The story of Japanese Canadians and their role in building Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows needs to be told, asserts Christian Cowley of the CEED Centre.
So too does their tragic internment during the Second World War, and how their properties and possessions were taken from them for little or no compensation.
“We’re trying to restore that narrative,” said Cowley, noting that most people in Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, and Mission are unaware that the population of their cities was almost one-third of Japanese heritage prior to the war.
The CEED Society executive director was joined by society president Martin Dmitrieff as they appeared before Maple Ridge council on Tuesday, Oct. 10 to get support from the city for the CEED Centre’s initiative. It has a working title of the Japanese Canadian Farming and Community Legacy Project. The financial wherewithal will come from a provincial grant the group is applying for. They will ask for $400,000 for a three-year project, and Cowley is optimistic. The city will bear no financial burden.
The harvest from their research would be an exhibit at the CEED Centre that tells the story of the local people who farmed strawberries and other fruit crops, while helping build the community. It will talk about discrimination, how they were “basically cheated” out of their possessions before being detained in camps around the province. The story also tells how they were told not to come back to Maple Ridge.
The project will look for official documents and records, and also seek to get the verbal history from surviving family members.
According to the Maple Ridge Museum and Archives, there were 220 Japanese-owned farms in Maple Ridge in the 1920s. The people started businesses and built halls, schools, and temples.
There were 300 Japanese Canadian families from Maple Ridge interned during the war, and their assets were seized and sold.
The city council of the day sent a resolution to senior government, asking that the people not be allowed to return. After the war, just seven families did return.
Society president Dmitrieff told council “we want to create a destination where those that have connection to the Japanese Canadian experience and the diaspora can come to our local community and find a place to learn more about their roots.”
“There’s information out there, but it’s not well collated, and it’s not visible to the public,” Cowley explained.
He said they want to fill a gap, and create a place where the story is told.
Council was asked for a letter of support.
Mayor Dan Ruimy called it a “fabulous idea,” and said staff will review the grant criteria, and council will review the issue at a future meeting.
“We look forward to everything coming to fruition,” he said.
Coun. Jenny Tan thanked the delegation for bringing the issue to the city, and said the project “gives us, as this institution, a chance to maybe start righting the past wrongs that we did as an organization. So thank you for that.”
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Cowley is uniquely qualified for this job. First, he heads the CEED Centre Society, which is dedicated to community education about the environment and development. The charity works to build community.
He also speaks Japanese. Cowley was an exchange student to Matsumoto, Japan in 1979, then worked in the country off and on, over a five-year period.
Also, his wife Elaine Yamamoto has family members with direct experience with internment. Cowley already knows a lot of local history, having taken a personal interest. Even the heritage building he works in houses memories of a Japanese language school for children.
The CEED Centre hopes to begin the project in the middle of 2024.
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