The other Japanese-Canadian enclave on Mayne Island was at Horton Bay, at the southeast corner of the island. The surviving house illustrated here, seen from the Horton Bay dock, was built about 1920 for the Kadonaga family. Together with the Sagas, the Sasakis and other families, they farmed in the area, concentrating in the 1920s on chickens but also becoming part of the Active Pass Growers Association and erecting greenhouses for growing tomatoes and cucumbers.

Note from Dennis Emmett, current owner of the property: "There were two large double greenhouses that were used for tomatoes. I have seen pictures showing the northern shore along Robson Channel bare of trees that had been used to fire the furnaces in the greenhouses to start the tomatoes early. We have found a few artifacts but there was very little remaining other than the buildings when my grandfather arrived in 1948. There is a gravesite on the hill to the left of the boathouse. Members of the Kadonaga family return to visit and tend the graves at least every couple of years. They were last there this spring for the opening of the Japanese Garden at Dinner Bay. They held a reunion at the property about eight years ago which some 30-40 descendents and their families attended. We invited some long term island residents to come as well and they seemed to have a wonderful time reliving the past. My mother has kept in contact with some of the Kadonaga family and is able to contact them if that is helpful. The property has been in my family since 1948. My grandfather left it to his two daughters and it is presently owned by myself, four cousins and my mother. We are now into the fifth generation using the property. The boatshed you mentioned does date from the Kadonagas. It has been repaired at various times but we hope to keep it for as long as possible. I do not know where the family went during the internment period but am sure my mother would know."

Notes from Glen Teramoto: "Mr. Saga was my Grandfather's older brother. They relocated to Alberta after the war. The Sasakis relocated to Toronto, near our family. The Kadonagas for the most part remained in B.C. and Alberta. But only my father's generation, or Nisei, remain today. My grandparent's generation have all passed on now.

"Unfortunately, my family's time on Mayne Island as well as the wartime internment experience has really left a dark spot on our family history. So much so, that to pry any information from my father and aunts would be a great achievement. To this day, it is still very difficult for them to speak of this era. . . . My grandparents immigrated to Canada around 1927. They first lived in Port Alice, on Vancouver Island, and then settled on Mayne around 1930. My father was born in 1933 on Mayne Island. Gontaro Kadonaga was a cousin of my grandmother, thus our relations to them. The Teramoto house has since been torn down. My father went back to Mayne for the first time in 1975, and then again this past summer. But he said that even the roads have all changed, so he was really disoriented. As for photos, my aunts said that they were for the richer families, so there are very few pictures of my family on Mayne. Mr. Konishi was the photographer on the island, so any pictures that existed were taken by him."

Correspondence from Victor Kadonaga, Hamilton, 2003:

In the wake of the first immigrant, Gontarô Kadonaga, a number of Japanese families came and settled there. They set to work, felling trees, digging out stumps, removing large rocks, and generally experiencing all the hardships of early pioneers everywhere in this new country. Only then could the land be made suitable for farming. They proved to be an enterprising lot, for there is reference to various projects being started such as cattle-breeding, poultry farming, and even a sawmill operation. Some became involved in fishing. Greenhouses were built, and proved to be a boon, for fresh produce could be brought to markets weeks earlier than before. Tomatoes and cucumbers grew well and showed every promise of becoming profitable commodities much in demand. It was reported that their contribution to the economy of that island was considerable. Then came 1942, and the forced mass evacuation, incarceration, and loss of land and property, which shattered the hopes and dreams of these inhabitants of Mayne Island. Furthermore, once removed, they were declared to be 'enemy aliens,' unwanted back.

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The family of Tôru and Somè Kadonaga was among the earliest casualties resulting from federal government edicts. As the first-born son of pioneer Gontarô Kadonaga, Tôru had taken over the operation of the family farm, after the family patriarch retired and returned to his birthplace in Japan. But suddenly, and summarily, Tôru and his family were ordered out of their home and property and placed in a mass-evacuation centre on the mainland [Hastings Park]. Shortly thereafter, the family left Vancouver to work on a sugar beet farm in southern Alberta. This was one option offered by the authorities for people wishing to leave the Hastings Park staging depot.

The field work was known to be extremely back-breaking, but accepted in order to keep the family together. Somehow, in that strange new environment, so different from the Pacific west coast, they managed to start lives for themselves, seeking and finding opportunities in various enterprises there.

A half century later, this writer happened to meet the widow of Keitarô, Tôru's eldest son. Grace Kadonaga was then still living in Magrath, Alberta. That was in 1992. It is reported she may now be living in Vancouver. As for the other family members, Minoru is thought to be in Lethbridge, and Tomiko, in Vancouver.

Among the others who are thought to have gone to the Alberta sugar beet farms were the two Minamide families and the Saga family. Hideo Saga [lives in Milk River, Alberta (according to Marie Sakon)]; Sumiko Saga is said to be back in British Columbia.

