Bella Vista Road and Old Kamloops Road

Bella Vista Road and Old Kamloops Road are two rural automobile routes located on the west outskirts of Vernon, B.C. Bella Vista Road runs southwest from Vernon through subdivisions and agricultural fields towards Okanagan Lake. Old Kamloops Road runs northwest through agricultural and natural landscapes past Swan Lake towards Falkland, Monte Creek and Kamloops.

Bella Vista Road and Old Kamloops Road together have historic, economic, cultural and social value for their association with the Japanese Canadian contribution to B.C.'s agricultural industry and for being the location of a concentration of homes and farms of Japanese Canadian pioneer farmers and orchardists working in the north Okanagan Valley in the early 20th century.

The agricultural landscapes of Bella Vista Road and Old Kamloops Road are significant because they are in part the result of political policies, discrimination, and the origins of Japanese Canadian immigration. After working on the Canadian Pacific Railway, in fishing and in logging, Japanese Canadians, many from Japan's farming class, turned to agricultural work as labourers on farms and ranches in the north Okanagan Valley. As early as 1900, Japanese Canadians were working in orchards in Vernon and on the surrounding farms and ranches, establishing a considerable Japanese Canadian community.

Determined and discriminatory local opposition against Japanese Canadian land ownership for agriculture based on the fear of their success (agreements between Japan and Canada intended to restrict Japanese immigrants to B.C. to occupations such as farm workers, domestic servants and contract labourers) were significant economic and social barriers faced by Japanese Canadians in B.C. in the first part of the 20th century.

Despite this, the industriousness of Japanese Canadians and the availability of affordable land in the north Okanagan eventually allowed Japanese Canadians to enter the agricultural industry as landowners or on leased land.

Bella Vista Road and Old Kamloops Road are significant economically for their association with the successful Japanese Canadian orchardists and vegetable farmers who settled there prior to World War II. Aside from fruit growing, the farmers were highly successful in their cultivation of variety of vegetables such as field tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, cabbages, and potatoes.

While Japanese Canadian farmers on Bella Vista Road and Old Kamloops Road were not evacuated during World War II because they were outside the 100-mile Protected Area, these places are historically and socially significant because of intense debates involving discrimination and internment in 1942. During the war, the north Okanagan was faced with a severe shortage of labour for orchards and farms, and interned Japanese Canadians were seen as a source of labour. Despite fierce opposition from some in the agricultural community, the City of Vernon approved the use of male Japanese Canadian labour for agriculture from 1942 until the end of the war. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the North Okanagan Security Committee were responsible for the security, transportation, housing, food, medical, and other liabilities associated with this involuntary labour.

Bella Vista Road and Old Kamloops Road are important as the centre of the area's Japanese Canadian agricultural institution, the Vernon Japanese Farmer's Association or Vernon Nokai. A Japanese Canadian community hall was constructed on donated land on Bella Vista Road to service the large Japanese Canadian community. The community hall continues to be a place where Vernon's Japanese Canadian community congregates for community events.

The economic and social success of Vernon's Japanese Canadian farming and orcharding families meant that the next generation could attend university or study the trades. Today there are only three orchards on Bella Vista Road currently under Japanese Canadian ownership or management.

Source: Province of British Columbia, Heritage Branch

Not applicable