Collection search - Sakon, Helen - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Sakon, Helen - Interview

Item number (ISN):

143108

Series title:

Voice of the Pioneer

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1981-07

Item number (ISN):

143108

Type of material:

Sound recordings

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

MCNEIL, Bill

Accession:

1989-0460

Media:

Sound

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1981-07

Release date:

1981-12

Production company:

Bill McNeil (Interviewer)

Description:

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Interview of a Canadian-born woman of Japanese descent, Helen (Mrs. Shigeji) Sakon, about her experiences in the Second World War Japanese internment camps in the interior of British Columbia. She speaks about: the suddenness with which the Japanese residents of the British Columbia coast were ordered to leave their homes and report to the camps; the belongings and property they were forced to leave behind; the selling of her mother's home for a fraction of the value without the family's knowledge; their treatment by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other authorities; wartime propaganda and fears about the loyalty of the Japanese Canadians; and the vehemence with which Vancouver aldermen and politicians such as Howard Green, later a federal cabinet minister under the Diefenbaker government, expressed anti-Japanese sentiment.~Mrs. Sakon also talks about how her Japanese-born husband and other Japanese men initially were sent to build roads in the Rocky Mountains and later to build homes for the internees in the internment camps; resettlement communities such as New Denver and Slocan, which were located in abandoned mining communities; and the poor living conditions in the prefabricated houses in the camps; the lack of running water, adequate heating and bedrooms in the houses. Her husband worked for low wages for the government, in the bush.~Mrs. Sakon states that she chose to move to Northern Ontario after being freed in 1946, because the Japanese Canadians were not wanted back on the British Columbia coast and were ordered to emigrate to Japan or move east of the Rockies. There was nothing left for her to return to in British Columbia. Mrs. Sakon remarks that many of the people who went to live in Japan were Canadian-born, did not like life in Japan, and eventually returned to Canada. She expresses no bitterness at her experience, stating that while she was in the internment camp she was too busy raising a family, and that she still loves Canada.

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. Interview edited for broadcast on the CBC Radio series VOICE OF THE PIONEER.~2. Cut start

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

177397

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

1989-0460/025

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

ORIG

Vault ISN:

317488

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A1 9812-0021

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Duration:

58:52

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

1004167

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A4 9812-0021

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Made from:

1989-0460/022
1989-0460/023
1989-0460/025

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

1151245

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

143108-1989-0460-025.WAV

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

BWF

Duration:

17:03

Made from:

1989-0460/025

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Consultation copy number:

A1 9812-0021

Restrictions on consultation:

No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions

Copyright status:

Under copyright until 2032.

Copyright owner:

Copyright owner: estate of Bill McNeil.

Reproduction access:

with written permission of copyright owner : with permission of Bill McNeilCBC has rights only for one broadcast of each of the programs.Contact for Bill McNeil: Dawn McNeil Lemaire.

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