Collection of 9 typed and manuscript letters and original documents, most relating to the internment during World War II of Eitaro Aida originally of Cumberland, B.C.

[ff. 24]. Aida was born in Japan in 1880 and first came to Canada in 1907, living in Cumberland, Vancouver, and again in Cumberland where he owned four properties including a tailor shop, until he was evacuated in April, 1942. He stayed at Hastings Park for five months before being moved the interior housing centre of New Denver in the Kootenays. There he remained in detention for four years until he was released and able to relocate to Toronto. Aida was one of some 21,000 Japanese Canadians living in British Columbia detained and dispossessed under the War Measures Act following the attack on Pearl Harbour. The papers document the seizure and forced sale of Aida’s properties and personal possessions at auction, all itemized with prices realized, in four typed letters, dating from 1945 to 1948, from the Canadian Department Of The Secretary of State, Office of the Custodian, Japanese Evacuation Section in Vancouver, B.C. Also included here are Aida’s 1911 Japanese Passport, his 1947 request for compensation, his 1949 application for naturalization papers, and his 1951 Certificate of Canadian Citizenship.…