Tomekichi Homma, Canadian: 4

As racist laws increasingly hemmed in Japanese Canadians, Homma took the lead to strengthen the community with a hospital, a school and a renewed fishermen's organization

Homma, his wife Matsu and two of their children, taken about 1905. NMA 2010.23.2.4.73

Working-class members of BC’s white minority had been fighting to limit the rights of Asian immigrants, particularly the Chinese, long before Homma’s arrival in Vancouver. Although Indigenous people participated in many aspects of the emerging colonial economy, especial…