Roy Handa DIED 2002 OCCUPATION Tradesman
10
RETURN a commemorative yearbook in honour of the Japanese Canadian students of 1942
ROY HANDA WAS born in Naas Harbour, BC and moved with his family to Vancouver before starting school. It is very difficult to speak on behalf of our uncle and brother. He never spoke of these days to us. Perhaps he never wanted us to think negatively about education in any way so never told us that he had been expelled by UBC. My mother (his sister) remembers him being very angry when asked to leave UBC as well as leave his home and his family. Before the Japanese entered the fray of war in 1941, Roy was experiencing the typical life of a university student. When the war began and the War Measures Act was put into place, his life was to forever change. At this time, Roy had completed his fourth year at UBC and was on the cusp of graduating with a Bachelor of Arts. In place of attending convocation that spring, Roy was forced to go to work in the road camps in Schreiber Ontario. A diploma would never be forthcoming. During this time he had little contact with his two sisters and mother who had been sent to Greenwood internment camp. His family didn’t know where he
was going when he left and they had very limited communication throughout their separation. From Schreiber, Roy then was sent to Chatham, Ontario to work on the sugar beet farms and finally ended up in Toronto. Toronto was not friendly or welcoming to anyone of Japanese descent. People did not want to hire nor rent space to them. Racist sentiments ran strong all the way from BC. Roy was finally able to get work with a paper company and found a small space to live for his family. Knowing he would need a trade or skill to ensure work for the future, Roy took a college course to learn sign painting. Eventually he got a job with the K&S Sign Company (on Adelaide in Toronto) and rented a house on River Street. Many years later, he would go to BC for the fishing season and then return to Toronto. He married later in life and moved back to Vancouver permanently for the first time since the war. Roy and his wife lived for a time in Richmond, BC until they moved to 110 Mile House, BC. He lived there until he passed away in 2002. —As remembered by his family