#schreiber

Schreiber house, West Heath Road, London, NW3 7UX,

Photographs from the ‘relocation camp’ for Japanese-Canadian internees in Schreiber, Ontario, with photos digitized and put up by Schreiber Public Library. I’ve posted about the Schreiber camp before, using extracts from a great article on the subject, but here’s a recap:  “Official removal of Japanese Canadians began in March of 1942....Two days later, about 100 “British subjects” were to board a train to go from Vancouver to Schreiber, Ontario. Of the roughly 100 men ordered to board the train, eighty-five refused. BCSC officials were unable to coax the men onto the train, and ended up incarcerating them in an “Immigration Shed.” These same officials told the imprisoned men that if they did not “divulge the names of the instigators” of the action they would be hauled before the courts, but no one was willing to inform on their compatriots. RCMP Commissioner S.T. Wood then asked for a blanket Order of Internment that would allow him to formally arrest and incarcerate the men. When a push failed, a shove would apparently do. These men would go on to become some of the first of what would eventually amount to over 800 Japanese Canadians who were interned for defying the forced labour and evacuation regime.

...

By April, Dave Watanabe had already “established himself as spokesman” [at the Schreiber camp. He is visible in the second photo, second from left, middle row, identified as ‘Butch’ Watanabe] At a meeting with Graham Pipher, a British Columbia Security Commission [BCSC] apparatchik, Watanabe demanded the workers’ “rights as Canadian citizens,” mainly regarding access to the nearby town of Schreiber. The evacuees stated that their “volunteering” to work in Ontario should have earned them these promised minor freedoms. Although not described as a job action, Pipher noted that sixty people attended this “meeting” to discuss grievances when they should have been working. Building on an earlier slowdown campaign, when the workers got word that the state was to restrict their movement, they brought their working pace to a crawl and threatened to strike.

Pipher commented that any restriction “on free movement etc.” would cause unrest to become “accentuated” and that he would lose control of the camp. The central administration pondered the imposition of stricter discipline, but the notion was junked well before implementation. From the start, the camps were not jail-cum-work-camps, and the incarcerated workers had much more latitude than the authorities had intended. As the camp was “small” and lacking in guards the Japanese enjoyed relatively free mobility. The “Japs at this camp [quickly] found favour with the majority of the citizens of Schreiber,” and before long they were patronizing “local’s stores and places of amusement,” without “any adverse criticism” from the townsfolk. It was of concern to T.S. Mills, the chief engineer on the project, that the men had access to the town and the telegraph office, and had the audacity to send uncensored messages directly to their families in British Columbia.

[CW Warning: Racial slurs] Mills related the story of a local railroad man’s daughter, who inquired of her father whether it was acceptable to dance with the Japanese. The railroader told his daughter that “as long as the Jap was sober and conducted himself properly, he would sooner she dance with a Jap than a Dago.” The railroader’s comment sheds some light on the process of racialization that was unfolding, solidifying, and mutating during the Second World War, and how the hierarchies of “race” were subject to significant gradation and shift.

Although following the war there would be an “elevation” of some “peoples” to “white” status, the war period was still riven by the hierarchies of preference and stratification within the racial-taxonomic realm. Mills “saw problems arising” and predicted there “will be cases of too much intimacy between those young, well-mannered and conducted Japs and local girls.”

Despite the reservations of Pipher and the BCSC (let alone the state) about free movement, Mills noted that “too stringent regulations at this time will cause an unfavorable condition,” and that “policies and regulations” need to be determined by need and on a local basis. Although there certainly was martial rule in the camps, and many of the people in the camps were officially interned and under much stricter control, the reality was that spaces were consistently mediated and negotiated via direct action.

The BCSC thought it impossible to restrict free movement at Schreiber camp. They believed they had a responsible partner in Watanabe as a leader, and as Watanabe had the camp’s “full support” they assumed that they could maintain rule by proxy. Nearby Jackfish Camp had a beer parlour, and the BCSC wondered if adding a pub could be enough to keep the Japanese from wandering to the local dance halls. In the end, the BCSC decided against imposing their plan of a blanket movement ban. Interestingly, the state also gave up on censoring the mail of these specific workers, unless they were sending it abroad, as the mail “could not contain information of much value to the enemy”—a freedom not extended to interned anti-fascist Canadians. Although Pipher wanted to move Wanatabe to another camp to “break” the impromptu organization, the BCSC thought better of it, noting that “should he be moved, he would cause trouble elsewhere.” Preferring to contain the trouble rather than turning local agitators into travelling organizers, Dave Wanatabe was left alone.”

- quotes from Mikhail Bjorge, “Destroying the Myth of Quietism: Strikes, Riots, Protest, and Resistance in Japanese Internment.” in Mochoruk, Jim; Hinther, Rhonda L., ed. Civilian internment in Canada: histories and legacies : an edited collection. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2020. Photos from top to bottom, with original captions from the SPL:

1) Gold Range Mine. Senator Hayes home and bunk houses 2 miles east of Schreiber. This became the main buildings for the Schreiber internment camp.  SPL 1996.1.11.

2) Men of the Schreiber camp, 1942.

Rear L - R: 1) ? 2) Fred Vogami 3) ? 4) ? 5) ? 6) ? 7) Jack Sadoio Shikitani 8) ? 9) ? 10) ? 11) Willie Kimitoshi Utsunomiya 12) Swede Sawada 13) George Suzuki;

Middle L - R: 1) ? 2) Butch Watanabe 3) Sam Hagino 4) Fred Akira Shititani 5) Koichi Nishikaze;

Front L - R: 1) Mickey Hogara 2) George Mochizuki 3) ? 4) John Kikuo Shikatani 5) ? 6) Art Tateishi 7) Sandy Ono

SPL 1996.1.20

3) Men working at the Japanese internment camp two miles east of Schreiber 1942-1944. George Keeno on left. SPL 1996.1.12.

4) Internees at Japanese Internment Camp two miles east of Schreiber. Men were sent to the camps to assist in road building in the area between Schreiber and Jackfish. SPL: 1996.1.19.

5) Left - Right: Minoru Nagasawa , Matahuru 'Mutt' Otsu.  Taking a break from chopping wood, 1942.

6) Some of the residents of a Japanese internment camp, during World War II. The camps were outside of Schreiber, about 2 miles east on Highway 17. 

Standing L - R: 1) Doug Arai 2) Punchy Ito 3) Don Otsu 4) Mitsuo Otsu 5) Len Takeshima 6) Maise Nishimura 7) Syd Nishimura. Seated L - R: 1) Larry Makino 2) Ernie Dikawa 3) George Nishimura. Some of the residents of a Japanese internment camp, during World War II. The camps were outside of Schreiber, about 2 miles east on Highway 17. 

SPL: 1996.1.18

Sie reisen um des Globus' Rund Spiel'n gern mal Abwehrreihen wund Bloß im beschaulichen Saarbrücken Vermag den Bayern kaum was glücken

Zwar trifft Müller mit erstem Schuss Doch hinten baut man stramm viel Stuss Sontheimer nutzt einen der Fehler Stellt gleich im Stadion den Zähler

Die zweite Hälfte - auf ein Tor Die Münchner nahmen sich was vor Nur: Sei's ein Kopf, ein Fuß, ein Bein Spätestens Schreiber lässt nichts rein