People uprooted from Redonda Bay (2)

Redonda Bay (Deceit Bay), on the northeast side of West Redonda Island, was established by non-Indigenous loggers around 1907. Around 1916, the Redonda Bay Cannery and Cold Storage Plant opened, processing mostly local salmon, but also clams and herring. It was powered by a beached steamship that once plied the Fraser River. The cannery employed multiple Japanese Canadian families and by the 1920s, the community had a railway logging camp and sawmill. The cannery closed down periodically, and finally ceased operations in 1948.

In the 1920s, Redonda Bay was the largest settlement in the Desolation Sound area. By the end of the 1930s, over a hundred people lived in Redonda Bay, and a school for the children was set up. At least two Japanese Canadian families fished commercially in the area and were close with the community. Some Japanese Canadians with the address of Rendonda Bay were living nearby on Rendezvous Island. The entire settlement at Redonda Bay was abandoned in 1972.