Japanese Canadian residents
Continue to Olson Road to complete the Cultural Walk
Japanese Canadian residents were an integral part of the community
Prior to World War II, Japanese Canadians were a vital part of the local community in Tofino and in Clayoquot on Stubbs Island. Eik Landing was one of five main areas of local settlement for Japanese Canadians in Clayoquot Sound.
While few Canadian families of Japanese descent reside in Tofino today, in the early part of the 20th century, about one third of the residents of Clayoquot Sound were Issei (first-generation) or Nissei (second-generation) Japanese Canadians. The term “Nikkei” refers to any Canadian of Japanese descent.
The first Japanese settlers to Clayoquot Sound arrived in the 1920s after they faced discrimination and restricted fishing licences in the Fraser River area on mainland British Columbia. Most families had moved from the same prefecture in Japan – Wakayama. In total, about 90 families moved to the west coast – this includes Bamfield, Tofino, Clayoquot, Ucluelet.
In Beckoned by the Sea, Ellen (Kimoto) Crowe-Swords described how the First Nation communities “looked after the Japanese families that first winter. There is still a strong bond between the Japanese-Canadian community and the First Nations community”.
Throughout the cold months food was shared around. Families made their homes in five main communities: Clayoquot (on Stubbs Island a.k.a. Nakanoshima), Eik Landing (by the Eik Cedar), Nishi Kazi (a.k.a. West Wing; where the Tofino Resort is located), Storm Bay (up the Inlet from the Crab Dock), and Grice Point (by Duffin Cove).
Trademarks of the Nikkei fishermen were their skill and co-operation on the water. All the boats would go out to fish together and return together.
At one point, most trollers in Clayoquot Sound were owned and operated by Nikkei fishermen. A locally developed trick of the trade, using a 'wobbler' or 'spoon' for trolling, was adopted and further developed by Umetaro Morishita after watching a Nuu-chah-nulth fisherman using tin as a flasher. Leaders to the spoons were made of piano wire. Another innovator was Matakichi Uyeyama of Ucluelet who charted waters off of Ucluelet and improved fishing gear for trolling.
Unfortunately, most of these boats were confiscated during the internment of coastal-residing Japanese Canadians during the Second World War – with little to no compensation offered for the boats or any other personal property.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, the paranoia of the Canadian Federal Government and on the west coast, reached a peak. Japanese Canadians were referred to as 'enemy aliens' and in the spring of 1942 all Japanese-Canadian families would be forced to relocate to internment or work camps. Japanese residents got a knock on their doors notifying them to pack up their things to be ready to leave in the morning on the steamship the steamship Maquinna. They were permitted only one suitcase each. The Maquinna‘s departure was extended another 24 hours after local pressure.
The Maquinna brought them Port Alberni. From there, families were loaded onto a train to Nanaimo, eventually ending their initial journey in Hastings Park, Vancouver, where they were housed temporarily in recently vacated livestock stables. Approximately 22,000 people were interned in camps in interior BC or relocated to road camps and other labour jobs such as in Ontario – their families separated from one another. More than half of these Japanese Canadians had been born and raised in BC.
While full citizen rights were restored to Japanese Canadians post-war, discrimination continued to create barriers to regaining their lives.
In 1947, a “wartime resolution” was passed by the Commissioners of the Corporation of the Village of Tofino excluding all Asian Canadians from “owning property or carrying on a business directly or indirectly within the municipality” – a policy that would not be rescinded until a half-century later in 1997.
Despite initiative on the part of BC Packers in the 1950s to rehire former Japanese-Canadian residents who had contributed so much to the fishing industry here pre-war, Tofino remained unwelcoming and those who did return settled in Ucluelet.
In 1997, a local Japanese-Canadian resident approached the District of Tofino Council and asked them to remove the “Wartime Resolution” prohibiting people of Japanese descent from returning to Tofino. On November 24, 1997, the Council passed the following motion with respect to the “Wartime Resolution Regarding Orientals.”:
“Resolution No. 710-97: ...this Council wishes to set the record straight by rescinding the Resolution Regarding Orientals (1947) and emphasize that the District of Tofino rejects any exclusionary policy based on racial or ethnic origin. Carried.”
