The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 marked the turning point in the lives of the Nikkei in Canada. In response to public pressure rooted in anti-Asian racism, the federal government ordered the forced uprooting of close to 21,500 Japanese Canadians living within the restricted area, 100 miles along the west coast of B.C., and confiscated their property by October 31, 1942. The majority of the Nikkei were forcibly removed from their homes and detained in internment sites in the province, while others were sent to road and prisoner-of-war camps, industrial project sites, and sugar beet farms across the country. (Photo credit UBC Library, Japanese Photograph Collection, Access Identifier: JCPC_29_010)
Located in southern B.C. and today identifies itself as the smallest city in Canada, Greenwood was the first of ten internment sites in the province where approximately 1,200 Nikkei were relocated during World War II. (Photo credit Yuasa family collection)
On June 7, 1964, Prime Minister Pearson referred to the internment of Canadians of Japanese descent as “a black mark on traditional Canadian fairness and devotion to principles of human rights.” It was not until September 22, 1988 that Prime Minister Mulroney acknowledged the federal government’s wrongful treatment of the Nikkei and reached a redress settlement with the Japanese Canadian community. On May 7, 2012, the Province of British Columbia issued a formal apology to the Japanese Canadian community for the internment of approximately 22,000 Nikkei during and after World War II. A decade later on May 21, 2022, B.C. Premier John Horgan announced a $100 million funding initiative in recognition of the injustices committed by the province during the war. The resilience of the first immigrants of Japanese ancestry and their children paved the way for future generations to enjoy the rights and freedoms shared by all Canadian citizens. (Photo by William Milliot on Unsplash )
The Nikkei Legacy Park celebrated its transformation with a 15th century Japanese rock garden at the grand opening of the Nikkei Memorial Garden on July 20, 2025. (Photo credit Ciel Sander)
Each family had one room. My wife and daughter and I had a room about this size, about fourteen feet by ten feet; but some families with five and six children-well, it got pretty crowded in there. This was in an old hotel and there was one toilet on each floor and in the hotel there was one washroom. The stove was in the centre of the hall on each floor and with all the families and all the people on each floor it was terribly crowded. It was hard for the women to cook … The fall and winter of 1942 was the coldest it had been around Greenwood in a long, long time. Ah, one day it went down to 39 below … some people woke up in the mornings with frost everywhere, around the windows, on their blankets. The wet shoes the kids had had the night before were frozen to the floor. (Broadfoot, 1977)
During the internment years, Greenwood was unique in that Nikkei were housed in government sponsored accommodations as well as self-supporting renovated buildings across the city. Before the arrival of the first Nikkei in Greenwood, empty buildings including hotels and houses were being renovated and then numbered once the work on each of them had been completed. The majority of the internees resided in these dwellings. For various reasons, it was not unusual for the internees to move from one location to another. # 1 Pacific Hotel # 2 Armstrong Hotel, Hospital # 3 Gulley Block # 4 Rendell Block # 5 Miller Block # 7 Between #5 and #11 buildings # 8 Between building #11 and #4 #10 Wood Block #11 Mellor Block
Some Nikkei families were accommodated in single dwelling homes in Greenwood such as the historic one, circa 1899, located at 14b Long Lake Street. Situated on the mountain side, it overlooked the southern portion of downtown Greenwood. In 1942, the house was accommodated by the Matsubuchi family from Cumberland, BC and the Miyagishima family.
Nikkei were also settled into accommodations located on the outskirts of the city including the auto camp situated north of the downtown core. These houses were allocated to families with members who were either ill, frail, or elderly.
References Broadfoot, B. (1977). Years of sorrow, years of shame: The story of Japanese Canadians in World War II. Tasaka, C. (2014). My hometown my furusato.