Tag Archives: World War II

The Life of Private Marcel Gauthier (Part 1)

Posted on by
4

By Ariane Gauthier

I learned about Marcel Gauthier a few years ago when I was visiting the Canadian cemetery in Beny-sur-Mer in France. Although we have the same last name, Marcel is not my ancestor. However, I have always kept a memory of this young man—the only Gauthier buried in this large cemetery. With the release of the 1931 census, I finally had the opportunity to learn more about him. Now, I would like to demonstrate how the many resources of Library and Archives Canada (LAC) can help piece together the life of a person, such as an ancestor or a soldier!

This first part of the blog will cover Marcel Gauthier’s life from his childhood to his military enlistment.

A black and white picture of a young man in his military uniform.

Photograph of Private Marcel Gauthier, age 21, published in an Ottawa newspaper to announce his death overseas (Canadian Virtual War Memorial).

Private Marcel Gauthier (Joseph Jean Marcel Gauthier)

  • C/102428
  • Le Régiment de la Chaudière, R.C.I.C.
  • Date of birth: November 18, 1922
  • Date of death: July 15, 1944
  • Age at time of death: 21 years old

His military service file is available in LAC’s War Dead database, 1939 to 1947.

Born on November 18, 1922, in Ottawa, Ontario, Marcel Gauthier is the seventh child of a large French-Canadian family of nine. When we look at the Gauthiers in the censuses, we learn that Henri, the father of the family, is from Rigaud, Quebec. When he arrived in Ottawa, he settled in Lowertown with his family. This is where Marcel built his life before enlisting.

At that time, Ottawa’s Lowertown attracted many Franco-Ontarians. The 1931 Census shows that the homes and dwellings of the By Ward – St. George’s Ward sub-district were largely inhabited by French Canadians. Some of them were born in Ontario, others came from Quebec. Several historical studies indicate that the population of Lowertown was mainly Francophone, with a significant Irish population as well. This is one of the reasons why this area has been the site of many language issues in the history of Franco-Ontarians, particularly on the issue of Regulation 17 (available in French only), adopted in 1912. Additional resource: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ontario-schools-question.

Screenshot of the 1931 Census, with an arrow indicating where Marcel Gauthier’s information is found.

Screenshot of the 1931 Census. Marcel Gauthier’s name is found on the 48th line of the By Ward – St. George’s Ward sub-district, No. 74 (Lowertown), on the 7th page of the document (record 8 of 13). He was nine years old at the time (MIKAN 81022015).

Lowertown was considered a disadvantaged neighborhood with a predominantly working-class population. We can therefore assume that Marcel was not born into wealth. His large family lived in close quarters, first at 199 Cumberland Street, with at least seven children (1921 Census), then at 108 Clarence Street, with nine children (1931 Census).

The absence of his mother, Rose Blanche Gauthier (née Tassé), from the 1931 Census indicates that she had probably died by this time. We can assume, by referring to the 8th page of the document (or record 9 of 13), that she died between 1928 and 1931. This theory is based on the registration of the youngest family member, Serge Gauthier, three years old at the time. Marcel’s military record validates this theory and confirms Mrs. Gauthier’s death on October 6, 1928, possibly due to complications arising from the birth of her last child. She is buried in the Notre-Dame Cemetery in Carleton Place, Ontario, where she was born.

In 1931, Marcel’s father and eight of his children lived in a nine-bedroom apartment at 108 ½ Clarence Street. If it had not been for the help of the older children, Henri’s mail carrier salary would not have been sufficient to support his children and cover their tuition. We can therefore assume that Yvette (24 years old and single), the oldest in the household, looked after the home and the younger siblings. We also know that Léopold (22 years old) worked as a driver and that Marie-Anne (21 years old) was a salesperson. It is very likely that they were helping their father financially, just as their older sister, Oraïda (27 years old), had more than likely done ten years earlier. She had now moved out and married a Mr. Homier.

In 1931, Marcel became a student and learned to read, write and communicate in English. At 16, he completed his education. He entered the workforce as a cook and then moved alone to 428 Rideau Street.

Photograph of a two-storey building. Bowles Lunch restaurant is located on the first floor.

Bowles Lunch restaurant where Marcel Gauthier worked before enlisting in the army in 1943 (a042942).

In Europe, tensions with Hitler’s Germany escalated and led to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Unlike many young men, Marcel did not immediately feel the need to join the fight, likely because he was satisfied with his job as a cook at Bowles Lunch. He waited until January 11, 1943, before reporting to Enlistment Office No. 3 in Ottawa. We can theorize that, like many, he wanted to help change the course of the war or that he wanted to follow the example of two of his brothers, Conrad and Georges Étienne.

Shortly after, on January 29, 1943, he left Ottawa to begin training in Cornwall, unaware that he was leaving his hometown forever.