An article posted on the website of the Legislative Assembly of BC acknowledges that, “No Japanese Canadian was ever charged with disloyalty, and the incident is now acknowledged as one of the worst human rights violations in BC’s history. In 1988, the Government of Canada formally apologized and offered compensation to Japanese Canadian survivors and their families”.
On June 3, 2019, then Mayor Josie Osborne, on behalf of the District of Tofino, formally apologized to former Japanese-Canadian residents of Clayoquot Sound.
— Courtesy of Tofino Clayoquot Heritage Museum and the exhibition, “The Nikkei residents of Clayoquot Sound”,
Crab Dock
The Crab Dock
The Crab Dock got its start in 1948 when Pierre Malon and Bill White went into business together to start up a crab cannery. The pair had met while they worked on Stubbs Island.
The partners ran the crab boat, Stubbs Island, and canned the crab they caught. In time, clams and salmon were also canned at their business, Tofino Packing.
The Stubbs Island usually moored at this dock, in sight of the red cannery building that still exists in the same location, sitting on pilings at the water's edge. Tofino Packing came to an end in 1964, although Bill White continued to crab on Stubbs Island for years after.
Look to your left from the dock and you’ll see tiny Strawberry Island with an old ship permanently perched on its shore. Strawberry Island has changed hands several times. At one time it was owned by Robert Guppy, who let the island go when the taxes doubled, jumping from $2 to $4. In the mid-1960s it was purchased by Jo Brydges after she left Stubbs Island. She didn’t live there, but did garden and is responsible for the rhododendrons still on the island. In 1981, Brydges sold the island to the Palm family. They then moved the boat they had been living on—previously North Vancouver Ferry #1—permanently onshore. From 1900 to 1926 the ferry ran across Burrard Inlet along the current route of the Sea Bus between Vancouver and North Vancouver.
Eik Street / Eik Cedar
Stay here to learn more.
Eik Street
This property was part of the original homestead of Johan (John) Eik who arrived in Clayoquot Sound aboard his own sailing sloop. This was not John’s first visit to the area, however. After leaving his homeland of Norway in 1891, at age 22, he landed in New York and travelled to Seattle where he worked on halibut schooners fishing as far north as the Bering Sea. On one voyage the schooner sought shelter in Clayoquot Sound and John decided he would someday return.
Eik pre-empted 152 acres in 1896. At first, he had a cabin on a low plateau near the water’s edge. It provided a good anchorage, fresh water, and flat ground for a garden. A few years later, he built a float house on the waterfront. In 1903. he returned briefly to Seattle to marry his Norwegian bride, Serianna (Annie) Flovik. The couple eventually had two children, Amelia and Hubert.
John was active in the fishing industry and the family often move the floathouse to Kennedy Cove during the fishing season to be closer to John’s work.
In 1913, John built a two-storey house up the hill. The main timbers came from trees on the property. Then the family built several buildings near the beach , from which they ran the Fernwood Chicken Far, supplying many of the early settlers with eggs and chickens.
Eik Cedar
When John pre-empted this property in 1896 this western red cedar was already about 700 years old. In March 2001, it was slated for removal after being declared a “danger tree” potentially hazardous to new development on the property.
A local protest began and two people lived high in the branches for over a month while alternative solutions were debated. In the end, the Tofino Natural Heritage Society was formed and hired a structural engineer to design and install the tree’s unique brace.
Village Green / Tonquin Anchor / Weeping Cedar Woman
To explore more heritage sites proceed to Eik Street.
The Village Green
At the entrance to the Village Green, you’ll find the “Welcome to Tofino” sign carved collaboratively by Roy Henry Vickers and Henry Nolla as their “gift to Tofino”.
Tofino’s Village Green was originally cleared by the school district for the location of a new school. With the inclusion of First Nations children at the local school, a larger site was required so the municipality swapped land with the school district and the new elementary school was built two blocks away, near the back of town. This left a large cleared area in the centre of town which is now called “The Village Green”.
