Jun
2
Book Review
By Ann-Lee and Gordon Switzer. TI-JEAN Press, 307-620 Toronto St., Victoria, BC, V8V 1P7. Available at Munro's and on line at www.tijeanpress.ca.
Reviewed by Jim Gerwing
Those who follow the fortunes of the James Bay Beacon will be familiar with the names of Ann-Lee and Gordon Switzer. They were instrumental in moving our production from cut-and-paste to computer technology. From their position on the board of the James Bay Newspaper Society, which publishes the Beacon, and as volunteers in its monthly production, they initiated the James Bay Art Walk some eight years ago.
When urgent family business called them away from that work, Ann-Lee and Gordon used the opportunity to pursue other passions. Their interest in the Old Cemetery Society, the many scattered graves of Japanese people in the Ross Bay Cemetery, and the fact that Gordon was raised in Japan led them to their latest venture, a 380 page history of Canada's first Japanese community. The book divides its attention into three sections: History: Japanese in Victoria; Public Space: Japanese influence in Victoria; and Private Space: Family Stories.
The year 2012 marks 70 years since the Japanese people of British Columbia were removed from their homes and businesses and scattered across Canada. With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December of 1941 many influential people of the West Coast believed that Japanese Canadians would be a threat to the security of the country despite their record and protestations of loyalty to their adopted land.
That traumatic and dramatic experience is only part of this fascinating story. The relationship between the Japanese and the general public, particularly in Victoria, was generally very comfortable. However, the Switzers found it a challenge to find documentation in their painstaking search for evidence.
From shipwrecked sailors who first landed on our coast to prominent businessmen
who thrived in downtown Victoria, here is the story of gentle people who found a welcome in a new country. This book records the development and the loss of the popular Japanese Tea Garden on the Gorge, the fate of the dispossessed families in 1942, and the planting of the countless flowering cherry trees that lend such colour to the Victoria spring season.
It is a tribute to Ann-Lee and Gordon's persistence that they uncovered the elements of the stories they tell. It is a tribute as well to the first, second, and third generations of Japanese Canadians, who have enriched the cultural fabric of Victoria and British Columbia.