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==Japanese Canadian Internment History==
As of 1941, Minto was one of five locations in the Bridge River-Lillooet area which were used for [[Japanese-Canadian internment|Japanese-Canadian relocation centres]]. At Minto, the population of Japanese Canadian reached a trim 325.<ref name="lillooet">{{cite book |title=The Minto Japanese Canadian World War II Interment Camp Site |url=https://lillooet.ca/Recreation-Activities/Golden-Miles-of-History/Japanese-Canadians-in-Lillooet/The-Minto-Japanese-Canadian-World-War-II-Interment.aspx#:~:text=With%20both%20electricity%20and%20indoor,hiking%2C%20and%20enjoying%20his%20schooling |website=Lillooet Guanteed Rugged |publisher=Lillooet.ca |access-date=20 August 2022}}</ref> The internment of Japanese Canadians was initiated from fears of Japanese forces after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In December of 1941, Canada created the security zone, which entailed the removal of all Japanese Canadians within 100 miles of the west coast. Upon moving, the government took away all properties previously owned by Japanese families aside from goods they brought to the internment sites such as food, canned goods, tea, dishes, pots, and pans.<ref name="cs">{{cite book |last1=Thomson |first1=Grace Eiko |authorlink=Grace Eiko Thomson |title=Chiru Sakura
During the war, approximately 25 families moved into some empty houses, while others were sold off at a low price by the government.<ref name="lillooet"/> Most families in Minto were sent from [[Japantown, Vancouver|Japantown]] of the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver. Families lived off pre-war savings and worked in trucking, logging, and the sawmill industry. The residents' hard work and resiliency built Minto into one of the self-supporting internment locations with electricity and indoor plumbing. At this time, the Japanese-Canadian presence transformed the town, which soon had vegetable and flower gardens, with the town's crops becoming a source of produce for the larger mining towns nearby.<ref name="HP" />
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The self-supporting sites had wealthier aspects in their daily lives compared to a non self-supporting site, but they still struggled in the cold winters. Everyday, people would brush their teeth with salt, and during holidays, parents could not afford to get their kids expensive gifts so they compensated with books or dolls.<ref name="cs" /> Although there were some establishments like hotels, post offices, and apartment buildings, there was no clinics or hospitals. During the war, when a family member got sick, doctors had to be contacted by police to travel from a neighbour town, Bralorne, and many people had no contact with the police so they would pay cash to get hold of someone with police contact.<ref name="cs" />
Children went to a schools taught by university graduates and they also learned Japanese from their parents at home. At school, students would enjoy field days, where they would participate in various activities like tug-of-war, games, and prizes.<ref name="cs" /> Families maintained their cultures by making food from rice, miso, shoyu, and tofu. Ofuro, Japanese baths were built in homes as [[Grace Eiko Thomson]] recalls from her book ''Chiru Sakura''.<ref name="cs" /> Many gold mines in BC were idled in the 1942-45 period as they were deemed non-essential to the war effort, and the miners were moved to strategic metal copper, tungsten, mercury, lead and zinc production. Several of the mines, including Minto did not survive the enforced shutdown.
==Postwar History==
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