress agreement