People uprooted from Lulu Island (12)

Lulu Island, at the mouth of the Fraser River, was established as a non-Indigenous settlement in 1862. Lulu Island and Sea Island were incorporated as the Corporation of Richmond in 1879. Steveston emerged as a salmon-canning centre on Lulu Island’s southwestern corner by the 1880s.

Japanese Canadians began arriving on Lulu Island in 1887, with most settling in Steveston and working in the fishing and canning industries, including London Cannery (1891-1902), Terra Nova Cannery (1892-1927), and Alliance Cannery (1895-1902). Following federal restrictions on Japanese fishing licenses in 1924 and 1925, many turned to farming, leasing or purchasing small farms to grow vegetables and berries. During the cannery off-season, Japanese Canadian women often supplemented family incomes by working on the farms.