People uprooted from Galiano Island (1)

Galiano Island, one of the Southern Gulf Islands, was first inhabited by non-Indigenous settlers during the Fraser River Gold Rush in 1858. In the late nineteenth century, Japanese Canadians settled in the area as fishermen and loggers, and introduced methods of charcoal production developed in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. By 1901, there were fourteen Japanese Canadian woodcutters and nine charcoal makers on the island. The Galiano Island cemetery has two Japanese Canadian graves; one is that of Yanomatu Oka, a logger killed in an accident in 1899, and the other Unoksuki Inoue, who died in 1901.

Japanese Canadians frequently fished in the nearby Porlier Pass, and operated fish salteries on the Galiano Island; there were six salteries by 1941. Many Japanese Canadians travelled between the Southern Gulf Islands and the mainland throughout the year, increasing the population of the island during the cannery and fishing season.