Emily B.
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver Heritage Fair
The Gulf of Georgia Cannery
The Gulf of Georgia Cannery is a very important, yet unknown part of Canada's history. I focused on learning about the struggles the workers went through and the machinery they used. I learnt a lot more about the cannery and the places around it then I thought I would.
What was the most interesting thing you learned about your topic?
I think that the Japanese internment was the biggest event that impacted the cannery. People were taken from their homes and treated like livestock. They were put into camps with very limited resources, and that racism can never truly be forgiven or erased.
What important lessons have you learned that you want to share with other Canadians?
Now if we are having trouble we can look to our technology to solve it. People at the Cannery didn't have this advantage and as a result they became more hard working and persistent. Canadians need to apply this to their lives in order to have a more successful and fulfilling existence. We can do so much more than we are, and learning about regular people who worked hard can help us do that.
How would you compare your life today to the lives of those studied in your project?
Starting at age 8 children would work at the filling machine in the cannery. When they turned 13 they would do the same jobs as the adults. this was important to me because now we are just getting into high-school and would never be ready for that type of responsibility.