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Summary: This portion of the interview is about Toki Miyashita’s family’s internment during WWII, and her Oikawa grandparent’s immigration to BC and settlement on Lion and Don Islands at the mouth of the Fraser River. She describes how the family was moved to the internment camp “The Orchard” in New Denver,…

1 audio

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Summary: This portion of the interview is about Toki Miyashita’s family’s internment during WWII, and her Oikawa grandparent’s immigration to BC and settlement on Lion and Don Islands at the mouth of the Fraser River. She describes how the family was moved to the internment camp “The Orchard” in New Denver, but managed to find a place to live outside the camp where her grandmother grew a large garden from seeds brought in the seams of her clothing. She notes that the Lion Islands were named Oikawa-shima by the Japanese settlers.

Date Range: 1900-1946

Length: 00:07:05

Subjects: Wars - World War, 1939-1945; Persons - Japanese Canadians

Interviewer: Fowler, Rod

Interview Date: February 27, 1990

Scope and Content: Recording is of an interview with Toki Miyashita, conducted by Rod Fowler. Toki Miyashita was one of eleven participants interviewed as part of the SFU/Burnaby Centennial Committee's oral history series titled, "Voices of Burnaby". The interview is about Toki Miyashita’s family’s internment during WWII, her awakening interest in Japanese culture after the war, her subsequent interest in teaching others about Japanese crafts and arts, and becoming a helpful intermediary between Burnaby and visitors from Japan. The interview explores her interest in the Ainu of Japan and their possible link to the aboriginals of BC, her impressions of the Ainu carver Nuburi Toko, and her involvement in the events surrounding the creation of the sculpture “Playground of the Gods” for Burnaby Mountain. The interview also contains interesting details about the art of Japanese flower-arranging. To view “Narrow By” terms for each track expand this description and see “Notes”.

Biographical Notes: Toki Miyashita was born in Richmond B.C., ca. 1935, at the Nelson Brothers “fishery”, a second generation Canadian descended from the Oikawa family who settled on Don and Lion Islands (Oikawa-shima). In 1942 the Japanese Canadians in BC were forcibly moved from the coast and their belongings confiscated. Toki Miyashita, her parents, two brothers, and grandparents were first taken to Hastings Park where her father was separated from the family to work in road camps, and the rest of the family were interned in New Denver. Her resourceful grandmother moved the family to land outside the internment camp, growing a large garden from seeds brought with her. In 1946 the family moved to Kamloops and in 1958, after finishing high school, Toki Miyashita moved to Montreal to be with relatives and a small Japanese community. At this time she became interested in Japanese culture and took a Japanese language course at age 22. She learned about Japanese flower-arranging (Ikebana), paper folding (Origami), silk doll making (from a Russian Jew), and how to wear a kimono. She began demonstrating these arts in schools and to other groups, which she continued doing when she, her husband and two young children moved to Burnaby in 1969. Toki Miyashita has been called an unpaid “ambassador” of Japanese culture to the Lower Mainland. She has acted as liaison between Burnaby and her sister city Kushiro in Japan, which involved her in the creation of the Ainu sculpture “Playground of the Gods” on Burnaby Mountain for Burnaby’s Centennial. Toki Miyashita is a recognized Master in Ikebana Sogetsu, a school of flower-arranging, and has served on the board of the Vancouver Ikebana Association. She also served on Burnaby’s Family Court in the 1980s.

Total Tracks: 11

Total Length: 01:34:10

Interviewee Name: Miyashita, Toki

Interviewer Bio: Rod Fowler returned to university as a mature student in the 1980s after working about twenty years in the field of economics and computerization in business in England, Europe and Western Canada. He graduated with a BA from SFU in both History and Sociology in 1987, his MA degree in Geography in 1989, and his PhD in Cultural Geography at SFU. He taught courses in Geography, Sociology, History and Canadian Studies at several Lower Mainland colleges, before becoming a full time member of the Geography Department at Kwantlen University College.

Collection/Fonds: SFU/Burnaby Centennial Committee fonds

Series: Centennial Oral History project series

Transcript Available: Transcript available

Media Type: Sound Recording

Web Notes: Interviews were digitized in 2015 allowing them to be accessible on Heritage Burnaby. The digitization project was initiated by the Community Heritage Commission with support from City of Burnaby Council.

Audio Tracks

Track one of interview with Toki Miyashita

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/media/hpo/_Data/_Archives_Oral_Histories/_Unrestricted/MSS187-017/MSS187-017_Track_1.mp3

Young man with a beehive

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription627

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Date: [190-] (date of original), copied 1977

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum Photograph collection

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 25.2 x 20.2 cm print

Scope and Content: Photograph of a young man in a garden among brambles. He appears to be looking into a beehive set up among the shrubbery. A house with a large covered patio area is partially visible in the background.

