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Hinatsu Family
Family Information in Pitt Meadows in 1942
Residence (before and after uprooting) – 294 Reichenbach Road or PO Box 4, Pitt Meadows – Oakville, MB
Husband – Kinya Hinatsu – Born April 3rd 1895. Occupation: Self Employed Farmer
Wife – Nao Hinatsu (Nee: Nao Ohashi) – Born November 15th, 1899. Occupation: None
Children
Children
- Hisako Hinatsu (Daughter) – Born on April 25th 1920. Occupation: Unemployed
Kazuo Hinatsu (Son) – Born October 15th, 1921. Occupation: Mill Hand employed by Hammond Cedar Company
Yaichi Hinatsu (Son) – Born on July 16th 1923. Occupation: Farm Hand employed by his father.
Kate Hinatsu or Caroline Hinatsu (Daughter) – Born April 16th, 1925 Occupation: Helping at Home
Maru Elsie Hinatsu (Daughter) – No Records
History of the Hinatsu Family
Kinya and Nao were both born in Japan. Kinya arrived in Canada in 1916, with Nao following in 1920. Both were residents of Maple Ridge as of the 1931 Canadian Census, it is unclear when they moved to Pitt Meadows. All their children were born in Haney, B.C.
Kinya Hinatsu along with Senjuro Saito purchased the Japanese Canadian Hall in 1939, with the title remaining in local real estate agent Hal Menzies name as Hinatsu and Saito wished to have the title be in the name of the Japanese Farmers Association, which was not incorporated at the time of sale, so they were unable to do so. It wasn’t until March 10th, 1945, that the sale was officially recognized, and the men were then encourage/forced to sell the Hall. The Hall sold on July 27th, 1946, to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver, the proceeds of the sale were held in trust for Saito and Hinatsu.
In April 1942, the family was forcibly removed from Pitt Meadows.
History of their lives after leaving Pitt Meadows
The family was forcibly removed to Manitoba in 1942. More than likely, they were interned and forced to work on the sugar beet farms like other families of the area. When they were allowed to leave and return to the coast in 1949, no member of the family came back. It appears according to voters lists that Nao Hinatsu was in Winnipeg in 1962, but by 1965 she was in Calgary.
Nao unfortunately passed away on November 27th 1966, with Kinya following on June 24th 1972.
Hisako married a man named Hattori, but we could not locate any records of her.
Kazuo married a woman named Keiko. He remained in Winnipeg until at least 1958 according to voters lists, but by the time of his death in 2001 he had been living in Calgary (since at least the 1990s according to voters lists).
Fred Yaichi Hinatsu passed away in Calgary on January 18th 2000.
Caroline Nagamatsu married a man named Noboru (Nobby) Nagamatsu. She passed away in Mississauga on January 1st 2019.
We have no records and are unable to find Maru Elsie Hinatsu after 1942.
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Internment Records
Through the Landscapes of Injustice, the Internment Records for each family member are now accessible. If there are no records of the family member it could be because they were under 16 years old and were put on their parents forms.
Kinya Hinatsu | Nao Hinatsu | Hisako Hinatsu | Kazuo Hinatsu | Yaichi Hinatsu | Kate Caroline Hinatsu