The green is the hub of many activities from community barbecues, Tla-o-qui-aht days celebrations, a Saturday market in the warmer months and skateboard competitions. It is always a favourite gathering spot for families and youth.
The Tonquin Anchor
Just a few steps up Third Street, you’ll find the wooden gazebo. Please stop and look closely at the side facing the street.
Framed by its supporting walls is the Tonquin Anchor, which was once aboard the historic Tonquin, an American fur trading vessel sometimes known as “the ghost ship of Clayoquot Sound”. Encrusted with blue beads associated with trading, it was salvaged from Templar Channel, off the site of the Tla-o-qui-aht village of Echachist. Identified as a type not manufactured after 1790, its condition suggested it was onboard but not in active use. The blue beads were manufactured prior to 1830.
Interviews:
Joe Martin, a Tla-o-qui-aht elder, shares the story of the Tonquin in Clayoquot Sound in 1811. This interview was recorded at Tofino Clayoquot Heritage Museum on April 4, 2019, in the presence of Tla-o-qui-aht elder Moses Martin.
At the Tofino Clayoquot Heritage Museum, you can learn more about the recovery of this anchor and the ship’s history in David W. Griffiths’ book, Tonquin: The Ghost Ship of Clayoquot Sound. The shipwreck site has never been discovered.
You can spot more historic anchors around Tofino, including from: the Hera, near the First Street Dock, the Lord Western at Anchor Park, an unidentified anchor in the garden below the Shore Building, accessed via Wingen Lane, and an anchor from a typical mid-19th century schooner in Centennial Park at First Street and Arnet Road. Raised by local marine archaeologist Rod Palm, these anchors were installed and cared for by the Tonquin Foundation, the precursor to Tofino Clayoquot Heritage Museum. The museum also carries a book on the Hera: The Fire Ship of Clayoquot Sound by David W. Griffiths.
Both the shipwreck sites for the Lord Western and the Hera are designated heritage sites. To learn more, please visit Canada’s Historic Places’ database at www.historicplaces.ca.
Weeping Cedar Woman by Artist Godfrey Stephens
Over by the playground you will discover Weeping Cedar Woman by artist Godfrey Stephens. Weeping Cedar Woman is what artist Godfrey Stephens calls a “protest sculpture”. An icon of the blockades against old-growth logging on Meares Island, it stood for 17 years on Strawberry Island facing Tofino.
Stephens worked furiously with a chainsaw to carve it within two short weeks in 1984, shaping this red cedar windfall salvaged with permission.
This 16-foot tall cedar-and-copper figure underwent two restorations before being relocated to the Village Green where she stands today.
“Leave the ancient trees alone,” Stephens reminds us. “They seed the forest, they’re venerable, they’re older than any of us.”
More about the artworks can be found in the Downtown Art Walk
Opitsaht / Meares Island
Stay here to learn more about the area.
Traditional Unceded Homeland of the Tea-o-qui-aht First Nation
Tofino, British Columbia
We uphold the ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ Nation’s relationships and responsibilities within the web of life that exists here – and use these teachings to guide, balance, and inform newcomers’ influences.
ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ Tribal Parks Guardians tend to the Intergenerational Gardens, which include the largest intact ancient coastal rainforest on Vancouver Island. The Tribal Parks Allies provide experiences which connect to our story, and support our collective vision for a culturally and ecologically rich coastline forever.
To learn more about these ancestral gardens, visit: www.tribal parks.com and view the video, “Our Story.”
Arnet Island / Dream Island
To continue this tour, head up Third Street to the Village Green .
Dream (Arnet) Isle
If you look across the harbour from Anchor Park, the third small island to your left is called Arnet Island – according to a nautical chart. Locally it is still referred to as Castle Tibbs or “Dream Isle”.
Frederick Gerald Tibbs originally pre-empted land at Long Bay (Long Beach) in 1908. Here, the 22-year-old English immigrant had visions of creating a ranch. Tibbs never did get his Tidal Ranch off the ground and in 1912 exchanged that west coast dream for another one. He bought an island just off Tofino and, after clearing it of every tree but one, began to build a home.
