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Final of the season Friday,run February 22 • 2013 for the little ones Leslie Beck See Page 20headlines women’s event See Page 5
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Vol. 5 •search Issue 68 Nelson crew in the spotlight Coldsmoke See Pages returns 14-15 to Whitewater See Page 14
UPROOTED
Meadow Creek Cedar
Industry weighs plan for suspended forest license
More than 65 years ago Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed from their homes on British Columbia’s coast and brought to internment camps in places like the Slocan Valley during the height of the Second World War. Today those who lived through the ordeal tell stories of struggle, sadness, and forgiveness. Here’s one such tale... GREG NESTEROFF
L
Nelson Star Reporter
ongtime Nelson resident Yosh Tagami mi remembers working for 25 cents an n hour building internment shacks on the Popoff farm near Slocan City. He was 17 and his family would soon move intoo one of those houses, which measured 14 x 25 feet. “The first winter was cold with four feet of snow, and icicles formed inside so we put cardboard from boxes on the walls,� he says. There was no insulation beyond paper and shiplap, and no indoor plumbing. Wooden bunk beds lay at either end of the house with a kitchen in the middle. They used a wood stove for cooking and heating. “Rice was rationed and we made green tea from alfalfa leaves,� he says. “We had a garden arden and also bought vegetabless from the Doukhobors who camee in horse horse-driven driven wagons.� Tagami, now 85, was born at Genoa Bay on Vancouver Island and raised at Paldi, a sawmill community near Duncan. He had four brothers and two sisters. Their father Jirosaku, a millwright, was injured in a fall and unable to work, so the sons began logging as teenagers.
ABOVE —Even before World War II, Japanese Canadians like Yosh Tagami were ďŹ ngerprinted and photographed for identity cards when they turned 16. RIGHT — Thousands of internees were sent to Slocan City where they enEight-year-old Ennea Piguet prepared a lantern for the Youth for Seven Generations event thatliving was held at dured primitive the Legion building on Victoria Street on Sunday. people concerned about the fate of the Jumbo Valley StoryYoung continues to conditions. at the hands of the proposed mega-resort‘Tagami’ took art in on a dayPage of art 3and activism. The lanterns were made for (Tak Toyota photo) Bob Hall photo a walk to City Hall in the afternoon where speeches were given. See story on Page 11.
Pint-sized Effort Helps Jumbo-sized Cause
Home Owners helping home owners
GREG NESTEROFF Nelson Star Reporter
Plans to rehabilitate Meadow Creek Cedar’s suspended forest license are earning praise from local industry but also drawing criticism. Blue Ridge Timber of South Slocan signed a management agreement last year with licensee Dale Kooner, intending to eventually acquire the tenure. Blue Ridge has since been allowed to do some harvesting as it begins to address an extensive backlog of silviculture, road maintenance and other liabilities. The company has opened an office in Kaslo and hired a handful of staff. Once the suspension is lifted, it intends to process about a quarter of the wood itself and place the rest on the open market. The Star canvassed a dozen forest companies and interest groups for their opinions, finding both ringing endorsements and withering dismissals. ‘A BRIGHTER FUTURE’ Geoff Bekker, Interfor’s Castlegar division woods manager, views Blue Ridge’s involvement as “definitely positive.� “It’s good to see volume from the Meadow Creek Cedar license being made available to local sawmills,� he said. “Our sense is that Blue Ridge is making a concerted effort to have a viable business and with lumber markets starting to improve, this Story continues to ‘Opinions’ on Page 8