Additional resources

Ariane Gauthier is a reference archivist in the Access and Services Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

The Ships of Dominion Bridge: A Second World War Story of Teamwork, Technology and Innovation

Posted on by
8

By Rian Manson

In 1940, following the Dunkirk evacuation, the British situation was grim. The German Navy, operating from the French coast, was sinking cargo ships at a rate of 50 per month. At the start of the Second World War, Canada only had 41 sea-worthy cargo vessels. To keep the supply of war materials and food from being cut off, it was imperative that cargo ships be constructed at phenomenal speed to prevent Britain from starving to death.

Posters from the Second World War featuring cargo ships.

To keep up morale, posters like these were displayed at Dominion Bridge and United Shipyards, in Montréal. Canadian Transportation, November 1941, pg. 638-639 C-204-4*C-205-1 (OCLC 1080360026).

With the entire shipbuilding industry gearing up for war production, Canada needed a new and large shipyard to help fulfill the huge order of 200 10,000-ton cargo vessels. For this crucial project, the federal government put every Canadian shipbuilder from Nova Scotia to British Columbia on contract to construct naval craft, tugboats and cargo ships.

A bridge over water with a city in the background and a cargo ship passing underneath.

A 10,000-ton North Sands-class cargo ship bound for sea, passing under Montréal’s Jacques Cartier Bridge (OCLC 321000549).

Minister of Munitions, C.D. Howe, approached the Dominion Bridge Company of Montréal to ask if they could use its huge plant and machinery to help with shipbuilding. Since 1882, Dominion Bridge had been supplying Canadian railways and provinces with all types of bridges. Its massive workshops were constructing enormous iron and steel components for huge hydroelectric projects, and supplying countless towns and cities with the structural steel beams needed to erect stores, homes and hotels.

A technical drawing showing dimensions and measurements for a cast-brass nameplate.

Technical drawing of a cast-brass nameplate for marine steam engines of 4700-ton cargo vessels built at the Dominion Bridge’s Lachine workshops, R5607, vol. 2073 (MIKAN 5183995).

Since its first contract with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1882, Dominion Bridge had developed a huge assembly plant with machines specially designed to manufacture heavy steel, iron products and boilers. The Lachine location was a perfect fit: access to water transport; direct rail access from the Canadian National Railway (CNR); and available high-voltage electricity for heavy stick welding. One problem: the company had never considered building a shipyard, let alone ocean-going ships. They needed advice from a trusted source. Fraser Brace Ltd., another respected Canadian company with superior experience in the heavy shipbuilding industry, partnered with Dominion Bridge to help construct and operate the new United Shipyards Ltd., at the Bickerdike Basin in Montréal.

A group of people standing on a dock with a shipyard and cranes in the background.

Thanks to a forest of derrick cranes United Shipyards at Bickerdike Basin was able to continue building ships throughout the winter months, even when the St. Lawrence River was frozen over (e000761650).

Work on the shipyard began in January 1942, and only four months later, the keel was laid for the first cargo vessel. Although this was Canada’s newest and largest single-unit shipyard, the shipyard’s machinery—derricks, cranes and locomotives—were on long-term loan from the Harbour Board, Fraser Brace Ltd., Dominion Bridge, and Montreal Locomotive Works. Even the railway trucks were, according to one writer, “skillfully stolen from the CPR and CNR” to make this giant enterprise work.

A profile elevation diagram illustrating the location of various parts of the cargo ship.

A profile elevation diagram by Dominion Bridge of a 10,000-ton North Sands-class cargo vessel, Lachine, November 1943, R5607, vol. 1612 (MIKAN 5183995).

Dominion Bridge set out a unique prefabrication plan to construct 10,000-ton ships and smaller 4700-ton cargo vessels. In the main shops at Lachine, workers welded the aft section and forepeak of the ship as one piece. These completed sections were delivered by railway flatcars to the Bickerdike Basin, where the custom-built derrick cranes would position the aft sections and forepeak for riveting to the hull.

Side-by-side of a close-up photo and technical drawing of a ship’s stern and propeller.

From the drawing to the dockyard: Dominion Bridge’s pre-fabrication of the aft assembly contributed to the accelerated mass production of ships at United Shipyards, Montréal (photograph: e000761682; drawing: R5607, vol. 1613, MIKAN 5183995).

Dominion Bridge drew on its early bridge and boiler welding experience. All inboard bulkheads, cabins, cargo holds and interior fittings were welded. Welding saved precious time, weight and materials for each vessel.

The savings generated helped United Shipyards set a new Canadian record for shipbuilding speed. From the keel being laid to the final touches of paint, it took 58 days—one month faster than the previous record. The cargo ship arrived in Great Britain fully loaded 86 days after the keel was laid. C.D. Howe praised United Shipyards as the yard where the cheapest 10,000-ton vessels were built in Canada.

Bow of ship with naval officers at attention.

View of the christening podium and guests of honour at the launch ceremony of the 10,000-ton cargo ship, the S.S. Fort Esperance, at United Shipyards Ltd. (e000761721).

