Touched By Dispossession
As our project evolves, we have gathered stories of individual and communities that were touched by dispossession. We are grateful to the contributors and we are honoured to to share these with you.
Teaching History through History- An Interview with Greg Miyanaga
My name is Matt Billson, a first-year student intending to study both History and English at the University of Victoria. As a part of my HUMA 295 course, a first-year seminar course that looks at research in the Faculty of Humanities and explores what it really means...
The Case of Akira Namba- By Isabelle D. Tupas
This article in our series on the four claims highlights Claim #2: Dispossession is hard work. It comes from Isabelle D. Tupas, an undergrad at KPU and practicum student volunteering at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre. Claim #2 states that the...
The Journey of a Piece of Furniture, a Piece of Family History
Listen to this story on CBC Radio North By Northwest with Sheryl MacKay December 12, 2020 The Journey of a Piece of Furniture, a Piece of Family History Michael Abe Prologue In 1991, my Auntie Katy (Kaoru nee Toyota) and Uncle Kumy (Kumeo) Yoshida came from London...
Landscapes of Injustice Claim Series #10 9609 Meeting My Ojiisan (Granddad)
Claim series 10 Laura Saimoto 9606 meeting my ojiisan 9609: meeting my ojii-san (granddad) Laura Saimoto When I first opened my grandfather’s case file (about 500 pages) from the Office of the Custodian, there was a handwritten number: 9609. What did this mean? ...
Landscapes of Injustice Claim Series #9 Preserve’d in History
Claim series 9 Michael Abe Preserve-d In History Landscapes of Injustice Claim #1 Killing of Home Here is an entry in the series on the four claims that is food-related. The forced uprooting and dispossession of Japanese Canadians during the 1940s destroyed a...
Landscapes of Injustice Claim Series #8 Without a Trace
In our continuing series on the Four Claims, this story follows the provenance of a small but important piano. Claim series 8 Michael Abe Without a Trace Claim #1 Killing of Home Without A Trace By Michael Abe With the invention of the incandescent light bulb in the...
Landscapes of Injustice Claim Series #7 The Case of George Tamaki
Claim series 7 Kaitlin Findlay George Tamaki Continuing in our series of short essays relating to the four claims of Landscapes of Injustice. This essay explores claim # 3: Reasoning Wrong. In the 1940s, officials found ways to justify their actions. While racism was...
Landscapes of Injustice Claim Series #6 Rebuilding of Community
Claim #4 Dispossession is Permanent. The internment era was far too long-seven years, most of them after WWII had ended. But dispossession lasts forever. The lands, possessions, and opportunities lost can never be fully restored. Here is a submission by Project...
Landscapes of Injustice Claim Series #5 Examining the Sato Fonds
This article in our series on the four claims highlights Claim #2, Dispossession Required Sustained Work. It comes to us from Laura Saimoto from the Vancouver Japanese Language School, one of our partner institutions. Congratulations to the hard work to have their...
Landscapes of Injustice Claim Series #4 The Story of Cinderella
Claim series 4 Kaitlin Findlay Eiko Henmi Continuing in our series of short essays relating to the four claims of Landscapes of Injustice, this one comes from Research Coordinator, Kaitlin Findlay Claim #2: Dispossession is hard work. In Canada, the dispossession...
Landscapes of Injustice Claim series #3
Claim series 3 Lorene Oikawa The Story of Oikawa Island Continuing with stories in our series about the four claims of the project, Lorene Oikawa relates her father's story and the community that they created on Oikawa and Sato Islands. Claim #1 is the killing of home...
Landscapes of Injustice Claim Series #2 The Case of Gordon Robertson
Claim series 2 Josh van Es Gordon Robertson Continuing in our series of short essays relating to the four claims, this one comes from Josh van Es, an undergrad at UVic and a Landscapes of Injustice research assistant in the Narrative Website cluster. Claim #3 states...
Landscapes of Injustice Four Claims Series #1 My Aha Moment
Here is our series of articles based on the four claims of Landscapes of Injustice. Claim series 1 Jordan Stanger-Ross Vivian Rygnestad Look up! Landscapes of Injustice has a new logo. We decided to refresh our look this summer, just in time for our signature public...
The Lost Fleet Exhibit Launch Report: A Case Study
Photo credits: James Hollko By Mike Abe It was an honour to speak at the event launch of the Lost Fleet Exhibit at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia in January. The exhibit was on loan from the Vancouver Maritime Museum from Jan.-Mar., 2019. At the launch, I...
Dispossession Couldn’t Stop a 60-year Commercial Salmon Fishing Tradition for the Kadowaki Family
Submitted by Ron Kadowaki My father, Tadashi Kadowaki, along with my grandfather, Katsuki Kadowaki, were commercial salmon gillnet fishermen at North Pacific Cannery on the Skeena River before the Second World War. With the internment, their boats were confiscated and...
Paldi-The town that time plum forgot. A story of dispossession and repossession
The Town That Time Plum Forgot By Michael Abe My mother, Ruth Abe (nee Toyota) was a young girl when her family was uprooted and sent to Popoff and New Denver during WWII. She was the second youngest of 14 children born to Shoshichi and Kiriye (nee Obuchi) Toyota...
Lillie Reiko Hamaguchi’s story as told to her granddaughter Lillian Michiko Blakey
"Tied up" - Mixed media collage -Lillian Michiko Blakey In 1996, I asked my mother Lillie Reiko Hamaguchi to write her story for her grandchildren. Since then I have been dedicating my artwork to the telling of my family story of relocation. See www.blakeyart.ca...
1500 Chickens- By Sally Ito
This is one of the entries of short anecdotes about writer Sally Ito's late Nisei great aunt. This one deals with dispossession, but not your usual possessions. You can read all forty stories at http://cowbird.com/grdvph/stories/chronological/ 1500 Chickens By Sally...
More Than Possessions – Ohina san (Girls’ Day Dolls)
More than Possessions Masako Fukawa, Burnaby, BC My family lived in Steveston surrounded by relatives connected by blood and the fishing industry. Both grandfathers started in fishing. My paternal grandfather left Japan in 1893 and on arrival in Canada entered the...
My Grandfather Takateru Takarabe’s Story of Dispossession
By Donna Buck A few years ago I had sent away for the government’s archived records with regards to my Grandfather, Taketeru Takarabe and the sad story of trust, betrayal and dispossession as all Japanese Canadians of his time endured. I had often thought it would be...
Share your story…
If you have a story of an individual, family, or community that was touched by dispossession, we would love to be able to share it with visitors to our site.
