British Columbia History

“The history that lies inert and unread in books does no work in the world,” warned Carl Becker in his presidential address to the American Historical Association in 1931. He urged his peers instead to write what he called “living history,” that is,

Dear Editor, I’d like to supplement my article “On Hallowed Ground” [in Spring 2022, 55.1]. Inexplicably, Queen Charlotte Airlines owner Jim Spilsbury wrote in his book, The Accidental Airline, that the co-pilot of Queen Charlotte Airlines Flight 102

The Canadian government uprooted and interned all people of Japanese descent living in coastal British Columbia in 1942.1 The following year, it authorized the sale of everything that they had been forced to leave behind. As a result, when officials

Broken Promises is a museum-based and virtual travelling exhibit that complements and highlights research from the Landscapes of Injustice project. Visitors to the in-person exhibit (as well as those doing the virtual tour at https://my.matterport.

Extensive educational resources and powerful learning tools are big parts of the Landscapes of Injustice project. These newly developed educational resources include specific teacher lesson packages for elementary and secondary classrooms. These are

“In 2019, my friend Brian K. (a Sansei) and I were commissioned to create a musical work for the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. Our process took many pathways, but the foundation of the work was energized by the collective research provided by La

“When I first opened my grandfather’s case file (which contained about 500 pages) from the Office of the Custodian, there was a handwritten number: 9609. What did this mean? It dawned on me that 9609 was my grandfather’s internee number, assigned by

“My Auntie Nobby (Nobuko) was born in 1921 in Steveston, the eldest of 10 children. She contracted TB during the war, and she spent a greater part of the internment recovering at the New Denver Sanatorium for Japanese Canadian patients while her fami

“Our documented family history focuses on Koichiro Sanmiya, who held the first malt and sake license in British Columbia. While researching our family after his untimely death in 1931, I found a property at 640 E. Cordova listed under M. Sanmiya in 1

“My [maternal] grandfather, Fusakichi Fujimagari, was 58 years old in 1942. From the digital archives case file, I learned that his property at 204 Alpha Avenue was one acre with a newly built two-storey home (with an ofuro [soaking tub] in the basem

“The case files have been a way to authenticate and understand my baa-chan’s (grandma Asako) memories about our family. I wanted to learn about the store Asako’s parents, Hana and Matsunosuke (my great-grandmother and great-grandfather) ran in Vancou

“When reviewing documents of Susan Fukuyama’s family in a Howe Sound Fishery case file dated August 20, 1942, I found a claim by Susan’s grandfather, Senkichi Fukuyama, from his lawyer to a Mr. Alexander, indicating that Senkichi’s boat, the Howe Sou

“My great-aunty Kay and husband, Charlie Imahashi, owned farmland in New Westminster, but when war broke out, Charlie was sent to a road camp, and Kay stayed with my grandmother and her five boys until they were forcibly moved to Hastings Park. When

“When I received both the Kunimoto and Kajiwara case files, I was curious but didn’t fully grasp how emotional it would be for me to read these forms, letters, lists, and documents. My Kajiwara family’s case file is only five pages long. But because

“The property form in the case file will tell you where [your family] lived in the ‘protected area,’ whether their residence was owned or rented, and a number of other things. I was shocked to learn that my jii-chan, Hideo Tamaki, had his house built

“I never knew my paternal Issei grandfather, Heijiro Hiraoka. With the Landscapes of Injustice database files, we have uncovered more than 400 pages of documentation related to our family, beginning with two unexpected and rare photographs that were

“I received the files for my great-uncle, Seiichi Kinoshita (incorrectly spelled Seichi in the archival file), on my mother’s side, who was a First World War Canadian army veteran. I was impressed at how much work had gone into his farm, which starte

Eva Cserfalva (pronounced cher-fal-ve) came to Canada in February 1957, when she was 29. Along with her husband and son—both named Egon—she settled in the Vancouver area. Eva was one of 37,500 Hungarian political refugees who were accepted for settle

Hungarian refugees—like Eva—were welcomed to Canada after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a nationalist uprising against the Soviet Union’s control of Hungary. Among these 38,000 people were faculty and students from the School of Forestry in Sopro

Six new resources aimed at reducing racism through education are now available across British Columbia. You can access all six resources at www.threadingourstories.ca. This multi-part project, called the South Asian Canadian Legacy Project, aims to

We are joining Bert on his journey across Canada from Gabriola Island, BC, to Big Shippegan Lighthouse, New Brunswick. His exploration across Canada—in the footsteps and the paddle strokes of Indigenous people, European mapmakers, and ordinary travel

Lisa Uyeda has the archivist’s touch. The Collections Manager at the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre is wearing white gloves as she gently places a drawing of a POW camp on a table. The scene includes a barracks, a guard holding a rifle, a

Though our journey is a unique one, you might recognize its echoes in today’s headlines. It resonates with continuing stories of dislocation, migration, and struggles to build from fragments an idea of home…Follow the stories of the Japanese Canadian

In July 1942, the Tashme Internment Camp opened its doors to Japanese Canadians who were removed from the BC coast following Canada’s declaration of war against Japan. Formerly called the Fourteen Mile Ranch, the camp was located 14 miles [22.5 kilom

British Columbia History is a quarterly magazine chronicling British Columbia’s unique story through the words and images of community writers, archivists, museum professionals, academic historians, and more. Our editorial team makes every effort t

When current events feel like an unlikely brew of unprecedented times and history repeating itself, I like to go for a walk to untangle my thoughts. I live near Nanaimo on a farm, so my walks include continuously scanning for anything that looks out

https://tinyurl.com/FBCAYouTube The Friends of the BC Archives (FBCA) shifted their popular monthly guest speaker series to virtual in the fall of 2020 to keep their members connected during the pandemic and to deliver scheduled presentations at a

Woolly Wednesdays, a six-part series on the now extinct Salish wool dog, was hosted by the Museum of North Vancouver (MONOVA) in 2021. The virtual presentations were led by Senaqwila Wyss, an Indigenous programmer at MONOVA. In the series, Senaqwila

During the Second World War, the Canadian government ordered the removal of persons of Japanese racial origin living within 100 miles of the coast of British Columbia. Consequently, nearly 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forced to leave their homes an