But this was a home like no other. It was as close to a castle as you could get on the west coast in the early 1900s. From behind the main structure rose a tower, apparently with princesses painted on the shutters. The grounds included a garden with trellises, roses, and a love seat. He also had plans for a bicycle path around the rim of the island.
Tibbs removed every limb off the single spruce he had left on the island and built scaffolding up its side. From a platform on the top, about 30 metres (100 feet) off the ground, he would sit with his cornet, serenading the town of Tofino with tunes such as, “Come to the Cookhouse Door, Boys”. He also carefully painted the words “Dream Isle” on the face of a rock on the island’s shore.
In 1917, before Tibbs went to fight int he First World War, he made out a will. In it, he bequeathed the island and everything except the house and 3 metres (10 feet) offend around it to Alma Arnet, adding “because she’s the nicest girl I ever met and another reason she knows”. The house and its contents were to go Olive Garrard, another young woman from Tofino. Tibbs noted that Olive got the house “because it was built for her”. Both bequests were only valid if the women were single.
Tibbs survived the war, but died tragically in 1921 after a near-drowning in the harbour. While tending a harbour buoy, his boat slipped away. Tibbs carefully removed his clothes before diving in and swimming for his boat. He never reached it and ended up exhausted and close to death on the shores of Stubbs Island. Attempts to revive him failed.
Alma and Olive were both single when Tibbs died, so the will was valid. Alma kept the island for a few years before selling it. She never divulged what Tibbs referred to as “another reason she knows”.
On a nautical chart the island is called Arnet Island, but locally is still referred to as Castle Tibbs or Dream Isle.
The Arnet family have had a long history here in Clayoquot Sound. Alma Arnet, to whom the island was left by Frederick Tibbs, was the oldest child of Jacob and Johanna Arnet. She was born at the family’s original homestead at Mud or Grice Bay in 1897 and lived through the creation and growth of Tofino over her more than nine decades of life. Jacob Arnet was one of the earliest European settlers here in 1894.
Oral history interview:
Alma Arnet was the great aunt of Roland Arnet, the son of her brother Walter and his wife Clara. He would become an accomplished teacher and later, a councillor for the District of Tofino.
In his interview with Sean McLorie for the “Tofino through Time” series, Roland Arnet recalls his grandfather, Jacob Arnet’s contribution to Tofino.
Anchor Park
Stay here to learn more about the area.
Tlaoquiaht ha’wiih Totem
The totem pole or č̓iinuł is carved in a style that is specific to the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation. At the top of the pole, a Thunderbird perches above a humpback whale. Both elements represent hereditary chiefs or Ha’wiih.
Tla-o-qui-aht artist and master carver Joe David gifted the totem pole here in Anchor Park where it was raised on September 7, 2018 as a gesture of relationship moving forward with the village of Tofino.
Joe David was born and raised here in Clayoquot Sound. He is a recipient of the BC Achievement Fulmer Award for First Nations Art (2015) and is acknowledged as “among the most respected master carvers of the Northwest Coast”.
His work is represented in museums and private collections around the world, including at Vancouver International Airport. Joe David also contributed to the č̓iinuł at Tin Wis included on the MUP portion of the artwalk.
This interview with Joe David was recorded here at Anchor Park, overlooking the harbour and the village of Opitsaht.
Wingen Lane
To continue this tour, keep walking east along Main Street.
Wingen Lane
For decades, the Wingen family lived and worked in this part of town, which served for years as the “town centre”. But there were Wingens on the coast before the village of Tofino existed.
Tom Wingen came to Canada from Norway in 1891 and, by the late 1890s, was running a sawmill at Mud (now Grice) Bay. A small creek provided power for the mill. In 1894, he married Julie Hansen, also from Norway. (Her brothers were Anton and John). When they eventually moved to Tofino, the couple built the house at 346 Main Street. (You can see it beside the inn, set close to the water).
