[A/S] TWIMC - BC, Kaslo - a footnote

["Sandy Noyes" <boojum@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Folks -

I have been using  Ethernet connections to do my mail for a few days
now.  But the little library in Kaslo does not have its server quite
configured so that I can send mail via Ethernet.  In order to send mail
I go over to what was the Langham Hotel, and is still called the
Langham Hotel, but now has a number of small businesses in it.  It has
had a boatbuilder on the ground floor and any number of other
businesses.  It was slated by the town for razing but a local fan got a
rally going and the Langham Hotel was preserved and lives on.  One of
the current businesses is a computer shop with rentable phone hookups.

In Canada as well as the United States there was an hysteria on 8
December 1942, the day after Pearl Harbor, the day of infamy.  On the
west coast the hysteria was directed at the domestic Japanese
populations.  In both Canada and the United States internment orders
were quickly drafted and the people who were Japanese citizens,
Japanese descent, Japanese descent and US or Canadian citizens were
rounded up, their property confiscated and they were shipped off to
"internment" or "detention" camps; sometimes known also as
"concentration" camps.  Anyway, some Japanese were interned in Kaslo. 
The Langham housed some 80 Japanese.  It must have been quite crowded. 
Local history says that the Japanese were quite well treated in Kaslo. 
They attended the local schools and graduated from them.  For all
intents it seems they were a part of the community, if unwilling.

And as much as they might have liked the community from '42 - '45 there
are few here now.  The only Japanese I have here seen speaks Japanese
and English to her children, who are also bilingual.  Local?  I doubt
it.  So as much as they might have enjoyed it during the wartime years
there are few here now.  But, many folks leave Kaslo for the bright
lights and big cities.  So, were they well treated?

Judging by the history and pictures of the American camps and my
singular exposure to the Kaslo facet the Japanese Canadians got a
better shake.  And the Canadian government has made monetary
reparations to the internees as well as an official apology.  The US
has not apologized and has been slow paying out reparations to the
internees after fighting the claims for years in the courts.

So does it mean Canada is better?  I don't know, but it does mean that
it is different.

I am off early tomorrow morning down through the mountains to
Abbottsford.  The brakes have been fixed, the dogs are eager, I have
stowed much of the gear in the trailer and will dump my tanks and leave
tomorrow.  It has been a pleasant stay.

Happy Trails.

L8R