A Style of Their Own

On a sunny afternoon on July 15, 1944, Dominion Bridge launched a new type of cargo ship, the “Canadian,” from the United Shipyards slipways. Identical in design to the 10,000-ton British North Sands, but with new improvements, such as boilers capable of burning oil or coal with rapid changeover for each fuel; improved crew quarters; and hatches and decks with greater strength to withstand heavier loads.

Virtually all the manufacturing was carried out in Dominion Bridge’s own workshops. Very little outfitting was subcontracted because Dominion Bridge used its creative bridge welding techniques. Special in-house built jigs with attached electric motors rotated to help with complex welding jobs so the welder could operate “downhand,” and the use of welded engine bedplates instead of bolts considerably reduced vibrations and withstood the shocks caused by explosions at sea.

A group of women standing at attention next to the hull of a cargo ship.

Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service officers lined up at the walkway to the christening podium during the launch ceremony of the S.S. Fort Esperance at United Shipyards Ltd., Montréal (e000761719).

A person welding a large piece of metal.

A welder at the Lachine plant using a special rotating jig for welding the steel bedplate for a marine steam engine that provides the power for the 10,000-ton cargo vessels (OCLC 321000549).

Of the 403 ships built in Canada (including those built by Dominion Bridge), 112 were sunk and 18 were severely damaged by enemy action. Additionally, before the end of the war, 1146 Canadian merchant sailors lost their lives on the high seas and many more endured the trauma of trying to survive in enemy prison camps.

The construction of cargo ships is a forgotten component of Canada’s role in the Second World War. But without the Herculean human effort of the Dominion Bridge Company and other shipbuilders in Canada, one wonders if Britian could have survived the war? Would it have been starved into surrendering to Nazi Germany?

This blog would not have been possible without the remarkable technical drawings of the Dominion Bridge Company fonds at Library and Archives Canada.

Additional resources

  • A Bridge of Ships: Canadian Shipbuilding during the Second World War, by Pritchard,James S., Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011 (OCLC 693809715)
  • Canadian Transportation, January 1941–December 1945 (OCLC 1080360026)
  • Of Tasks Accomplished : The story of the Accomplishments of the Dominion Bridge Company Limited and its Wholly Owned Subsidiaries in World War II, by Dominion Bridge Company Limited, 1945, Montréal: Dominion Bridge Co. (OCLC 321000549)
  • Dominion Bridge Company fonds, R5607, vols. 1612, 1613, 2073 (MIKAN 5183995)
  • Canadian Merchant Ship Losses, 1939-1945 by Robert C. Fisher, The Northern Mariner

Rian Manson is an Archival Assistant in the Private Archives and Published Heritage Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

Have you heard of Léo Major, the liberator of Zwolle?

Posted on by
6

By Gilles Bertrand

French-Canadian soldier Léo Major was a hero of World War II and the Korean War. He is a multi‑decorated soldier who is recognized in the Netherlands for single-handedly liberating the city of Zwolle from the Germans on April 14, 1945. He is the only Canadian to have received the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) twice for his actions in two different wars.

Photograph of a man wearing a military jacket

Sgt Léo Major, DCM and bar, in Korea, 1952 (e011408966)

Born on January 23, 1921, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Léo Major grew up in Montréal. His family moved to Canada a year after his birth.

In the late 1930s, after working in various construction fields, he was employed as an apprentice plumber. He became unemployed in 1940 and decided to enlist in the Canadian Army. From 1940 to 1944, he underwent an intensive period of military training, the first year in New Brunswick and then the next three years in Europe.

His first battle took place on June 6, 1944, when he arrived in Normandy on Juno Beach with Le Régiment de la Chaudière. That same day, Léo captured a German Hanomag half-tracked armoured personnel vehicle.

Two days later, during a reconnaissance mission, Léo and four other soldiers came across a patrol of five elite German soldiers. They engaged and won the battle, but Léo lost the use of his left eye when a mortally wounded enemy soldier threw a phosphorus grenade at him. This earned Léo the nickname “one-eyed ghost.” Despite his injury, he refused to return to England and continued to act as a scout and sniper using only his right eye.

During the Battle of the Scheldt in the fall of 1944, Léo set out to search for a group of soldiers who had been delayed in returning from a patrol in the southern Netherlands. On his way, he took 93 German prisoners alone.

He suffered serious back injuries in February 1945 when the truck taking him back to camp exploded on a mine, killing all the other passengers on board. He again refused to be evacuated and, after a month’s rest, he returned to the battlefield.

On April 13, 1945, Léo and his friend Corporal Willie Arseneault volunteered for a reconnaissance mission. In the middle of the night, they made their way to the outskirts of Zwolle, a Dutch city of 50,000 inhabitants that was occupied by German troops. Corporal Arseneault was killed by enemy fire.

Determined to avenge his friend, Léo continued on, alone, with grenades and machine guns to attack the Nazi-occupied city. He spotted a bar with German officers inside and entered. He disarmed a French‑speaking, high-ranking officer and convinced him to leave the city with his men, claiming that Zwolle was surrounded by Canadian troops.

He raced through the city, firing everywhere to make it look like a Canadian offensive, and even set fire to the Gestapo headquarters. The Germans withdrew.