1 image

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum Photograph collection

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 25.2 x 20.2 cm print

Scope and Content: Photograph of a young man in a garden among brambles. He appears to be looking into a beehive set up among the shrubbery. A house with a large covered patio area is partially visible in the background.

Subjects: Occupations - Beekeepers; Agricultural Tools and Equipment; Agriculture - Beekeeping

Accession Code: HV977.123.33

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: No known restrictions

Date: [190-] (date of original), copied 1977

Media Type: Photograph

Related Material: For another photograph of the young man with a bee hive, see HV977.123.33 - .35

Scan Resolution: 600

Scan Date: 2023-07-25

Notes: Title based on contents of photograph

Images

Young man with a beehive

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription628

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Date: [190-] (date of original), copied 1977

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum Photograph collection

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 25.2 x 20.2 cm print

Scope and Content: Photograph of a young man standing in a garden among brambles. He appears to be holding up his hand swarmed by bees. By his feet, there is a beehive set up among the brambles. A house and a barn are partially visible in the background.

1 image

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum Photograph collection

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 25.2 x 20.2 cm print

Scope and Content: Photograph of a young man standing in a garden among brambles. He appears to be holding up his hand swarmed by bees. By his feet, there is a beehive set up among the brambles. A house and a barn are partially visible in the background.

Subjects: Occupations - Beekeepers; Agricultural Tools and Equipment; Agriculture - Beekeeping

Accession Code: HV977.123.34

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: No known restrictions

Date: [190-] (date of original), copied 1977

Media Type: Photograph

Related Material: For another photograph of the young man with a bee hive, see HV977.123.33 - .35

Scan Resolution: 600

Scan Date: 2023-07-25

Notes: Title based on contents of photograph

Images

Young man with a beehive

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription629

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Date: [190-] (date of original), copied 1977

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum Photograph collection

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 25.2 x 20.2 cm print

Scope and Content: Photograph of a young man standing in a garden among brambles. He appears to be holding up his hand swarmed by bees. By his feet, there is a beehive set up among the brambles. A house and a barn are partially visible in the background.

1 image

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum Photograph collection

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 25.2 x 20.2 cm print

Scope and Content: Photograph of a young man standing in a garden among brambles. He appears to be holding up his hand swarmed by bees. By his feet, there is a beehive set up among the brambles. A house and a barn are partially visible in the background.

Subjects: Occupations - Beekeepers; Agricultural Tools and Equipment; Agriculture - Beekeeping

Accession Code: HV977.123.35

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: No known restrictions

Date: [190-] (date of original), copied 1977

Media Type: Photograph

Related Material: For another photograph of the young man with a bee hive, see HV977.123.33 - .35

Scan Resolution: 600

Scan Date: 2023-07-25

Notes: Title based on contents of photograph

Images

Tom and Kitty

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription39542

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1904]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 5 x 7.5 cm on page 21.5 x 28 cm (pasted in album)

Scope and Content: Photograph of Kitty Hill riding on her horse Tom, who is pulling a hay rake. The photograph was taken at the Hill family farm on Deer Lake Avenue, known as Brookfield. This is the current site of the Burnaby Village Museum.

1 image

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1904]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Series: Kitty Hill Peers family photograph series

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 5 x 7.5 cm on page 21.5 x 28 cm (pasted in album)

Description Level: Item

Record No.: 477-861

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: No known restrictions

Accession Number: 2007-12

Scope and Content: Photograph of Kitty Hill riding on her horse Tom, who is pulling a hay rake. The photograph was taken at the Hill family farm on Deer Lake Avenue, known as Brookfield. This is the current site of the Burnaby Village Museum.

Subjects: Agricultural Tools and Equipment; Animals - Horses; Agriculture - Crops

Names: Peers, Katherine Maude Hill "Kitty"

Media Type: Photograph

Notes: Title based on caption accompanying photograph

Geographic Access: Deer Lake Avenue

Street Address: 6501 Deer Lake Avenue

Historic Neighbourhood: Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)

Planning Study Area: Morley-Buckingham Area

Images

Tom pulling a hay rake

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription38860

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1905]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : sepia ; 5.5 x 10.2 cm on page 14 x 17.5 cm (pasted in album)

Scope and Content: Photograph of horse, "Tom," pulling a hay rake through a field. The photograph appears to have been taken at the home of Claude Hill in the Burnaby Lake area.

1 image

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1905]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Series: Kitty Hill Peers family photograph series

Physical Description: 1 photograph : sepia ; 5.5 x 10.2 cm on page 14 x 17.5 cm (pasted in album)

Description Level: Item

Record No.: 477-179

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: No known restrictions

Accession Number: 2007-12

Scope and Content: Photograph of horse, "Tom," pulling a hay rake through a field. The photograph appears to have been taken at the home of Claude Hill in the Burnaby Lake area.

