Chemainus, B.C., Canada
(11 July 99)

Chemainus (Chimunesu)

This sawmill town (population 3,900) on the way between Victoria and Nanaimo became known in the 1980s for its downtown murals that depict local history. Lumber was first exported from Chemainus in the mid-1800s, when laborers came from China and Japan to work in the mills. They were paid the "Oriental rate", a wage 20% less than that paid to workers of European extraction. "Picture brides" followed, and in time a small community of Nikkei-jin (people of Japanese heritage) developed.

The Winning Float by Joyce H. Kamimura

There are two murals in what used to be the Japantown of "Chimunesu" (the katakana version of Chemainus). The Lone Scout remembers nisei Edward Shige Yoshida, who as a boy was refused entry into the local Scouts troop. He got permission to be a lone scout and trained on his own, eventually reaching the level of scoutmaster. He was then able to start his own all-Japanese Canadian troop in 1929, the first of its kind. The Winning Float shows a scene from 1939, when the Nikkei community's entry won the prize for Best Float in a parade sponsored by the local lumber company. Three years later, in 1942, the Nikkei community of 300 would be uprooted and sent to internment camps in the British Columbia interior like Tashme.

The Chemainus Valley Museum features a series of annual class photographs from Chemainus Public School. In the early 1900s, each class had a few Asian students. One wonders how much their classmates interacted with them -- all the white students are named, but most of the Asian students are listed as "Not Known". In one photo, all the Asian students are put in a separate row. An article by Toyo Takata relates how at one point all the Asian students were put in a segregated classroom, a move that was successfully protested by the students and their parents. After 1942, the classes are all-white -- an ethnic cleansing had occured.

The Canadian government did not allow interned Japanese Canadians to return to the West Coast until 1949, well after the end of the War, by which time most had decided to resettle elsewhere, such as Manitoba, Ontario and Montreal. One of the postcards sold in the souvenir shops states that "Japanese culture has always been a vital part of the Chemainus community." In truth, though, ever since the War there has been little evidence of anything Nikkei here. Japanese graves in the Chemainus cemetery were vandalized during the War and later bulldozed. Those deceased were remembered at a reunion of former Chemainus Nikkei in 1991, an event that inspired Catherine Lang to write her book Obon in Chimunesu.

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