Family information in Pitt Meadows in 1942
 

• Hideko Suzuki (Daughter) – Born on February 25th 1930. No Records
• Mitsue Suzuki (Daughter) – Born on August 15th 1931. No Records
• Toshio Suzuki (Son) – Born on October 29th 1934. No Records
   

*****
History of the Suzuki Family

 The following history of the family is written by Toshio Suzuki.
 
My parents’ names were Sadao and Kuni Suzuki who immigrated to Canada around 1929 and settled in Pitt Meadows (Editors note: According to the 1931 Census, Sadao came in 1926 and Kuni came in 1928). They owned a 10-acres property on Advent Road as well as a 6-acre plot on the north side of Hammond Road at the “escarpment”. They grew strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, asparagus and daikon. In 1942, at the start of WW2, they and three children were forced out of their home by the government and interned in Manitoba to toil in the sugar beet fields. Like other Japanese in Pitt Meadows and elsewhere, their properties were seized and sold off with very little compensation.
 
As a young boy, I remember toiling in the sugar beet fields. From grade 4 through grade 10, it was necessary for me to miss 4 to 6 weeks of each school year to work in the beet fields to supplement the family income. Our family’s economic survival depended on my two older siblings and I to contribute. Towards the end of the war, German POWs were brought to Manitoba to work in the same sugar beet fields. We worked 10 hours per day, but they only worked from 8 am to 4 pm. Incredibly, they were allowed to return home to Germany as soon as the war ended while we did not have permission to return to BC until 1949. However, my parents first choice was to stay in Manitoba. They entered an agreement to purchase a small market garden farm near Winnipeg during the fall of 1949. However, when the property was flooded during the 1950 Red River flood, they cancelled the purchase and decided to return to BC. The family resettled in Surrey, B.C. in the late 1950s.

***** 
Internment Records