People uprooted from Surrey (72)

Originally occupied by the Katzie, Kwantlen and Semiahmoo nations, land in Surrey was first pre-empted in 1860, and the settlement was incorporated as a municipality in 1879. Until the 1880s, growth was slow and the communities congregated around water routes. Early settlers logged the area, sending logs to sawmills in New Westminster. Settlers also began farming, and Japanese Canadian settlers began to arrive in the 1920s and 1930s, establishing strawberry and vegetable farms.

Harding Yasui’s family bought a farm in Surrey in 1934 on the corner of Roebuck Road and Kennedy Road, clearing the land to grow strawberries and raise chickens. His father worked at the Nichols plant in Barnet and travelled between the communities. In 1919, the Hirasawa family purchased land that they developed into an eighteen-acre farm where they grew berries and fruit and raised chickens. Their produce was sold through the Surrey Berry Growers Co-op located across the street from their farm.