Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum
Enter a space where history breathes through the walls of the Tashme butcher shop, surrounded by a serene memorial garden in the mountains that honours the stories of Japanese Canadian families. At the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum, we invite you to learn about Canada’s largest Japanese Canadian internment site during the Second World War. Our museum is open year-round on weekends from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM (with seasonal reduced hours from October 1 to April 30). Saturdays only
Exhibits showcase artifacts and photographs that narrate the experiences of those who lived through internment in Tashme. Step inside our dimensionally accurate replica tar-paper shack to experience daily life in Tashme, and unwind in our intimate 25-seat theatre room.
We offer guided tours and private viewings by reservation, with no general admission fee—donations are appreciated.
Location
14781 Alpine Blvd.
Hope, BC
Plan Your Visit
For more information about the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum, please visit their website or email tashmemuseum@gmail.ca
Enjoy FREE admission at this historic place with your National Trust membership. Become a member today!
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The Passport Places network is made possible through valued partnerships with Canadian heritage organizations, site operators and owners.
Look for the following logo at participating historic sites. Partner Organization: Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum |
Tashme was Canada’s largest of 10 Internment sites and 7 official self-supporting sites Japanese Canadians were forcibly relocated to during the Second World War.
The declaration of war on Japan on December 8th, 1941 unleashed a series of events that would forever change the lives of Japanese Canadians. Despite reports from the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP stating that there was no perceived security threat from the Japanese Canadian community, the Canadian government took drastic actions. Curfews were imposed, Japanese language schools and newspapers were closed and Japanese Canadian community leaders were detained. Privately owned homes, businesses, vehicles, and fishing boats were seized. As a national security measure, the government established a 100-mile (160 km) ‘exclusion zone’ area inland from the coast of British Columbia. All persons of Japanese ancestry, almost all of the 23,000 Japanese Canadians living in Canada at the time, were forcibly removed from the ‘exclusion zone’ and sent to hastily constructed internment sites in the BC interior, to sugar beet farms in Alberta and Manitoba or to be used as labourers on road camps throughout BC.
Tashme was established on a privately owned dairy farm 14 miles east of Hope, located in an isolated narrow valley and surrounded by high mountains. 347 crude shiplap tar-paper covered houses, often called “shacks”, were hastily constructed. Each house measured 16 feet x 24 feet with no running water, electricity, or insulation. Existing barns were renovated and converted into living quarters, schools, churches, and a butcher shop. Also constructed were a general store, bakery, post office, mess hall, RCMP detachment, fire station, power station, an administration office, and a 50 bed fully equipped hospital. Tashme was a primitive yet thriving community with the amenities of a small village and home to 2644 persons at its peak from September 1942 until it was closed and dismantled in October 1946.
The name, “Tashme”, was created by taking the first two letters of the last names of three government BC Security Commission officers: Austin T. TAylor, John SHirras, Frederick J. MEad. The Security Commission was the main government agency that planned and administrated the Internment and Dispossession
In August 2016, to honour and share the story of Tashme, the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum was established in the original Tashme butcher shop. With 4000 square feet of exhibit area, artifacts, and displays, it also showcases a replicated “shack” which brings you back to the time of Tashme for an authentic look into daily life.
Japanese Canadian History
Located 19 km East of Hope, BC on the #3 Hope-Princeton Crowsnest Highway. Follow directional signage to the museum from the front entrance of Sunshine Valley.
This museum is a hidden treasure. The exhibit is both immersive and educational. The attention to detail is stunning and I’m sure even the most educated folks will learn more about the complicated history of Japanese Canadians. Worth the visit!
-Nicole Y.
Beautiful museum and way to memorialize the people who were ordered to live in Tashme. Fantastic work with updates always being added.
-Daniel V.
