People uprooted from Courtenay (20)

Courtenay, in the Comox Valley, was established by non-Indigenous settlers as farmland in 1862. A small village developed along with the farms on the east bank of the river. In 1874, a bridge was built, connecting the village to the Comox sawmill. In 1888, the Dunsmuir coal mine opened in Cumberland prompting many Japanese Canadian families to move to the area for work. This influx of settlers prompted the creation of a townsite nicknamed New Courtenay on the west side of the river, closer to the mines and other businesses.

In 1910, Canadian Collieries took over the coal mining operations in Cumberland and Nanaimo; road travel from Victoria became possible in the same year, and in 1914 the E&N railway reached Courtenay, and the town was incorporated in 1915. Canadian Collieries rented housing and land to employees who were then able to operate their own produce and dairy farms, like the Nishimoto family. Courtenay’s farmers often supplied coal mine employees with their produce.