Tom Wingen and Mike Hogan began building boats at a shipyard where the condominium at the base of the hill is located today. This was the beginning of a successful business that provided local employment. For years, it seemed as if the town revolved around the activity at ”Wingen’s”. Eventually, the Wingens built a few other homes on Main Street that were rented out to employees.
Around 1917, Tom and Julie’s son, Hilmar, and his business partner, Mike Hamilton, opened Tofino Machine Shop next to the boat shop. They had marine ways for hauling boats out of the water and did engine repairs and whatever needed doing to keep the boats running. Tom Wingen passed his boat-building trade to Hilmar who eventually ran both businesses. (Hamilton moved to Port Alberni in 1927). Hilmar and his wife, Vera, were active in the community and Hilmar served as Tofino’s second mayor from 1936 to 1941.
Eventually, Hilmar and Vera’s son, Bob, took over the operations from the mid-1950s until the early 1960s. Bob saw the need for a fish buying and processing plant and he built a plant, Tofino Fisheries, to process salmon and shrimp. The plant employed many community members until 1974 when it was bought first by the Canadian Fishing Company and then by BC Packers. Eventually, like many fish plants on the west coast, it shut down due to lack of fish. BC Packer’s last year of operation was 1995, when it opened for six weeks of salmon processing.
St. Columba Anglican Church
To continue this tour, keep walking east along Main Street.
St. Columba Anglican Church
The contractor was instructed to build a church on the most beautiful site on Vancouver Island. We think they chose well.
Even before there was a church in Tofino, people gathered to worship. Every Sunday, the Garrard family would haul their organ down to the community hall where lay readers would lead a service. In the spring of 1911, however, it seemed as if Tofino would get its own church. The minutes from a meeting of the Westcoast Mission from March 16, 1911, show pledges for the purchase of a lot. Two lots were purchased with $100 donated by Tofino residents.
St. Columba Anglican Church was built in 1913 with funds sent from England and the instructions to build a church “on the most beautiful spot on Vancouver Island” in memory of Francis Beresford Wright. The Anglican bishop at the time decided that the most “beautiful spot” was in Tofino and he appointed George Aitkens to design the church.
Local men, including John Chesterman, Frank and Burdett Garrard, and Jacob Arnet cleared the land and constructed the church. It was built on cedar posts, a style common to the coast. (A cement block foundation was added in 1967).
The first minister, Reverend L.A. Todd, married Nancy Shanker and Sofus Arnet on December 30, 1913, in this church’s first wedding.
Most of the rhododendrons were planted in about 1925 and a vicarage once sat on the property, behind the church and towards the alley.
The community has always been involved in the operation and maintenance of this Tofino landmark, from fundraisers that include bake sales, bazaars, teas, garage sales, and box socials, to “work bees,” in which community members come out to construct a rock wall, fix a sagging floor, landscape the property, build an addition or install a furnace.
Oral history Interviews:
Born in Tofino, Roland Arnet is the third generation of his family to live and work on Tofino's waterfront. Hisgrandfather, Jacob Arnet, was one of the earliest European settlers here in 1894. In an interview with Sean McLorie as part of the “Tofino Through Time” series, “Roll” recalls its role in the community and his life.
The Sadler family (Ruth, Ken, Harold, and Cindy) recall the early days of the Sunday School.
Tofino Hotel (Currently Tofino Sea Kayaking)
To continue this walk, walk east along Main Street to St. Columba Church at the corner of Main and Second Streets.
Tofino Hotel (Currently Tofino Sea Kayaking and Tofino Paddler’s Inn)
Tofino had its own hotel as early as 1913. Although it was not so grand as the hotel at Clayoquot, the White Wing Hotel certainly had visions of grandeur. Small print on the hotel’s elegant letterhead declared it as “The Tourist Resort of the West Coast of Vancouver Island” that offered “boating and launch parties” as well as “a splendid beach drive for automobiles”. (The first car did not arrive in Tofino until 1921). In reality, the White Wing Hotel was a building with just a few rooms perched on a scow on Tofino’s waterfront. It was next door to the White Wing Café.
By 1921, there was another hotel just up the slope from the White Wing— the Tofino Hotel. The Tofino Hotel’s early guests were prospectors from the mining hotspots of the day—Zeballos, Bear River, and Pioneer Mines.