On the morning of April 14, 1945, thanks to Léo Major, the city of Zwolle was liberated from German troops and saved from the destructive artillery division attack that was to take place later that day. For this feat and for his bravery, Léo Major was awarded the DCM and received recognition from the people of Zwolle.

A typed page with the words War Diary or Intelligence Summary at the top and a table containing secret information.

Extract from a page of the April 1945 war diary of Le Régiment de la Chaudière. RG24 C 3, Volume number: 15181, File number: 743 (e011388179, article 6, image 7)

Returning to civilian life after the war, Léo worked as a plumber. Against all odds, despite his injuries and loss of vision in one eye, Léo volunteered for the Korean War in August 1950 and enlisted with the 2e Bataillon, Royal 22e Régiment.

In November 1951, Canadian troops from the Royal Canadian Regiment, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and the Royal 22e Régiment were sent to a new area occupied by the Americans at that time, on the front line along Hills 355 and 227. Hill 355 was an important strategic position because of its ideal vantage point over the area. Nicknamed “Little Gibraltar,” it was highly coveted by both sides in the battle and changed hands several times.

The Canadian troops faced a strong attack by the Chinese forces, who had retaken the hill. Léo Major was ordered to attack Hill 355 to relieve the pressure on the Canadian troops, who were almost surrounded by the Chinese 64th Army. With a group of 18 scouts, Léo set out in the middle of the night and managed to surprise the Chinese behind their own lines. He regained control of Hill 355 and its neighbour, Hill 227. He himself directed the mortar batteries by radio to the Chinese attackers who tried to retake the hill the next day. Despite being outnumbered, the Canadian soldiers withstood the onslaught of the Chinese troops and held their position for three days before being replaced by American troops. For taking and defending this strategic position, Léo Major was awarded the DCM a second time.

Photocopy of a book extract describing Léo Major’s actions and citations for his two DCMs.

Excerpt from George Brown’s book, For Distinguished Conduct in the Field: The Register of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1939–1992 (OCLC 32387704)

Léo Major was a man of action and great courage who did not shrink from obstacles. He had a strong head and sometimes challenged orders (for example, refusing to return to England after suffering serious injuries or to abandon his position on Hill 355) because he cared about the freedom of the people. He was only doing his duty, he would say, but in an exemplary way, we might add. This hero, who died on October 12, 2008, in Montréal, will never be forgotten.

Additional resources:

Gilles Bertrand is an archivist in the Reference Services Division of Library and Archives Canada.

A selection of records about D-Day and the Normandy Campaign, June 6 to August 30, 1944

Posted on by
Reply

By Alex Comber

With part 1 of this post, we marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day and commemorated Canada’s participation in the June 6, 1944, invasion of northwestern Europe, and the Normandy Campaign, which ended on August 30, 1944. In part 2, we explore some of the unique collections that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) holds about these events, and highlight some records that are the most accessible to our clients online. Through outreach activities, targeted and large-scale digitization, DigiLab and our new and Co-Lab initiatives, LAC is striving to make records more easily available.

A black-and-white image taken from moving film, showing soldiers exiting a landing craft.

A frame of Canadian Army Newsreel No. 33, which includes a sequence of film from the Canadian D-Day landings on June 6, 1944

LAC staff receive many reference requests about our collections of photos. Canadian Film and Photo Unit (CFPU) personnel went ashore 75 years ago, on D-Day, filming and photographing as they landed. During the Normandy Campaign, they continued to produce a visual record that showed more front-line operations than official photographers had been able to capture in previous conflicts. Film clips were incorporated into “Canadian Army Newsreels” for the audiences back home, with some clips, such as the D-Day sequence above, being used internationally.

Photographers attached to the army and navy used both black-and-white and colour cameras, and the ZK Army and CT Navy series group the magnificent colour images together.

A colour photograph showing an armoured vehicle with a large main gun.

A British Centaur close-support howitzer tank assisting Canadians during the Normandy Campaign (e010750628)

Some of the most iconic imagery of the Canadian military effort in Normandy was incorporated into the Army Numerical series; by the end of hostilities, this had grown to include more than 60,000 photographs. The print albums that were originally produced during the Second World War to handle reproduction requests can help in navigating this overwhelming amount of material. Researchers at our Ottawa location refer to these volumes as the “Red Albums,” because of their red covers. These albums allow visitors to flip through a day-by-day visual record of Canadian army activities from the Second World War. LAC has recently digitized print albums 74, 75, 76 and 77, which show events in France from June 6 until mid-August 1944.

A page of black-and-white photographs showing photos of landing craft, destroyed enemy beach defences, and villages and landing beaches.

