エグモントから追放された (5)

Egmont, on the Sunshine Coast, was established by non-Indigenous settlers in the 1870s or 1880s. Japanese Canadians arrived in the late 1880s, shortly after the first Portuguese settlers. The community developed around fishing and hand-logging. Between the 1920s and 1940s, Egmont relocated from the north side of the mouth of the Sechelt Inlet to the south side. Many residents lived in float houses.

Many Japanese Canadians in the area were fishermen who travelled from Vancouver for work. Eikichi Nakashima owned a fish store at Skookumchuck Narrows that also supplied groceries to residents. The Hatashita family owned the Egmont general store and attached post office. Isoji George Hatashita became one of the first foreign-born postmasters in the Canadian postal system. His daughter, Kay Hatashita, managed the store and occasionally oversaw the post office and fish-float. Fisherman and carpenter Tatsuo Ted Hayashi renovated the Hatashita store and assisted with its operations. In the 1930s, Nobukichi Takai and the Maeda family opened up a floating general store near the Hatashita’s store.

Japanese Canadian boat owners, including Frank Minoru Hatashita and Yasumatsu Nakashima, purchased salmon from fishermen along the Sunshine Coast, transported it, and sold it to Vancouver canneries. They used the profits to buy ice and other goods to stock the general stores and serve the community.