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Shintarô and Toyo Sasaki were neighbours of the Kadonagas. Shintarô was Gontarô's nephew. One day in early December, 1941, the RCMP came to the home and took the father away. Some anxious days passed before the family learned he had been sent, first to Petawawa, which was a prisoner-of-war camp in northern Ontario, then to a work camp in Schreiber, Ontario. After a period of time in Hastings Park, this family opted for placement in Slocan, one of several relocation centres set up by the BC Security Commission outside the so-called 'protected area' of the Pacific Coast in 1942. This was the second option. Slocan was a long-abandoned mining site, i.e., a ghost town, located deep in southeastern British Columbia. The family spent 3 years there, while the father was confined in Schreiber. In 1945 the federal government announced to all evacuees the policy of dispersal and relocation east of the Rockies. It was either that, or 'repatriation' to Japan, a country unknown to many of the affected evacuees, having been born in Canada. The Sasaki family chose to move to Ontario, first to Brampton, and eventually to Toronto. And family reunification was made possible with the father's release from the camp. Both parents have passed on, but all the children are alive, well, and settled. Most have families.

In 2001 Yukio Sasaki paid a nostalgic visit to Mayne Island. He was able to locate the old home, although the area around the property was overgrown. His brother Shiro wrote: 'At the time of the evacuation, mother and the children buried dishes and other items around the property and these items were never recovered by our family.'

* * *

The Teramoto family of Bennett Bay had a similar experience, the father also having been taken away to Petawawa camp. From Hastings Park, the rest of the family was sent to Lemon Creek, which was another camp for the uprooted evacuees. In 1945 the family was reunited in Ontario and established themselves near the town of Brampton, where the surviving members of this family may be found today.

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The Koyama family took the third option, which was to move out of the 'protected area' and, at their own expense, live as 'self-supporting' families. This plan was supposed to afford them some degree of independence and freedom. In truth, most families saw this as a means of keeping together. And, more importantly, it was hoped that educational needs for the children could be met. These projects were set up in the interior of British Columbia in such places as Minto, Bridge River, Lillooet and Christina Lake. Others were located in Chase, Taylor Lake and Salmon Arm. The family is believed to have gone to one of those communities.

* * *

Speaking as a retired teacher, I have a special interest in educational matters. I read in one report that, after those families left Mayne Island in '42, there was such a steep drop in student enrolment that the school--the Island had only one--had to be closed for at least two years for lack of pupils. Traditionally, parents in Japanese culture have placed educaton at a high level of expectations for their children. It was particularly challenging to maintain some level of formal education during those hectic days of the Evacuation and Relocation, whether the families found themselves in a temporary shelter like Hastings Park, a self-supporting project, or a ghost town. Looking back through the past decades, it would appear that this faith in the importance of education has borne fruit. For among that generation of evacuees forced out of the Island, and their children and children's children, will be found today people serving in the medical and health-care fields, finance and commerce, agriculture, education, indeed, in all kinds of services industries, including, in one case, the Canadian Armed Forces. It is safe to say that many have gone on to post-secondary education and to university degrees. All are contributing members of society.

I am indebted to Yukio Eddie Sasaki of Scarborough, Ontario for much of the information above with respect to the former residents of Mayne Island. As well, I appreciate the assistance of Mrs. Hannah Hamada of Norval, Ontario, from whom I was able to get the names of several of the island's settlers from long ago. This nonagenarian, despite failing health, displayed a remarkable ability to recall the names of friends and their interrelationships, which I found most helpful in preparing this report.

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Correspondence from Jason Kadonaga: I am now 25 and have been to Mayne once, for the reunion you mentioned. I was 13 or 14 at the time and the folks that now own the property were very gracious hosts. That was the only time our family has gotten together at that scale before. Now one thing I noticed in your narrative that is missing is that my great-great-grandfather had two families. I do not know the details of this and I may be off on some of them, but I will do my best.

I am a descendant of the second family that consisted of three brothers, Yoshi, Ed and Setts as I know them. I do not know their full Japanese names. My grandfather was Yoshi and he married my grandmother Candy. They had 3 daughters and one son, my father. Of the other brothers, my great uncle Ed had 2 daughters and Uncle Setts had no children. Of these kids that were born to my grandfather and my great uncles, only 2 were born on Mayne Island, both were my aunts. One was very young and does not remember any of it, the other was a little older and has some vague memories.

During WWII the entire family went to Lethbridge, Alberta. After the war my family stayed there. Later both of my great uncles moved to the Lower Mainland, but my grandfather stayed in Alberta working on a dairy. Presently, I live in Prince George, as do two of my aunts. My other aunt, as well as their 2 cousins live in Vancouver. Both of my great uncles have passed on as well as my grandfather and grandmother, but uncle Ed's wife, Aunt Tosh, is still alive, living in Surrey. My parents joined the Salvation Army a few years ago and now live in Kingston, Ontario with my sister and my adopted brother.

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