Japanese Settlement

One of the largest and most enduring immigrant groups to settle in Raymond were the Japanese. Young men comprised the first Japanese immigrants to move to the town, drawn by the prospect of jobs associated with the construction and operation of the Knight Sugar Factory. Ichiro Hayakawa was hired by Knight to recruit labour workers to break land for the factory in early 1903, which resulted in an influx of Japanese settlers, mostly of the Judo Shinshu Buddhist faith and they quickly became an integral part of the community. Once the factory was constructed, this work labour force worked in the sugar beet fields as well as the factory. In 1929, they purchased the building previously used by the Church of Jesus Christ for use as a temple, school and a meeting place. In 1932, a co-operative store, called the Kobai Kumiai, was established in the building which provided staple products to generate revenue to support the temple. The co-op operated until the 1990’s. The local Buddhist community grew dramatically after the evacuation of Japanese people from coastal British Columbia during the Second World War. A large ornate Buddhist alter was donated to the Raymond sanctuary by a British Columbia-based temple in 1946.

Labour shortages associated with the war effort resulted in the establishment of work programs to aid local farmers. This practice occurred with Raymond’s sugar beet farms. Following the war, many previously interned Japanese families chose to permanently remain in Raymond. Early families typical rented property until enough funds could be secured to purchase the property outright. Unlike other towns, Raymond’s Japanese community did not establish and enclave in the community but were present throughout. This noteworthy early Raymond immigrant population shaped the community through the establishment of numerous commercial businesses to serve locals as well as themselves, and through the purchase and renovation of Raymond’s first school to a Buddhist Church. The building hosted numerous internationally respected Buddhist spiritual leaders and members of the Raymond Buddhist community assumed leadership roles within the larger provincial and national Buddhist organizations. In 2006, the Buddhist community relocated their temple to Lethbridge, taking most of the interior decorations and ritual objects with them. The Raymond Buddhist Temple was the first in Alberta and prior to the temple’s relocation, it was the oldest continually used Buddhist sanctuary in Canada.

Information retrieved from the Heritage Resources Management Information System website, part of Canada’s Historic Places Initiative.

A documentary on the Japanese Canadians and Alberta Sugar Beets. This documentary stems from a bus tour of Southern Alberta that was organized by the Nikkei National Museum in the fall of 2019, and was created by Kenji Dyck and produced by David Iwaasa and the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) in partnership with the Nikkei National Museum.