The Arrow Slocan Tourism Association (ASTA) is working on a new project to bring visitors to the area by honouring the history of Japanese Canadians.
The Japanese Canadian Internment Camps Trail is a self-guided tour that will connect the internment sites dispersed through the Slocan Valley. The travel route will encourage visitors to explore the stories of the 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly displaced and interned during and after the Second World War.
“Outside of B.C., the story isn’t extremely well-known,” Lynn Shortt, executive director of ASTA, told the Valley Voice. “We want to give people a reason to come and enjoy the area, while also learning about its history.”
Thanks to generous funding from the Japanese Canadian Legacy Society (JCLS) and Destination BC, the three-year project will kick off its first year by mapping the trail through the Slocan Valley, from the Bay and Popoff Farms to New Denver to Sandon. ASTA will lead the project, working in conjunction with the Village of New Denver and JCLS.
The trails and sites are already established, so ASTA’s goal is marketing the route. A website is in the works, complete with a digital map and descriptions of the sites. ASTA is aiming for an Aug. 1 launch date.
“We want to bring a different lens to camp life by focusing on the resilience of Japanese Canadians,” said Shortt. “How do you take such a dark, heavy life and transpose it into something that makes it manageable?”
Some of the stories will focus on the importance of baseball to camp life. Prior to internment, the Asahi Baseball League in Vancouver was the pride of the Japanese Canadian community and a symbol for equality and respect during a time of racial discrimination. Though the league was separated when players were displaced, never to play as a team again, the players brought baseball to camps throughout B.C. and kept the spirit alive.
Other stories explore the intersection of Japanese culture and living in the wilderness of Canada. One example is Shinrin-yoku, also known as forest bathing, and how it remedied some of the harshness of camp life.
“A lot has been curated about the hardships, establishing camps, being uprooted from your life and community – but there are also some very interesting stories that came out of those hard times,” said Shortt.
Those powerful accounts of making a life out of a terrible situation are the kinds of stories the trail will focus on.
“The hope of Japanese Canadians – and of ASTA – is that if we learn and are educated, we won’t repeat the past,” she said. “This is how we can do something to ensure awareness remains, so we don’t forget.”
The idea sprang from a conversation with New Denver Mayor Leonard Casley, during the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre’s anniversary dinner last year. Both Casley and Shortt saw the tourism opportunity of connecting other internment sites with the Nikkei Centre.
Shortt said ASTA focuses on sustainable tourism, so communities can adjust to increased visitors without getting overwhelmed. She envisions the trail bringing travellers to the area during the off-season, and increasing interest in local museums.
Next year, ASTA hopes to connect the trail to Kaslo, then further to include Christina Lake, Greenwood, and Midway. Eventually, the big dream is to link internment sites in the Lower Mainland – such as Hastings Park, which the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) grounds now occupy – to the B.C. interior sites, then all the way to Lethbridge, Alta., and beyond.
But for now, ASTA is sticking close to home. Preparation for a launch party in early September is underway, with plans for a baseball game. Shortt said ASTA wants to involve the local communities in the project – and what better way than with the sport that bore witness to Japanese Canadians’ perseverance against all odds.
