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The Joan Gillis fonds is a collection that was curated by Claire Williams in May of 2018, containing 149 letters and 10 small photographs that capture the lives of many interned Japanese Canadian youths (Blackwell). Joan made these connections through her time at Queen Elizabeth Secondary School in Surrey, BC. These letters highlight the experiences in the daily lives of Joan's friends, expressing a new perspective on internment, including what it was like to be in camps, the standards of their mundane and daily routines, and how those conditions affected their overall wellbeing (Blackwell). Through an exploration of the stories both within and in between the lines of the letters, a powerful recurring theme that became emerged was homesickness. Every piece of communication to Joan demonstrated how much the Japanese-Canadian teens were longing to connect with the life they were reluctant to let go of: the life in British Columbia. This website will explore this perspective, with the intent of creating a better understanding of the Japanese-Canadian experience. Understanding and spreading awareness of these archives allows the underrepresented voices of internment to be heard today in a way that is accessible to current and future generations of Canadian youth.
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Explore this website for testimonials, information and a map outlining the Joan Gillis fonds and their representation of the experiences of the Japanese Canadian Youth.
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HISTORICAL CONTEXT: On December 7th, 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, initiating a war between them and the United States. Beginning in early 1942, both the American and Canadian governments began to intern peoples of Japanese descent. In Canada, it was specifically Japanese-Canadians who were living in British Columbia that were forced to relocate (Marsh). The internment lasted from early 1942 until the end of World War II. By the end of the war, the Canadian government had taken away the homes, businesses, and many personal items of the Japanese-Canadians (Marsh). During the time of the internment, there were many Japanese-Canadians attending the University of British Columbia, however the government forced them to leave, inhibiting them from completing their degrees (Degree of Justice). The main reason the Canadian government began to intern Japanese-Canadians was that they were worried that Japan would invade either the United States or Canada (Marsh). The government used this as a strong enough reason to justify the internment and tearing apart of thousands of families.
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Image: Joan Gillis and classmates at Queen Elizabeth Secondary School
“It’s the same old grind down here - work, work & more work.”
- Ujiije, August 17th, 1942
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ABOUT THE FONDS
The Joan Gillis fonds can be found at UBC Vancouver Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC). The fonds feature 149 incoming letters (and 10 photographs) to Joan Gillis from 13 of her Japanese friends from her high school, Queen Elizabeth Secondary School in Surrey. Many of Gillis’ Japanese-Canadian high school friends got sent away from their homes during the 1942 Japanese-Canadian internment, and got relocated to internment camps to work hard labour on farms in different parts of Canada. Some of Gillis’ friends got displaced to interior British Columbia, while others got sent further- to the prairies, or to Ontario or Quebec. These letters covered the time period between 1942 and 1949 (Blackwell). To see a visual demonstration of this displacement, see the map further into the website.
The fonds give valuable insight into the lives of young Japanese-Canadians during this time, as most of Gillis’ friends in these letters were just 13 years old in 1942. Common themes discussed in the letters were boredom, comments about the cold weather, questions about high school, and most prominently, homesickness.
Anyone who is interested in seeing what life was like for young Japanese-Canadians during one of Canada’s darkest times, the Japanese Internment, is encouraged to go to Rare Books and Special Collections and see the collection for themselves.
Visit our spotlight section for a closer look at the highlights of four correspondents.
“Sometimes I feel as if I just left Westminster yesterday and other times it feels as if I left it centuries ago. (July 20, 1943)” Nakamura
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SPOTLIGHT
01
Leo Otsuki
Leo Otsuki, a friend from Queen Elizabeth Secondary School, corresponded with Joan Gillis from March 2nd, 1943 to February 7th, 1944. Over the course of six letters, Leo tells Joan about his new life away from British Columbia: first from North Kildonan, Manitoba, then from Montreal, Quebec. However, Leo’s letters never fail to mention that his new address is not his home. His home is, and always will be, British Columbia.
Leo’s first letter, in fact, opens with “I had nothing better to do today than dream of home” (Otsuki 1). He predominantly tells her of his new life: how his new school is, what the town is like, and how it compares to what he left behind. This feeling of homesickness and displacement underlies all his correspondence. With every description of the weather is how it pales in comparison to Vancouver, and with every description of the prairies is how much he misses the mountains. Even his questioning about Joan’s life is an attempt to feel connected with the community he was forced to separate from. He signs his letter with a postscript with a request of sending his “best regards” to all his classmates (Otsuki 4).