A page from Army Numerical print album Volume 74 of 110, showing the immediate aftermath of the landings (e011217614)

LAC also holds an extensive collection of textual records related to the events of June–August 1944. One of the most important collections is the War Diaries of Canadian army units that participated in the campaign. Units overseas were required to keep a daily record, or “War Diary,” of their activities, for historical purposes. These usually summarized important events, training, preparations and operations. In the Second World War, unit war diaries also often included the names of soldiers who were killed or seriously injured. Officers added additional information, reports, campaign maps, unit newsletters and other important sources in appendices. Selected diaries are being digitized and made accessible through our online catalogue. One remarkable diary, loaded in two separate PDF scans under MIKAN 928089, is for the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, the first Canadian soldiers in action on D-Day, as part of “Operation Tonga,” the British 6th Airborne Division landings.

A colour digitized image of a typescript account of D-Day operations.

Daily entry for June 6, 1944, from the War Diary of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, detailing unit objectives for Operation Overlord (D-Day) (e011268052)

War diaries of command and headquarters units are also important sources because they provide a wider perspective on the successes or failures of military operations. These war diaries included documents sourced from the units under their command. Examples that are currently digitized include the Headquarters of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, from June and July 1944.

: A colour digitized image of a typescript account of D-Day operations.

War Diary daily entries for early June 1944, including the first section of a lengthy passage about operations on June 6, 1944 (e999919600)

LAC is also the repository for all Second World War personnel files of the Canadian Active Service Force (Overseas Canadian Army), Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force. The service files of approximately 44,000 men and women who died while serving in these forces from 1939 to 1947 are open to the public. These records include the more than 5,000 files of those who died in operations during the Normandy Campaign. As the result of a partnership with Ancestry.ca, a portion of every open service file was digitized. This selection of documents was then loaded on Ancestry.ca, fully accessible to Canadians who register for a free account. To set up a free account and access these files on Ancestry.ca, see this information and instruction page on our website.

These records have great genealogical and historical value. As the following documents show, they continue to be relevant, and they can powerfully connect us to the men and women who served in the Second World War, and their families.

Medical document that shows a schematic view of upper and lower teeth, with annotations indicating missing teeth and dental work.

Private Ralph T. Ferns of Toronto went missing on August 14, 1944, during a friendly-fire incident. His unit, the Royal Regiment of Canada, was bombed by Allied aircraft as soldiers were moving up to take part in Operation Tractable, south of Caen. Sixty years later, near Haut Mesnil, France, skeletal remains were discovered. The Department of National Defence’s Casualty Identification Program staff were able to positively identify Private Ferns. The medical documents in his service file, including this dental history sheet, were important sources of information. Ferns was buried with full military honours at Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery in 2008, with his family in attendance

An official document written in French, dated July 1948, that responds to a family request to communicate with those caring for the grave of Private Alexis Albert, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment.

Private Alexis Albert, serving with the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 11, 1944. Four years later, his father, Bruno Albert, living in Caraquet, New Brunswick, requested the address of the family that was tending his son’s grave at Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in France, to thank them. The Director of War Service Records, Department of Veterans Affairs, provided this response, which helped to connect the grieving family in Canada with French citizens carefully maintaining the burial plot in Normandy.

These are only a few examples of LAC records related to the Canadian military effort in France from June 6 until the end of August 1944. Our Collection Search tool can locate many other invaluable sources to help our clients explore the planning and logistical efforts to sustain Canadian military operations in France, delve deeper into the events themselves, and discover personal stories of hardships, accomplishments, suffering and loss.

A black-and-white photograph showing many rows of Imperial War Graves Commission headstones, and a large Cross of Sacrifice.

Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, which includes the graves of 2,000 Canadian soldiers who died during the early phases of the Normandy Campaign (e011176110)

Alex Comber is a Military Archivist in the Government Archives Division at Library and Archives Canada.

How archives can protect human rights

Posted on by
4

By R.L. Gabrielle Nishiguchi

When asked to name one of Canada’s fundamental democratic institutions, how many people would immediately say “Library and Archives Canada”? Yet, a nation’s archives preserves in perpetuity the evidence of how we are governed.

From the story of Japanese Canadian Redress, we can  learn how records held by Library and Archives Canada (LAC)—combined with crucial citizen activism making use of these records—have contributed to holding the federal government accountable for now universally condemned actions.

From silence to a movement

When the Second World War ended, devastated survivors buried their trauma out of necessity in order to focus on rebuilding their lives. Silence enveloped the Japanese Canadian community.

However, in the late 1970s and early 80s, at small, private, social gatherings where survivors felt safe to share their wartime experiences, a grassroots redress movement was born.

The Redress Agreement states that between 1941 and 1949, “Canadians of Japanese ancestry, the majority of whom were citizens, suffered unprecedented actions taken by the Government of Canada against their community.” These actions were disenfranchisement, detention in internment camps, confiscation and sale of private and community property, deportation, and restriction of movement, which continued until 1949. These actions were taken by the Government of Canada, influenced by discriminatory attitudes against an entire community based solely on the racial origin of its members.

A black-and-white photograph showing a Japanese-Canadian man, who is crouching, and four children in front of a store.

Sutekichi Miyagawa and his four children, Kazuko, Mitsuko, Michio and Yoshiko, in front of his grocery store, the Davie Confectionary, Vancouver, BC, March 1933 (a103544)

A black-and-white photograph showing twelve Japanese Canadians unloading a truck.

