Tomekichi Homma, Canadian: 3

Despite massive catches, salmon fishers struggled to make a living. Homma realized Japanese Canadians needed to organize to hold their own.

Salmon gillnetters at the mouth of the Fraser. Leonard Frank photo.

When Homma stepped ashore in 1883, canned salmon was already the province’s second-largest export after lumber.[1] From a halting start in 1867, salmon canning became an annual industry by 1871 with the export of three hundred cases from Annieville, on the south bank of the Fraser near N…