In Leo’s fourth letter, he introduces a discussion on a vastly underrepresented aspect of Japanese Internment. Writing from a new address in Montreal, he recaps the process of his university applications and how he came to be accepted to McGill University (Otsuki 1). He writes about receiving rejection after rejection from over half a dozen Canadian institutions. While each had their own reasoning, it was apparent that his rejections were built simply on the basis that he was Japanese. This demonstrates the impact that internment had on the education of individuals.
Leo also can’t help but compare his university to the University of British Columbia, which he always assumed he would attend. Now, however, that will never even be a possibility. He not only longs for his home but for the future, he envisioned for himself.
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Yoshio Nakamura
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Yoshio Nakamura was a close friend of Joan Gillis from Queen Elizabeth Secondary School (QE), corresponding with each other for seven years from April 21, 1942, to March 27, 1949. Over the course of thirty letters, Yoshio shares his journey with Joan over the past seven years about his life away from British Columbia (BC) : first to moving away to Magrath, Alberta where he spent the last six year of his life on the farm and high school, then to Trenton, Ontario where he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCA.F) to be a photographer. Though Yoshio moved further and further away from B.C., his heart has never left BC, his home (Nakamura 30).
Yoshio’s letters are always addressed to Joan and their “gang” of friends from high school, always asking Joan for the “gang” to write back to him. His first few letters were specifically addressed to the gang, letting his friends know how he has been doing and that he “miss you all”(Nakamura 30). Yoshio wrote quite regularly to Joan and his gang, updating them with his stories of heavy labor and the activities he has been involved in his new high school. Yoshio was always busy during the summer helping out the beet farm in Alberta, describing to Joan how many hours he has worked on the farm and how much his body has ached from the labor. Despite working ten-twelve hour per day, he was still able to view his experience from a humorous point of view, cracking jokes at Joan about himself being butted by a goat and how he almost caught a throat infection from working (Nakamuran 33). In his school life, he wrote about how the students and teachers were really friendly and into school dances, however, he still misses his old school life back in QE where he had more opportunities to expand his skills instead of being restricted by the weather. In spite of the heat, cold, and hardship, Yoshio has still kept up his correspondence with Joan and the gang, asking Joan “I wonder if any of the other gang has changed. Tell me, won’t you?”(Nakamura 34) . His questions about the wellbeing of the gang and his friends have been the same over the years, displaying how despite Yoshio’s distance away from BC, he is still missed home.
As time progresses, the contents of the letters usually begin with an apology of returning an answer so late then the weather then some recent updates in each other’s life. The most interesting part was the three-year time gap of the letters. Yoshio still cares about Joan as he wrote to her after a year that he when he got accepted into the RCAF to be a photographer while Joan continued her education at UBC. Despite not writing to her for more than three years, Yoshio was still compelled to share Joan his good news of being accepted into the RACF for his training. Yoshio opens his letter with this moving line, “After a century of silence, here I am once more”(Nakamura 34). He knows that it has been such a long time since they last wrote to each other, but with his heart tied to friends at home, he’s willing to open his vulnerable self to the people he trusts the most.
From his first letter to Joan and the gang to the last, we can see how Yoshio’s heart still has left BC.Despite being away from B.C for seven years, Yoshio still writes to Joan, asking about her well being and keeping in touch with her and their other friends. Even after not writing to Joan for three years, the endings of his letters still lingers around his gang of friends from his old high school, reminiscing over the past that will always remain in his heart. The memories of Yoshio’s time in QE are memories of his youth that will remain throughout his life, a story of his youthful heart long for home preserved in the letters sent to Joan.
Masao Ujiije
Masao Ujiije, Joan Gillis’ friend from Queen Elizabeth Secondary School (QE), got taken away from home and sent to Fintry, BC, to work at “Fairbridge Farm School”. During his time working on the farm, he exchanged letters with Joan Gillis eighteen times. The first letter was sent on July 24th, 1942, and the last on February 27th, 1946. They exchanged four and a half years of letters. Even though Masao stayed within the province of British Columbia, being far away from home was still a big adjustment. From reading the letters between Masao and Joan, it was clear that Masao missed home more than imaginable. Home was Surrey, not Fintrey.
The first letter from Masao Ujiije started out with notions of immense gratitude for reaching out. As he put it - “Your letter was welcome - letters from back home are always welcome” (Ujiije 1). Masao mentioned that when he found out his name got put in the scandal page on the school annual, he was very upset to learn this. He wanted to know who ruined his “unstained reputation” (Ujiije 2). By reading this, it was clear that Masao still cared about his reputation at his high school. Masao was insistent on keeping a good reputation, even though he was away from his fellow high schooler and may not see them for a while. Even though he was working on the farmlands away from home, his heart and his reputation were still at home.
