The Power of Community

In March 1942, the federal government authorized the internment of 22,000 Japanese Canadians 100 miles east of the west coast “exclusion zone.” At the same time, they seized all properties owned by Japanese Canadians, including the Japanese Hall and Japanese Language School on Alexander Street in Vancouver. In these early months of the internment, federal authorities promised Japanese Canadians that their properties would be held in trust and returned to them. These promises were made formally and in law. However, this promised stewardship and return was not to be the case.

The seized Japanese Language School was founded in 1906 by early Japanese immigrants to Canada who settled in the Powell Street neighbourhood. The original schoolhouse was built on 439 Alexander Street, just up the street from Hastings Mill on the waterfront. The number of Japanese-Canadian families living in the Powell Street area known as Japantown continued to grow. Between 1906 and 1919, the