Degree of Justice

David Shiozaki, a classmate, joined me. We spent that winter, and most of the following year, in an army tent, because single men were not given accommodations. Upon arrival, we were assigned to the baggage crew. As carloads of families arrived daily, we helped install them and get their limited bagged into their allotted housing. When the flow of evacuees subsided, we were “promoted” to the “outhouse gang.” As part of the excavation crew, Dave and I dug holes about 3 ft. by 6 ft. by 5 ft. deep. The foundation crew followed us, and they in turn were followed by the carpentry crews. The whole process was the mass production of “outhouses.” Dave and I became a couple of husky and strong young men.

The next promotion was more appealing. Dave worked in the welfare department, and I was moved in to the payroll and accounting department of the administrative office. Within a few months, new families ceased to arrive in this complex of Slocan City, Bay Farm, Popoff, and Lemon Creek. A semblance of community activities had started, so I was out of a job. In an effort to keep families together, my parents and little sister were evacuated to Slocan to be with me. Our family of four was allotted half a house; the other family had five people, so we were two families living in a house measuring approximately 15 by 30 ft.

The Anglican Church started up a high school program. I applied for work, and started teaching grades 9-12 with Toyo Takata, who became the author of Nikkei Legacy. Suddenly, in 1946, orders came from the government to clear out the ghost towns. I suspected that this was the secondary and final stage of the original plan to disperse the Japanese Canadians out of BC. People were given a choice of relocating east of the Rockies or being deported to Japan. My main concern was the unknown possibility that the same anti-Japanese racism existed in the rest of Canada. The news I was getting from prior evacuees seemed to indicate that such discrimination was a non-issue! It occurred to me that the perpetrators of all this racism and consequent devastation may inadvertently be doing those of the second generation, in particular, a massive favour: the whole economics and opportunities of building a lifestyle of our own choice without any restrictions was being presented to us on a silver platter. Ultimately, this turned out to be an actuality.

I planned to go to Montreal because I had a good command of the French language and Montreal was the financial capital of Canada. The three main demographic groups were incompatible, but I figured all three of them would be happy to make use of my potential talents. I took a job as “house boy” 82