Correspondence #3 expresses the importance of letters from home to Masao. He said that he looks at letters from friends as a “welcome source of enjoyment”, as there were practically no other forms of entertainment to be found (Ujiije 3). This theme of being bored was another recurring theme found in the letters to come. Masao often wished nothing more than to be home and back at QE with his friends, whom he missed so dearly.
In letter #11, after (presumably) receiving a letter from Joan where she was complaining about the amount of homework she had at school, Masao offered some advice with a lens of relativity. “Cheer up - look at what I had to go through - 13 years of torture in the so-called “schools”, and now I'm in another “school” again. Funny, eh (I don't think)” (Ujiije 1). After 2 years of working at the farm away from home, Masao knew that Joan could not be complaining about her homework load.
The final letter, letter #18, featured Masao asking “how are the other grade 12 alumni fairing? News is always interesting, you know” (Ujiije 3). The final letter ended on a hopeful note - “don’t worry, one of these days I’ll release my energy into one momentous uproar till you can hear me over there” (Ujiije 4). Since this was the last letter recorded, maybe Masao did eventually return home, and finally met back up with her long lost friends.
Setsuko and Akira Fujii
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Setsuko and Akira Fujii were brother and sister who were both were forced to move because of the Japanese-Canadian internment. They attended Queen Elizabeth Secondary School (QE) with Joan Gillis and both corresponded with Joan from May 14th, 1942 to January 27th, 1946. The first letter written to Joan was from Setsuko, still from her home in British Columbia. The letter had no address, indicating that it was hand-delivered. In the letter Setsuko explained how her family was leaving the next day, having only found out the day before. The Fujii family moved quite a bit during the internment: first to Kaslo, British Columbia (BC), then Chatham, Ontario, to Toronto, Ontario, and finally Blenheim, Ontario. Though they were constantly moving, the Fujii siblings were always asking how school was and how they longed to be back at school with Joan.
When the Fujii family moved to Kaslo, they spent most of their time living in a hotel. In the fourth letter, Akira writes to Joan “we have nothing to do” (Fujii 1), describing how she only goes into town and hikes and occasionally plays for the newly formed Japanese-Canadian baseball team. He goes on to say that Setsuko and he may not be able to attend high school the following year because they do not have accommodation for them.
For both Setsuko and Akira, their old high school in BC was very important. With almost every letter, questions about Queen Elizabeth Secondary School were always asked. In the ninth letter, Setsuko writes, “How’s your student council president and secretary? How’s every little thing at 2.E? I’d love to be there this year again” (Fujii 1). In the tenth letter, Setsuko begs Joan to write more about “2.E.” (which is what they called Queen Elizabeth Secondary School), so she can “keep up with the activities” (1). Joan was able to send the siblings a school newspaper, and in the twenty-first letter, written on August 13th, 1945, Setsuko writes how she and Akira “read it from cover to cover and enjoyed it immensely” (Fujii 2).
Setsuko and Akira’s constant questioning of the Queen Elizabeth Secondary School indicated how homesick they were. They longed to be with Joan and the rest of their schoolmates. Instead, they were forced to constantly move and be away from the people and places they loved.
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At a time where technology was not accessible enough to be a dependent means of communication for the average person, the practice of sitting down to write a letter and mail it away to be sent for days at a time, would be an unusual experience for today’s youth. A letter is be defined as a physical, personable form of communication that can be preserved over a long period of time by archives. The significance of letters comes with the preservation of memory, personal account and necessary form of communication that anticipate a response. The letters sent to Joan Gillis exemplify these qualities of memory preservation and communication.
Specifically addressing the Japanese internment in Vancouver, Canada, many communicated with Joan Gillis with the intention of maintaining a friendship that acted became a trustee, ally and kin in times of hardship. Yet, it was also as a way to sustain normalcy in a time where Canadian citizens were displaced and discriminated against. Letters were used as a means of communication, a tool to address and discuss the complexities of their version of events; it is a unique form of autobiography. The usefulness of having a personable form of communication is that it dictates a series of events that individual’s unique perspective.
The societal practice of posting a letter, decoding the handwriting and language of communication of that time acts as a time capsule in the way Canadian youths, specifically Japanese youths engaged with their peers. Whilst in today’s world we can absorb instant communication as if the receiver is in the room with us, transaction and practice of letter writing withstand our casual conversations of present times. This extensive form of communication allows letters to become a valuable source to understand experience.
