People uprooted from Britannia Beach / Britannia (70)

Britannia Beach, in Howe Sound, was established by the Britannia Mining and Smelting Company (BM&S) as a mining town. Copper was discovered in the area in 1888, and the BM&S began operations in 1905. By the First World War, communities had been established at the water and near the main mine entrance. Accessible only by boat until 1956, the mine operated from 1905 to 1974 and was, in the 1920s, the largest copper mine in the British Commonwealth.

After 1897, provincial restrictions barred Japanese Canadians from underground mining work. Many instead found employment as loggers, pig farmers, railroad workers, aerial tram workers, and labourers in smaller camps between Britannia Beach and Mount Sheer. By 1907, about 150 Japanese Canadians were employed at Britannia Beach.

A total of nine camps were built in the area, including Victoria Camp where a Japanese bunkhouse was built in 1921. That same year, a major flood devastated the lower beach area, destroying nearly half the homes and killing thirty-seven people. Some Japanese Canadians subsequently relocated across Howe Sound to Woodfibre.