Subjects: Agriculture - Crops; Animals - Horses; Agricultural Tools and Equipment

Media Type: Photograph

Notes: Title based on contents of photograph

Geographic Access: Deer Lake Avenue

Street Address: 6501 Deer Lake Avenue

Historic Neighbourhood: Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)

Planning Study Area: Morley-Buckingham Area

Images

Tom pulling a hay rake, [1905] thumbnail

Dad at Deer Lake

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription38864

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1905]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : sepia ; 8 x 5.5 cm on page 14 x 17.5 cm (pasted in album)

Scope and Content: Photograph of Claude Hill on a hay rake being pulled by the workhorse, "Tom." His daughter, Kitty, wrote the caption "Dad at Deer Lake" next to this photograph.

1 image

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1905]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Series: Kitty Hill Peers family photograph series

Physical Description: 1 photograph : sepia ; 8 x 5.5 cm on page 14 x 17.5 cm (pasted in album)

Description Level: Item

Record No.: 477-183

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: No known restrictions

Accession Number: 2007-12

Scope and Content: Photograph of Claude Hill on a hay rake being pulled by the workhorse, "Tom." His daughter, Kitty, wrote the caption "Dad at Deer Lake" next to this photograph.

Subjects: Agriculture - Crops; Animals - Horses; Occupations - Farmers; Agricultural Tools and Equipment

Names: Hill Family; Hill, Louis Claude "Claude"

Media Type: Photograph

Notes: Title based on caption accompanying photograph

Geographic Access: Douglas Road; Deer Lake Avenue

Street Address: 6501 Deer Lake Avenue

Historic Neighbourhood: Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)

Planning Study Area: Morley-Buckingham Area

Images

Mowing at Gaines' Farm, Burnaby

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription39548

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1906]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 12 x 17 cm on page 21.5 x 28 cm (pasted in album)

Scope and Content: Photograph of a farmer driving a team of two horses mowing hay in a field. The photograph bears the caption "Mowing at Gaines' farm" and is accompanied by a notation in the album indicating that the field was across Douglas Road from Brookfield, the home of Claude Hill. This property belonged to …

1 image

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1906]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Series: Kitty Hill Peers family photograph series

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 12 x 17 cm on page 21.5 x 28 cm (pasted in album)

Description Level: Item

Record No.: 477-867

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: No known restrictions

Accession Number: 2007-12

Scope and Content: Photograph of a farmer driving a team of two horses mowing hay in a field. The photograph bears the caption "Mowing at Gaines' farm" and is accompanied by a notation in the album indicating that the field was across Douglas Road from Brookfield, the home of Claude Hill. This property belonged to Claude's brother Bernard Hill and was later known as 4990 Canada Way. The man is unidentified. In the background to the west can be seen Burnaby Lake and to the left the Pole Line Road (later Sperling Avenue) and to the right, Douglas Road and an unidentified house. This is the current location of the Kensington Avenue freeway interchange.

Subjects: Agriculture - Crops; Agricultural Tools and Equipment; Animals - Horses; Occupations - Farmers

Media Type: Photograph

Photographer: Cooksley, William Thomas

Notes: Title based on caption accompanying photograph

Geographic Access: Deer Lake Avenue; Canada Way; Douglas Road

Street Address: 4990 Canada Way

Historic Neighbourhood: Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)

Planning Study Area: Douglas-Gilpin Area

Images

Mowing at Gaines' Farm, Burnaby, [1906] thumbnail

Haying on the Hill farm

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription38755

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1906]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 5 x 8 cm on page 11.5 x 14 cm (pasted in album)

Scope and Content: Photograph of a man (probably Claude Hill) with a horse and hay rake, tending to a field of hay. Kitty Hill is in the foreground holding some loose hay. This photograph was likely taken on the Hill farm, known as Brookfield.

1 image

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1906]

Collection/Fonds: Peers Family and Hill Family fonds

Series: Kitty Hill Peers family photograph series

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 5 x 8 cm on page 11.5 x 14 cm (pasted in album)

Description Level: Item

Record No.: 477-074

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: No known restrictions

Accession Number: 2007-12

Scope and Content: Photograph of a man (probably Claude Hill) with a horse and hay rake, tending to a field of hay. Kitty Hill is in the foreground holding some loose hay. This photograph was likely taken on the Hill farm, known as Brookfield.