WHY LETTERS?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to Professor Laurie McNeill for assigning, instigating and guiding us through the process of understanding, utilizing and engaging in archival materials, archival research and archival understanding and interpretation.
An obvious thanks to the members of this group project that made it happen: Nathan, Amy, Nicole, Bryan and Maia.
And an acknowledgement of the Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) for their persistent, dedication and emphasis on Archives/Archival research.
More information can be found down below in the link provided:
it’s important (Maia)
CITATIONS
Blackwell, Michelle. “UBC Library Acquires Rare Letters Written by Young Japanese Canadians during World War II.” About UBC Library, University of British Columbia, 8 Aug. 2018, about.library.ubc.ca/2018/04/19/ubc-library-acquires-rare-letters-written-by-young-japanese-canadians-during-world-war-ii/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2019.
Fujii, Akira. Letter from Akira Fujii to Joan Gillis. 5 June. 1942. Box 1 File 4. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Fujii, Setsuko. Letter from Setsuko Fujii to Joan Gillis. 14 May. 1942. Box 1 File 1. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Fujii, Setsuko. Letter from Setsuko Fujii to Joan Gillis. 23 Oct.. 1942. Box 1 File 9. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Fujii, Setsuko. Letter from Setsuko Fujii to Joan Gillis. 11 Dec. 1942. Box 1 File 10. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Fujii, Setsuko. Letter from Setsuko Fujii to Joan Gillis. 13 Aug. 1945. Box 1 File 21. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Meuse, Matt. A Queen Elizabeth Secondary School class photo.1941.Vancouver. cbc.ca.https://www.cbc.ca/radio/docproject/dearest-joan-1.4678413/what-s-on-the-hit-parade-rare-letters-show-japanese-canadian-internment-through-teens-eyes-1.4678439, Accessed 4 Feb. 2019
Marsh, James H. “Japanese Canadian Internment: Prisoners in Their Own Country.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2012.
Nakamura, Yoshio. Letter from Yoshio Nakamura to Joan Gillis. 28 Apr. 1942. Box 2 File 30. Joan Gillis fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
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Nakamura, Yoshio. Letter from Yoshio Nakamura to Joan Gillus. 17 Oct. 1942. Box 2 File 33. Joan Gillis fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Nakamura, Yoshio. Letter from Yoshio Nakamura to Joan Gillis. 1 Jan. 1943. Box 2 File 34. Joan Gillis fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Otsuki, Leo. Letter from Leo Otsuki to Joan Gillis. 31 October 1943. RBSC-ARC-1786, Box 2, File 1. Joan Gillis Fonds. University of British Columbia Library of Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Otsuki, Leo. Letter from Leo Otsuki to Joan Gillis. 31 October 1943. RBSC-ARC-1786, Box 2, File 4. Joan Gillis Fonds. University of British Columbia Library of Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca(2019). Joan Gillis fonds - RBSC / OSC Archives. [online] Available at: http://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/index.php/joan-gillis-fonds [Accessed 4 Feb. 2019].
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“Regulatory Map of Canada.” cfips.ca, CIFPs.ca., https://www.cifps.ca/Public/Page.aspx?NodeId=364&NodeName=Regulatory%20Map%20of%20Canada. Accessed 3 April 2019.
Ujiije, Masao. Letter from Masao Ujiije to Joan Gillis. July 24th, 1942. Box 2 File 57. Joan Gillis Fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Ujiije, Masao. Letter from Masao Ujiije to Joan Gillis. August 17th, 1942. Box 2 File 59. Joan Gillis Fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Ujiije, Masao. Letter from Masao Ujiije to Joan Gillis. October 9th, 1943. Box 2 File 67. Joan Gillis Fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Ujiije, Masao. Letter from Masao Ujiije to Joan Gillis. February 7th, 1946. Box 2 File 74. Joan Gillis Fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Yoshizawa, Alejandro, director. A Degree of Justice: Japanese Canadian UBC Students of 1942 . YouTube, YouTube, 19 Mar. 2012.
THE MAP
This map demonstrates the physical distance that caused the feelings of homesickness and displacement in Joan's classmates. Locations were found in the sender addresses of the letters.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Dr Laurie McNeill for assigning, instigating and guiding us through the process of understanding, utilizing and engaging in archival materials, archival research and archival understanding and interpretation.
An obvious thanks to the members of this group project that made it happen: Nathan, Amy, Nicole, Bryan, and Maia.
And an acknowledgment of the Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) for their persistent, dedication and emphasis on Archives/Archival research.
More information can be found down below in the link provided:
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