Arrival of Japanese Canadian internees at Slocan City, BC, 1942. Credit: Tak Toyata (c047396)

Citizen activism and declassified government documents

In 1981, Ann Gomer Sunahara researched newly declassified Government of Canada records made accessible by the then Public Archives of Canada. Sunahara’s book The Politics of Racism documented the virtually unquestioned, destructive decision-making with respect to the Japanese Canadian community of Prime Minister Mackenzie King, his Cabinet, and certain influential civil servants.

A black-and-white photograph of two men standing near a tall, iron gate. A London bobby (police officer) is visible behind them.

Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King (right) and Mr. Norman Robertson (left) attending the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference, London, England, May 1, 1944. It was during this time period that Norman Robertson, Under Secretary of State for External Affairs, and his special assistant Gordon Robertson (no relation) developed the plan which resulted in the deportation of 3,964 Japanese Canadians to Japan in 1946. (c015134)

The National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC), which came to represent the views of the community concerning redress, astutely recognized the critical importance of having access to government documents of the 1940s, which could serve as primary evidence of government wrongdoing.

On December 4, 1984, The New Canadian, a Japanese Canadian newspaper, reported that the NAJC had “spent months digging through government archives” to produce a report entitled Democracy Betrayed. The report’s executive summary stated: “The government claimed that the denial of the civil and human rights [of Japanese Canadians] was necessary because of security. [G]overnment documents show this claim to be completely false.”

Citizen activism and the records of the Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property

In 1942, all Japanese Canadians over the age of 15 were forced by the government to declare their financial assets to a representative from the federal Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property. Custodian “JP” forms containing a detailed listing of internee property formed the nucleus of 17,135 Japanese Canadian case files.

To further negotiations with the Canadian government to obtain an agreement, the NAJC needed a credible, verifiable estimate of the economic losses suffered by the Japanese Canadians. On May 16, 1985, the NAJC announced that the accounting firm Price Waterhouse had agreed to undertake such a study, which would culminate in the publication of Economic Losses of Japanese Canadians after 1941: a study.

Sampling Custodian records in 1985

A team of Ottawa researchers, primarily from the Japanese Canadian community, was engaged by Bob Elton of Price Waterhouse to statistically sample 15,630 surviving Custodian case files, held by the then Public Archives of Canada. These government case files contained personal information that was protected under the Privacy Act (RSC, 1985, cP-21). However, under 8(2)j of the Act, the files were made accessible to the team for what the Act deems “research and statistical purposes.”

On September 20, 1985, the Ottawa Citizen newspaper reported Art Miki, then president of the NAJC, saying that the “Custodian (case) files are the most valuable raw material for the economic loss study because they meticulously document each transaction whether it was the sale of a farm, or a fish[ing] boat, a house or a car.”

A black-and-white, head-and-shoulder photograph of Art Miki.

Art Miki, educator, human rights activist, and president of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) from 1984 to 1992. Miki was chief strategist and negotiator during the Redress Campaign, which culminated on September 22, 1988, with the signing of the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement between the NAJC and the Government of Canada. In 1991 he received the Order of Canada. Photographer Andrew Danson (e010944697)

Citizen activism: Molly and Akira Watanabe

In the final sampling, 1,482 case files were reviewed. It was grueling, painstaking work. Some researchers were unable to continue because of nausea and eyestrain induced by hours spent pouring over microform  images, some of very poor quality.

A superlative example of citizen activism is the dedication of Ottawa researchers Akira Watanabe, Chairman of the Ottawa Redress Committee, and his wife Molly. With several hundred files still unsampled, dwindling numbers of researchers and only four weeks remaining to do the work, the Watanabes went to Public Archives Canada after work for twenty evenings. Molly Watanabe died in 2007.

On May 8, 1986, the study was released to the public. Price Waterhouse estimated economic losses for the Japanese Canadian community at $443 million (in 1986 dollars).

Archival records alone do not protect human rights

Documents sitting in a cardboard box on a shelf, or microfilm sitting in cannister drawers, cannot protect human rights—people do. Japanese Canadian Redress showed Canadians that it takes dedicated activism to locate and use archival records.

Archival government and private records from the 1940s preserved by LAC and used by citizen activists were critical in building the Japanese Canadian case for Redress. By preserving the records that hold our government accountable in the face of injustice, LAC continues to be one of our country’s key fundamental democratic institutions.

R.L. Gabrielle Nishiguchi is an archivist in the Society, Employment, Indigenous and Governmental Affairs Section, Government Archives Division, at Library and Archives Canada.

A deportation ledger and the story of a Japanese Canadian deportee

Posted on by
8

By R.L. Gabrielle Nishiguchi

A black-and-white photograph of a group of women with a child standing in front of luggage and crates.

