JAPANESE - CANADIAN ROAD CAMPS
1942 - 1944

During the Second World War, the federal government
forcibly evacuated Canadians of Japanese ancestry from the
coast of British Columbia. In the spring of 1942, several
hundred young men were sent to Ontario to help build the
Trans-Canada Highway. They were accommodated in four
camps between Schreiber and Jackfish. Most soon left the
road camps for work on farms or in lumber and pulp mills.
Others interned in prisoner-of-war camps for resisting
separation from their families, accepted similar employment.
Once establisehd in jobs, the men encouraged relatives and
friends to migrate east. Thousands settle permanently,
establishing the basis of a significant Japanese-Canadian
community in Ontario.

Ontario Heritage Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario