In December of 1932 about 100 farmers gathered at the Japanese Hall in Mission to found the Pacific Co-operative Union, an organization dedicated to help local farmers process and sell their fruit. Many of the members were Japanese, and came from throughout the Fraser Valley. The Union’s first action was to build processing plants in Chilliwack and Surrey.
This union was an exception to the prevalent racism in British Columbia at the time. The joining together of Japanese and white, as well as others, promoted a brand of cross- cultural cooperation, in a highly racially discriminatory era. This Co-op was an extraordinary exception to the rule of the day, where people opted for segregation and exclusion, rather than cooperation.
In Mission, the Co-op established its main plant just east of the downtown area. They regularly met at this plant, and at the Mission Japanese Hall to conduct their executive and general meetings. The Co-op helped many Japanese and white community members financially, by creating a contingency fund for its members for downturns in the berry market, and bad crop years. The executive members, many of whom were white, advocated to the Provincial and Dominion government in order to garner better markets and prices for their product.
One man, J.B. Shimek was especially influential in many endeavors, on behalf of advancing the Pacific Co-op’s interests. He was especially interested in exporting their berries overseas in England for the war effort, as well as in the United States. This organization united the berry growers’ community of Mission and across the region, and thus strengthened the ties the Japanese Canadians were developing in the area.
Pacific Coop Cannery, Mission British Columbia