Subjects: Agriculture - Crops; Agricultural Tools and Equipment; Animals - Horses

Names: Hill, Louis Claude "Claude"; Peers, Katherine Maude Hill "Kitty"

Media Type: Photograph

Notes: Title based on contents of photograph

Geographic Access: Deer Lake Avenue

Street Address: 6501 Deer Lake Avenue

Historic Neighbourhood: Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)

Planning Study Area: Morley-Buckingham Area

Images

Haying on the Hill farm, [1906] thumbnail

Louis Claude Hill's Farm, Burnaby, BC

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription3064

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Date: [1909]

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum Photograph collection

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.2 x 17.6 cm mounted on cardboard 22.7 x 27.4 cm

Scope and Content: Photograph of a farm with men, a horse and wagon, and children in a field. An annotation on the back of one of the photos reads, "The foreground farm property stood at the corner of Sperling Avenue (formerly known as the Pole Line Road) and Buckingham. The white house in the left centre was the …

2 images

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum Photograph collection

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.2 x 17.6 cm mounted on cardboard 22.7 x 27.4 cm

Scope and Content: Photograph of a farm with men, a horse and wagon, and children in a field. An annotation on the back of one of the photos reads, "The foreground farm property stood at the corner of Sperling Avenue (formerly known as the Pole Line Road) and Buckingham. The white house in the left centre was the residence of Miss Woodward, her mother and sister. It was the first post office at 'Burnaby Lake' and the site of the kindergarten school of Miss Harriet Woodward. It later became the United Church. / The open field in the distance above the horse's head and people in the field is the field in front of the 'Manor House' which was built by Mr. Bateman in the 1920's. To the right of and beyond the white house partly hidden by the trees can be seen some of the buildings associated with the Hill farm on Deer Lake Ave. which by the date (1909) of this photo had been sold. The distant tall trees (center) stand on the site of the Municipal Buildings (DesBirsays Woods)." An annotation on the back of the other photograph reads, "Formerly belonging to Malcom Nicolson / App. 1908." Annotations at the bottom front of the photograph read, "L. Claude Hill's Farm, Burnaby, BC."

Subjects: Agriculture - Crops; Agricultural Tools and Equipment; Animals - Horses; Occupations - Farmers; Agriculture - Farms

Geographic Access: Buckingham Avenue; Sperling Avenue

Accession Code: HV973.40.4

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: No known restrictions

Date: [1909]

Media Type: Photograph

Historic Neighbourhood: Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)

Planning Study Area: Morley-Buckingham Area

Scan Resolution: 600

Scan Date: 2023-05-09

Scale: 100

Notes: Title based on contents of photograph; 1 b&w duplicate photograph accompanying; Text on first image "L Claude Hill's Farm, Burnaby B C", incorporated into the image at the bottom edge of the photograph. "app 1909" pencilled in following above on the bottom edge of the image "L. Claude / Hill / Broadview", pencilled on the matt below the image. "The foreground farm property stood at the / Corner of Sperling Ave. (formerly known as Pole Line Road) / and Buckingham. The white house in the left / centre was the residence of Miss Woodward, her mother / and sister. It was the first post ofice at "Burnaby Lake" / and the site of the kindergarten school of Miss / Harriet Woodward. It later became the United / Church. / The open field in the distance above / the horses head and people in the field is / the field in front of the "Manse House" which / was built by Mr. Bateman in the 1920's. To the / right of and beyond the white house partly hidden / by the trees can be seen some of the buildings / associated with the Hill farm on Deer Lake Ave. / which by the date (1909) of this photo had been / sold. The distant tall trees (center) stand on the site of / the Municipal Buildings (DesBirsays Woods)", hand written in blue ink on the reverse side of the matt. It is not indicated who wrote the note. "OR MASTER / 973.40.4", pencilled in the lower right corner of reverse side of matt. "W. T. COOKSLEY / NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C."printed with very little contrast on the gray mattboard, below the lower right corner of the photograph Text on second image. "L Claude Hill's Farm, Burnaby B C", incorporated into the image at the bottom edge of the photograph. "Claude surveying the haying", pencilled on the reverse side of the matt. "Formerly belonging to Malcolm Nicholson / app 1908", hand writen in blue ink on the reverse side of the matt. "H.V.973.40.4. OR. MASTER", hand printed on the bottom left corner of the reverse side of the matt. "W. T. COOKSLEY / NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C."printed with very little contrast on the gray mattboard, below the lower right corner of the photograph

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Interview with Toki Miyashita by Rod Fowler February 27, 1990 - Track 1

Audio Tracks

Young man with a beehive

Images

Young man with a beehive

Images

Young man with a beehive

Images

Tom and Kitty

Images

Tom pulling a hay rake

Images

Dad at Deer Lake

Images

Mowing at Gaines' Farm, Burnaby

Images

Haying on the Hill farm

Images

Louis Claude Hill's Farm, Burnaby, BC

Images