A group of Japanese Canadian deportees, who had been interned during the Second World War, waiting for a train to take them to a ship bound for Japan. Slocan City, British Columbia, 1946. Credit: Tak Toyota (c047398)

For just one evening, on September 20, 2018, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) will exhibit a bound, time-worn 1946 ledger with a blue cover. This small exhibit is part of “Revisiting Japanese Canadian Redress: Conference on the 30th Anniversary of the Agreement,” an event co-hosted by LAC and the Ottawa Japanese Community Association.

Why is this ledger so important? The pink pages, imprinted with fading purple Gestetner ink, show the names of 3,964 Japanese Canadians—among them almost 2,000 Canadian-born children—who were deported to war-ravaged Japan in 1946. The deportees represented about one fifth of some 20,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly removed from the West Coast in 1942. Each person’s entry includes the following information: registration number, date of birth, sex, marital status, national status, the place of departure, whether the person had signed the survey form (more about this below), and remarks such as “mental hospital,” “mentally unbalanced [and] unable to sign,” “New Denver Sanitorium,” “illeg[itimate],” “adopted,” “common law” and “Canadian Army.”

The word “Repatriates” is handwritten on the cover in fountain-pen ink. “Repatriation” is the expression used by the Canadian government to describe what scholarship and research have shown amounted to deportation. This term is often paired with the word “voluntary” (as we shall see, it was not). By definition, Canadian-born children whose only connection to Japan was their racial origin could not be “repatriated” to Japan.

Beside certain names are handwritten ballpoint and fountain-ink annotations. LAC has other copies of bound ledgers similar to the one on display, but what makes this particular copy so valuable are the handwritten annotations it contains. These annotations appear to be citations from statutes or Orders in Council (e.g., Privy Council Order 7356, December 15, 1945) that indicate how Canadian immigration officials would be able to prevent certain deportees from returning to Canada.

Recognizing the value and the historical significance of the ledger, LAC immediately scanned the pages to preserve the information they contained.

By doing so, LAC took steps to preserve the power of a name in our country’s memory. The names and information about the deportees bear silent but powerful witness to the suffering of those 3,964 men, women and children who ended up in a defeated and starving Japan and who were effectively barred from returning to Canada solely on the basis of their racial origin.

A black-and-white photograph of three men lifting a crate.

Three Japanese Canadian men, one of whom could be 42-year-old Ryuichi Hirahara (Registration Number 02553), loading a crate. Mr. Hirahara and his 40-year-old wife Kazu Hirahara (Registration Number 02554) were both Japanese nationals and interned in Slocan City, British Columbia. The shipping label is addressed to “Ryuichi Hirahara” at an address in Wakayama City, Japan. Mr. Hirahara requested that his belongings be held for him at the Wakayama Train Station, since he could not be sure that his ancestral home had survived the war. He did know that train stations would be among the first buildings to be rebuilt, since trains were critical to rebuilding Japan’s infrastructure. The Hiraharas were deported to Japan in 1946. Credit: Tak Toyota [Translation: Dr. Henry Shibata] (c047391)

The deportee: Henry Shibata

At the “Revisiting Japanese Canadian Redress” event on September 20, participants not only will be able to view the ledger, but also can meet 88-year-old Canadian-born Henry Shibata, who was deported to Japan in 1946 and whose name is inscribed in the ledger on display.

In the ledger, beside his name and the names of all six of his Canadian-born siblings, we find handwritten annotations (which appear to be statute citations). If these citations are indeed equivalent to the annotations referring to Privy Council Order 7356—the order that barred the return of any deported naturalized Japanese Canadians—then the Canadian government’s intention was to bar Henry and his siblings from returning to Canada.

A black-and-white photograph of two men standing in front of an iron gate, with a London police officer behind them to the left.

The Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King and Mr. Norman Robertson attending the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference, London, England, May 1, 1944. Around this time, Norman Robertson, Under Secretary of State for External Affairs, and his special assistant Gordon Robertson (no relation) developed the deportation plan approved by Prime Minister Mackenzie King. (c015134)

The survey that would change everything

In the spring of 1945, the government of Canada surveyed every Japanese Canadian 16 years or older, including those in internment camps and even patients being treated in a psychiatric hospital, and compelled each person to choose whether he or she would go to Japan or east of the Rockies. Signing a form—which was part of this massive survey—and choosing to go to Japan was treated as prima facie evidence of disloyalty to Canada by the federal government, and an automatic cause for segregation and deportation. This information was expressly not provided to the Japanese Canadians forced to make this life-altering choice.

They did not understand what they were signing: in effect, their application for deportation. In fact, several of the annotations in the ledger, written by a bureaucrat, even include the phrase “app[lication] for deportation.” The survey was conducted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Japanese Canadians who had been interned in detention camps in the interior of British Columbia, who found themselves forced to work on Prairie sugar beet farms to keep their families together, who were forced to work in isolated road camps, or who had been interned in prisoner-of-war internment camps for protesting their separation from their wives and children, were discouraged and afraid for their futures. Many had survived three long years in internment camps, where they could not move beyond camp boundaries without a pass.

