When I was growing up in Surrey, Strawberry Hill meant hitting up the Starbucks in Chapters for one of those new Frappuccinos or catching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy at the movie theatre. Located along the Delta border in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood, the Strawberry Hill area was indeed a place where strawberries once grew. It’s also a community that was impacted by the Japanese Canadian Internment during the Second World War.
How Strawberry Hill Got Its Name
Japanese Canadians began growing strawberries in the area at the turn of the last century, cultivating spots between stumps of old growth forest. The berries were sent to canneries in New Westminster and Vancouver and were an integral part of early trade in Metro Vancouver.
From Heritage BC: “The origins of the Strawberry Hill community are deeply tied to local Japanese Canadian families who moved to the area and began farming in the early 1900s, greatly impacting the neighbourhood’s formation through community and agricultural projects. Japanese Canadians financially supported the creation of Strawberry Hill’s community hall and the formation of 72nd Avenue in the first half of the twentieth century. Their efforts dramatically impacted Surrey’s agricultural landscape, making berry growing a thriving industry prior to 1940.
Japanese Canadian families were responsible for the creation of the Surrey Berry Growers’ Co-operative Association and the Strawberry Hill Japanese Farmers’ Association. Like many communities, Strawberry Hill supported a Japanese Language School which had a student population of 44 in 1934.
Strawberry Hill holds national, cultural and social value in Surrey’s heritage. It is the location of one of the only tracts of Japanese-Canadian owned land that was seized by the Government of Canada in 1942 and returned to the owner, Zennosuke Inouye, a Japanese-Canadian veteran, following World War II.”
Today, the Strawberry Hill Farmers Institute Hall (12152-75 Ave), now Strawberry Hill Hall, stands as a reminder of this heritage, and is Surrey’s oldest community hall. It was built in 1909 with constructed with the help of donations, grants and volunteer labour on land donated by the first president of the Institute, George Henry Flux.
More Resources
You can read a transcript of material that formed the basis of a 2012 interview with Mrs. May Brown [Strawberry Hill, British Columbia: A New Perspective On the 1942 Evacuation] about her time in Strawberry Hill before and after WWII and the Internment of Japanese Canadians. Amelia Adam’s Park (between 84th and 86th Ave near Scott Road) is named after her mother.
In the summer of 2019, the Surrey Art Gallery hosted an exhibition by Cindy Mochizuki featuring the history of Japanese-Canadian berry farmers in the region. Autumn Strawberry was in the gallery’s Tech Lab from June to August.
Mochizuki told the Surrey Now Leader: “During the internment, the Japanese Canadians weren’t allowed to take photographs. Because there were no images, I’m interested in making those images. I want to make visible what is not visible in history.”
Also in the summer of 2019 an open house was hosted to propose conservation renovations to the Strawberry Hill Hall which now sits on the corner of 75th and 121st, at the edge of R.A. Nicolson Park. According to City of Surrey documents, an Invitation to Tender (ITT) went out in March, 2020 and the project should be moving forward in April, 2020, with work happening May to September of 2020.
As someone who grew up in Surrey and who loves researching local history, I had no idea about any of this until I started drafting this post a few months ago. It’s been enlightening and heartbreaking. Hopefully when we’re all able to travel around again (after COVID19 isolation) the Hall will be fully restored — and perhaps even be on a Surrey Doors Open tour — so the history can be even more widely shared.
Welcome some optimism and a little spark back in your life by taking on the ZenSeekers 40 Day Challenge. Available for members every single day, it’s 40 days of mindfulness and calm for your body and spirit.
ZenSeekers 40 Day-Challenge
Where: Online daily, through ZenSeekers When: Monday to Saturday at 9:00am & Thursdays at 8:00pm. April 15 to May 24, 2020. Sessions will be archived so participants can access at any time that is convenient. Register: $188 for six weeks of education on how to become the hero of your own journey. Use my MISS604 reader link here for a 10% discount
World-class instructors will guide you through exclusive daily practices while you transform your life:
Kathryn Bruni-Young: Kathryn, 30, has been offering online yoga sessions that focus on mindful strength and mobility for five years. She teaches her own hybrid style of practice that blends pilates, strength, functional movement and yoga. Kathryn completed her first training and began teaching at age 16, and has only looked forward since then. Her mom, Diane Bruni, opened one of Canada’s first yoga studios. Kathryn’s strength & mobility practice is accessible for all and done in a mindful way.
Jane Loney, not a day over 56, has been a mind and body instructor for most of her adult life. A soulful personality, who teaches out of Oceanside Yoga on Vancouver Island, Jane’s goal is to rebalance our overloaded nervous systems while guiding students on a journey within that will include stress-free yoga and mindfulness practice. She will challenge you to “stop and listen” – understanding that we are influenced by what’s happening around us – and if we are stressed on the outside, our insides will be stressed as well.
The practice schedule will alternate with themes that focus one day on the body and movement while the next will focus primarily on the mind.
Access to an exclusive private Facebook group where you can connect with your instructors and challenge-mates, access supporting materials, freebies and fun surprises along the way
The legacy of self-practice, be left with mind and body teachings and technologies that can live with you for a lifetime.
I have been on some pretty epic ZenSeekers journeys over the years, and this is another new horizon for me. Whether you are a seasoned yogi or someone just looking for a new adventure at this time, the ZenSeekers 40-Day Challenge will help you restore your sense of optimism to welcome whatever this new world brings.
Become a member and you’re going to be challenged, you’re going to find community, you’re going to find optimism in the present and empower your future. For more info, follow ZenSeekers on Facebook.
Crowded clubs, concerts in the heart of Downtown, and a talented mix of local and international acts ripping up stages over two weeks — all things that can no longer occur in the foreseeable future. Following the news from Bard on the Beach and Theatre Under the Stars, another summer staple in Vancouver won’t be on our calendars this year as the 2020 TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival is cancelled.
TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival is Cancelled
2019 Vancouver International Jazz Festival – Downtown Jazz
From the festival: “Our team has been working non-stop to consider how we might be able to present a Festival in 2020, but over the past month, as the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated, it has become clear that it won’t be possible to do so in a safe manner. With the support and advice of our board, we have made the hugely disappointing decision to cancel this year’s Festival. We are saddened to make this announcement, but we believe it is the right and responsible thing to do in order to protect our patrons, artists, staff, and community.”
If you have purchased a ticket to any shows that were on sale, they will be in touch with instructions on how to receive a refund or how to donate the cost of your ticket to Coastal Jazz & Blues Society.
FAQs regarding the Festival can be found at online here. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get the latest updates from the Vancouver International Jazz Festival #VanJazzFest.
For the first time ever, I did not create an events list or weekend events lists for Metro Vancouver between the end of March and beginning of April. As we’ve all had some time to adjust to the new reality of COVID-19 isolation, so many businesses and individuals have come together in creative ways to keep us all entertained. Thanks to their efforts, I may now present you the unprecedented VIRTUAL April event list for Metro Vancouver!
NOTE: The Government of BC recommends that you stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic except for essential errands. For example:
Go to the grocery store only once a week
Send one household member on errands to reduce the number of potential exposures
Exercise at home or stay at least 2 metres from other people if you go for a walk in your neighbourhood
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to do a weekend event list for Metro Vancouver but thanks to hard-working and creative folks, I can present a lineup of things to enjoy online!
NOTE: The Government of BC recommends that you stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic except for essential errands. For example:
Go to the grocery store only once a week
Send one household member on errands to reduce the number of potential exposures
Exercise at home or stay at least 2 metres from other people if you go for a walk in your neighbourhood
