Research Findings

Japanese Canadian Internment

In February 1942, the Canadian government passed Order-in-Council P.C. 1486 under the War Measures Act, which called for the removal of the more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians living on the coast of British Columbia and their confinement to internment camps in the interior of the province¹. In the process of doing so, the federal government also liquidated the businesses, properties, and possessions of Japanese Canadians, or the Nikkei, living in British Columbia without their consent². In 1945, following the end of World War II, internees were forced by the federal government to either assimilate into Canadian society or “return” to Japan. Additionally, a Japanese no-entry zone was established in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, which forced the Nikkei families that chose not to “return” to war-torn Japan to move eastward³. In total, over 1,300 Japanese Canadians were relocated to the province of Quebec⁴, with around 300 individuals living temporarily in the Farnham Hostel⁵.

History of the Farnham Hostel

In October 1943, the British Columbia Security Commission (BCSC) proposed the establishment of a clearing-house or hostel to accommodate Japanese Canadians relocating to Montreal, Quebec, from the West coast. In his proposal, Commissioner George Collins suggested that the BCSC should offer free shelter to Japanese Canadians for the first week following their arrival in Quebec, as well as supply furniture, dishes and linens to the families living in the hostel⁶. 

Before the internment camps in British Columbia were set to close in 1946, the Department of Labour considered setting up accommodations for Japanese Canadians displaced to Quebec in several different locations; the airfield in St. Hubert, the military base in Sorel, the Farnham Training Camp, and finally the Farnham Internment Camp⁷. Between 1943 and 1946, responsibility for the administration of the relocation center in Quebec was transferred from the BCSC to the Department of Labour.

The municipality of Farnham is located in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, about one hour east of Montreal. In the spring of 1946, the Farnham Hostel was established in Farnham, using buildings that were originally part of the Experimental Farm operated by the Dominion of Canada Department of Agriculture, but which by then were being used as a Prisoner of War camp by the Department of National Defence to detain German POWs⁸. The Farnham Hostel officially opened on June 20th, 1946⁹, as the internment camps in the interior of British Columbia were closed and Japanese Canadian families began to arrive in greater numbers in Quebec. The Farnham Hostel was the easternmost site used to accommodate Nikkei awaiting placement east of the no-entry zone. 

The Placement Officer from the Japanese Division of the Department of Labour assigned to the Farnham Hostel was Mr. J.O. Beaudet, and his responsibilities included helping Japanese Canadian families find employment and accommodations in the Montreal region. Archival documents suggest that Mr. Beaudet had a difficult time doing so for larger Nikkei families, resulting in their months-long residence at the Farnham Hostel. To encourage Japanese Canadian families to resettle elsewhere, Mr. Beaudet was asked to set a specific date for the closure of the Farnham Hostel, as well as threaten to assign the heads of Nikkei households to work in the bush in northern Ontario¹⁰.

In 1947, the official dispersal of the Japanese Canadians living in the Farnham Hostel began. While the majority of the Nikkei living in the Farnham Hostel settled in and around the Montreal region, others moved to Ontario, and eleven families stayed in Farnham: six families purchased lots on Bedford Road, directly outside the municipality of Farnham¹¹, and five others moved elsewhere in town. The Farnham Hostel was officially closed in November 1947.

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1. Kirsten Emiko McAllister, “Captivating Debris: Unearthing a World War Two Internment Camp,” Cultural Values 5, no. 1 (2001): 98-99; Pamela Sugiman, “Life is Sweet”: Vulnerability and Composure in the Wartime Narratives of Japanese Canadians,” Journal of Canadian Studies 43, no. 1 (2009): 188. ↩︎
2. Sugiman, “Life is Sweet”: 190. ↩︎
3. Sugiman, “Life is Sweet”: 188. ↩︎
4. Kuni Uchida and Rei Nishio, “The Japanese in Montreal: An Ecological and Sociological Survey,” Social Welfare Committee of the Quebec Chapter of the Japanese Canadian Citizens Association (1953). ↩︎
5. ↩︎
6. George Collins to Eastwood, Simmons and Booth, 7 October 1943, RG3627, box 32, folder 1959 “Quebec – Farnham Hostel and Surplus,” Japanese Division series, Department of Labour fonds, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, ON.  ↩︎
7. A.H. Brown to MacNamara, 17 April 1946, CA MUA MG4247, series 3, container 10, box 21, folder 3, Japanese Canadian History and Archives Committee of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal Collection, McGill University Archives, Montreal, QC. ↩︎
8. Unidentified to Maurice Halle, 14 November 1947, CA MUA MG4247, series 3, container 10, box 21, folder 3, Japanese Canadian History and Archives Committee of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal Collection, McGill University Archives, Montreal, QC. ↩︎
9. J.O. Beaudet to H.T. Pammett, 8 August 1946, CA MUA MG4247, series 3, container 10, box 21, folder 3, Japanese Canadian History and Archives Committee of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal Collection, McGill University Archives, Montreal, QC. ↩︎
10. J.F. MacKinnon to J.O. Beaudet, 1 November 1946, CA MUA MG4247, series 3, container 10, box 21, folder 3, Japanese Canadian History and Archives Committee of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal Collection, McGill University Archives, Montreal, QC. ↩︎
11. Fred Aydon to J.F. MacKinnon and R.H. Davidson, 18 March 1947, LAC RG3627, box 32, folder 1959 “Quebec – Farnham Hostel and Surplus,” Japanese Division series, Department of Labour fonds, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, ON. ↩︎