The hotel had several owners over the years and an eclectic history. A table in the hotel dining room was the location of at least one emergency appendectomy, conducted by Dr. Robertson. (His wife, Marguerite, assisted, using her best tea towels, soaked in disinfectant, as surgical linens).
By late 1945, there was a lunch counter downstairs that was a popular teen spot. The counter ran along the left side of the room. One could sit and have a soda, milkshake or ice cream.
Although the original hotel burned down in the 1950s, it was rebuilt and today continues to operate as an inn, with rooms upstairs and a kayak rental and retail space below.
This site is also included in the Downtown Art Walk
Grice Road & First Street Dock
To continue this walk proceed up First Street and make a left on Main Street, heading east to Tofino Sea Kayaking and the Paddler’s Inn - originally, the Tofino Hotel.
Tofino Waterfront — Grice Road
This spot is where the village of Tofino had its beginnings. In 1893, John Grice pre-empted Lot 114, a 206-acre parcel of land on the tip of the peninsula. Grice, from Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, arrived in Victoria, BC in March 1891 with his 13-year-old son, Arthur. John quickly gained employment in the fur sealing industry and later that year, was reported as one of the crewmen on the Mascot, a sealer that had been missing since July 1st. But John and his mates were alive and well. Within a few years he was carving a life in Clayoquot Sound.
It would be almost 20 years before Grice’s wife, Jane, joined John and Arthur in Canada, but in the interim Grice established himself as a prominent figure on the west coast. Over the years, he held various positions—and almost every government job available—serving as Justice of the Peace, tide and rain gauge supervisor, fisheries officer, customs officer, and shipping master.
Grice and Jacob Arnet, another early settler who owned an adjacent tract of land, laid out the first plan for the village that would eventually become Tofino. Over the years, people began to settle on the peninsula and this spot, today called Grice Road, became the hub of the growing community.
The Grice home was on the west end of the road—originally a boardwalk—where the hostel is today. Besides the Grice’s home, there were several other homes and buildings along Grice Road.
This was the location of Tofino’s first store, which was in operation by 1901. The store was owned by Dan Yuk Ling, but was run by Sing Lee, who also worked on sealing schooners and local mines in the area over the years. Lee died in 1906, and by 1907, James Sloman and John McKenna were running the store and fur trading operation as Sloman and McKenna’s.
The rival store agitated Walter Dawley over at Clayoquot and the new owners further rankled him given that Slogan had been Dawley’s employee for years (running a branch store at Nootka) and that McKenna was Thomas Stockham’s (Dawley’s one-time partner and now full-time thorn in his side) brother-in-law.
When the store got Tofino’s first post office in 1909 it meant that people on the peninsula no longer had to call at Clayoquot for mail or groceries.
A thriving store was an important kernel of the new community and slowly more settlers came to call the area that is now Tofino home.
Dr. John Robertson had one of the area’s first medical offices beside the store in the early 1930s. Since the building was so tiny, patients waiting for the doctor used the porch of the store as a waiting room. Moisture ran down the cliff, making it necessary to encase the instruments in Vaseline to prevent them from rusting.
In 1926, surveyors declared the corner of Grice Road and First Street to be the terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway. It was an ironic dedication since Tofino’s “road” at the time petered out in the bush less than one kilometre from here. The highway connecting the west coast to Port Alberni would not be completed until 1959.
Up the hill, Načiks is a lookout point for Tla-o-qui-aht and later, the site of Monk’s house.
Oral history interview:
Lois Warner, whose family later owned the Grice’s property, describes the early waterfront and growing up in Tofino in this interview with Ava Hansen on behalf of Tofino Clayoquot Heritage Museum. After the Grices, the property belonged to Dick Cooper, who took in some of the survivors from the SV Carelmapu, a fully-rigged Chilean ship. It foundered on Gowland Rocks just offshore from Radar Hill in November 1915. The captain and crew of the steamer, Princess Maquinna were prevented from a daring rescue by worsening storm conditions and swells.