Arrival in Southern Alberta
Japanese Canadian evacuees arriving in Picture Butte, north-west of Lethbridge, Alberta, 1942.
Galt Museum & Archives, 19790283009.
“There were crowds of people, farmers and newsmen. We tried to hide and avoid having our pictures taken. Wagons, horses and tractors waited to take us. It was like some slave trading market. We were terrified, not knowing where we were going. Some of us didn’t want to move. Women were crying. The farmers hurried us…”
Mr. and Mrs. Eiji Tashiro
The evacuation of Japanese from the interior of British Columbia to the beet farms of southern Alberta began in April 1942. By the first week of June about 370 families had arrived. They were sent to work on beet farms in areas around Picture Butte, Coalhurst, Diamond City, Coaldale, Raymond and Magrath.
By 1945, 65% of beet labourers were evacuees and therefore an almost indispensable work force in the province.
Typical home provided for Japanese Canadian evacuee families, ca 1940s.
Galt Museum & Archives exhibit file.
Living Conditions on the Sugar Beet Farms
“The evacuation made you angry, very angry. But the anger killed the sorrow and the hurt, and the anger itself was destroyed by making a living. I became too busy to be angry.”
Japanese mother of 10
When the Japanese arrived in southern Alberta, they found very difficult living conditions. There were widespread complaints about the housing conditions. Many of these homes were previously used by seasonal summer beet labourers – they were not insulated and offered sparse living conditions.
The Security Commission offered limited assistance by supplying some building materials to improve their new homes. The Japanese were also expected to assist financially in maintaining and upgrading their accommodations with the meager wages earned in the fields.
It was not unusual to find up to 11 people, including elderly grandparents and young children, living in a 12 x 20 feet shack (3.6 x 6 meters). The lack of a good and abundant water source was also a difficult adjustment for a people known for their sense of cleanliness. Isolation on the beet farms made medical attention difficult and medical expenses were high.
Welling School children, 1947-48.
Courtesy of Toshiko Nishimura.
Education
Schooling also became an issue for Japanese Canadians evacuated to southern Alberta. The federal government had agreed to pay the Alberta government for Japanese students to attend up to Grade 8. To complete high school, Japanese Canadian families had to pay an annual school fee as high as $70 per child.
For those families already struggling to make a living on the sugar beet farms, finding money to pay the school fees was difficult, especially for larger families. For some families, their children had to be sent to Lethbridge to go to high school and had to pay for additional living costs.
Hick Hideo Hinastu, Lankey Yoshiaki Tanaka and Tak Ikeda stand in front of ice covered buildings in Camp No. 6, Chisholm Sawmills, Slave Lake, Alberta, 1944.
Galt Museum & Archives, 19790284001.
Working Conditions
Though some of the evacuees had farming experience, a great many more had worked in the fishing and lumber industries. Work in the sugar beet fields was back-breaking work, involving a great deal of hand labour. For those who had owned their own farms, boats and businesses, being reduced to menial labour was humiliating.
A family of five could earn about $1,320 a year working on the sugar beet farms. Many families could not make it through the winter of 1942 without their income being supplemented. It was not until arrangements were made for male members to work in lumber camps and canning factories during the winter that families were able to become self-supporting.
Opportunities for Japanese Canadians to find work in Lethbridge to supplement the meager income from beet farms was limited and often faced with controversy. Many southern Albertans actively opposed Japanese Canadians leaving the farms to work in the city.
It was not until 1943 that Lethbridge City Council approved the limited use of Japanese labour in the city by the Broder Canning Company. Even then, they were closely supervised, required to live in dormitories on the Broder property, and had to return to the farms after the canning season.
The Broder Canning Company was also a source of employment for the Japanese after World War II.
For additional details see the “Resettlement” section in “The Nisei” chapter.