Harold Yutaka Yoneyama was born in 1924 in Haney, BC where his family had a farm. Harold talks about his childhood and growing up with his siblings and neighbours, going to school, and working at the farm. His father was an active member of the Haney Nokai and Harold talks about his mother's role at the farm. Harold talks about why berries were popularly farmed in the Fraser Valley region and that the farm his family had was able to finance higher educations for him and his siblings. During WWII, Harold's family was forcibly removed to R.D. Ranch, a farm south of Edmonton, AB owned by Mr. P.H. Ashby. Mr. Ashby charged his parents a fee for working there so not only, were they not able to make an income, they owe the farm a fee. Harold speculated that Mr. Ashby was under the assumption that the Japanese Canadians working at his farm were prisoners of war so the workers needed to pay him for the chance to work there. In 1944, Harold applied to further his education at universities but were rejected because of his ancestry. The following year, he was accepted to study at the University of Toronto.
Please note that this interview contains references to anti-Black and anti-Asian slurs.
Clip from Japanese Canadian Experience Conference: https://vimeo.com/337574063