A black-and-white photograph of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer seated at a table examining papers with many men around him

Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable checking documents of Japanese Canadians being forced to abandon their homes and go to internment camps, 1942. Credit: Tak Toyota (c047387)

A black-and-white photograph of rows of internment camp dwellings.

Internment camp for Japanese Canadians, Lemon Creek, British Columbia, June 1945. Credit: Jack Long (a142853)

Why did the deportees sign to go to Japan?

Pressure began with the community’s forced relocation from the West Coast in 1942. Then, starting in 1943, their property—held in trust by the federal Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property—had been auctioned off without their consent. Internees had been forced to live off the monies realized from these sales, essentially paying for their own internment. Moreover, internment camp supervisors were graded on how many signed forms they could obtain.

Those Japanese Canadians who ended up signing were the most vulnerable internees: persons with family trapped ‎in Japan, single-parent families and psychiatric patients (some of whom were too sick to sign). Some with limited English-language skills felt that they were too old or too destitute to start their lives over in typically hostile communities to the east. There were also some older Canadian-born children who felt compelled to accompany their aging or sick parents to Japan.

In the case of young Henry Shibata’s family, interned in Lemon Creek, British Columbia, parents Hatsuzo and Tomiko had family in Hiroshima and had not heard whether anyone had survived the atomic bomb. Henry’s father, Hatsuzo, also felt that his own lack of written English would make it next to impossible to start over at the age of 52 in Eastern Canada. With the birth of his child Hisashi in the Lemon Creek internment camp, Hatsuzo Shibata now had a wife and seven children to support.

During the “Revisiting Japanese Canadian Redress” event on September 20, the deportation ledger will be opened to page 394, the page with the Shibata family entry. At this event, Dr. Henry Shibata will see his name in this ledger for the very first time, 72 years after he sailed to Japan on the SS General Meigs. Now 88 years old and a renowned Canadian surgical oncologist, he will see the original ledger page recording his family’s deportation.

A black-and-white photograph of three men standing in front of a ship.

Japanese Canadians being deported to Japan after the Second World War on the United States Army Transport SS General Meigs at Canadian Pacific Railway Pier A in Vancouver, British Columbia. Left to right: Corporal R.A. Davidson, Royal Canadian Mounted Police; C.W. Fisher; T.B. Pickersgill, Commissioner of Japanese Placement, Department of Labour, June 16, 1946. (a119024)

Despite the brutal and unspeakable hardships endured by Henry and his family in Hiroshima—a city turned to cinders by the first atomic bomb—Henry managed to graduate from Hiroshima Medical School. Dr. Shibata returned to Canada in 1961, after spending four years in the United States studying to become a surgeon. Through his expertise, Dr. Shibata has helped save many Canadian lives. He retired as a Professor Emeritus of McGill University in 2015.

The above-mentioned ledger, with its annotations, was the practical means of barring the return of the deportees. A senior civil servant succinctly expressed the intention of the annotations. On May 4, 1950, Arthur MacNamara, the Deputy Minister of Labour, wrote to Humphrey Mitchell, the Minister of Labour: “The External Affairs Department seem inclined to agree that men who were born in Canada and who … were sent to Japan might now be allowed to come back. This seems to me a matter on which there should be masterly inactivity. Even in the case of men or women born in Canada it does seem to me that they should be ‘allowed to suffer for their sins.’ After all they chose to go to Japan; they were not compelled.” (RG27, Volume 661, File 23-2-18, Deputy Minister of Labour Arthur MacNamara to Minister of Labour Humphrey Mitchell)

Co-Lab challenge

LAC’s new crowdsourcing tool, Co-Lab, gives Canadians the chance to collaborate with LAC by using their personal computers. LAC plans to host the ledger images in a Co-Lab challenge in the coming months, but you can see these images right now using Collection SearchBeta.

Canadians who have been moved by the story of the deportations and who wish to help keep the names of the deportees alive will have the opportunity to collaborate with LAC and transcribe the 3,964 names and the associated information. LAC hopes that a searchable transcription of the ledger will enable reseachers to decipher the critical handwritten annotations and compile more statistical information on the deportees.

We cannot change history and prevent those deportations, but we can solve the mystery of the annotations. We can also make sure that each entry remains accessible to the deportees, their families and researchers around the world, so that all of us can experience the power of these names; so that we shall never forget the human suffering embodied in them or the talent and promise we prevented from enriching Canada.

In the meantime, LAC has compiled photographs of Japanese Canadian internment in a Co-Lab challenge and is seeking your help to write descriptions and add keywords that further contextualize these historic photographs and increase the “discoverability” of these records. Try the challenge now!

Know more about the Co-Lab tool and the Collection SearchBeta by reading this previous blog post: Introducing Co-Lab: your tool to collaborate on historical records

More on LAC’s website

Learn about the deportations, the internment camps in Canada and the Redress campaign, or consult our major collections, by visiting the Japanese Canadians web page.

R.L. Gabrielle Nishiguchi is an archivist in the Society, Employment, Indigenous and Governmental Affairs Section of the Government Archives Division at Library and Archives Canada.