File MSC-140-0-0-0-0-4 - Camps

• Textual records
• Architectural drawings

5 cm of textual records
10 architectural drawings on 5 sheets : pencil on tracing paper

File consists of correspondence and related records of W.J. Wishart at Red Pass Junction in the capacities of Superintendent of Camps and Warehouses, Department of Public Works, and Supervising Foreman, Department of Mines & Resources. The records pertain to the set up and operation of the Japanese Canadian road camps, in particular those at Geikie, Jasper and Decoigne, Alberta, and those at Red Pass, Albreda, Red Sands, Rainbow, Grantbrook, Tete Jaune, Yellowhead, Black’s Spur, Lucerne and Lampriere, British Columbia.
Included in the file are operational memos, purchase orders, balance sheets, reports, and other records pertaining to equipment and supplies for the camps, including groceries and other provisions; office, commissary and first aid supplies; horse feed; lumber; and gas and oil. A work report to February 28, 1942 from Geikie Camp lists names of non-Japanese Canadian workers, their occupations, and hours worked per day; the hours contributed by Japanese Canadian workers, who are listed as a unit of fifty; as well as the total hours worked on establishing camp, kitchen duty, and camp duty. April 1942 reports from Lucerne camp and Grantbrook Camp 5 detail camp activities, including the movement of workers in and out of camp. Also included in the file is correspondence from non-Japanese Canadian men looking for employment, correspondence from the hospital car at Lempriere regarding procedures to follow with regard to medical care of the workers, and correspondence pertaining to the establishment of kitchens and kitchen staff.
Correspondence concerning Japanese Canadian road camp workers relates to medical issues of the men; opinions of supervisors towards individual workers; the transfer of workers between camps and to other areas, such as the sugar beet fields; the granting of leave; and workers that either did not arrive or did not return to camp. The file includes an April 27, 1942 document listing men to be transferred from Albreda to Red Sands, organized according to the railway car in which they travelled, with information such as first and last name, parole #, occupation and marital status. Earlier annotated versions of this list are also included. The file also includes British Columbia Security Commission notices published in the New Canadian newspaper pertaining to pay scales, assignment payments, and other conditions placed on Japanese Canadian road camp workers and their families, as well as alternative employment available. Other correspondence from Albreda and Yellowhead Camp B1 pertains to Japanese Canadian workers refusing to work and encouraging other workers to do the same. An April 2, 1942 “list of some of the real undesirables” from Yellowhead Camp B1 lists the names of five men along with their serial and parole numbers, age, marital status, and a description of their alleged undesirable behaviour, for example refusing to work and encouraging other men to do the same.
In addition to textual records, the file also includes architectural drawings for a “Bunkhouse for 50 men” (front elevation, floor plan, rear elevation, end elevation, cross-sections) and a “Mess building for 100 men” (front elevation, floor plan, end elevation, cross-section).