Facing pressure from British nationalist groups to fire their Chinese, Japanese, and Sikh employees, the Abbotsford Lumber Company was left with having to decide between their own employment practices, and community tension. Ultimately, following the 1927 Resolution passed by the Native Sons of Canada Sumas Prairie Assembly, the mill did nothing. Their Asian and South Asian employees were not fired and continued with their duties at the mill. Unfortunately, an unforeseen problem was about to occur: the 1929 New York Stock Market Crash, which soon saw North America plummet into economic depression. By June of 1930 the Abbotsford Lumber Company’s operations were feeling the effects of the Depression. Canadian prairie farmers, one of the lumber company’s best markets, were hardly purchasing lumber due to grain surpluses, and subsequent price drops.1 Barely two weeks after the publication of this news, the Abbotsford Sumas and Matsqui News reported the firing of 40-50 Chinese, Japanese, and South Asian employees from the Abbotsford Lumber Company.2 The newspaper reported that almost no white labourers were let go, leaving many very grateful to the company’s actions, and had the paper praising the Abbotsford mill’s worthy example of making the right decision for the local industry.
Logging train of the Abbotsford Lumber Company in October 1915. Photo courtesy of The Reach Gallery Museum. P5698.
Although the firing of only the Asian and South Asian mill employees was clearly racially discriminatory, it is significant to note that the Abbotsford Lumber Company itself shut down entirely only two years later, in 1932. The mill did eventually succumb to pressure from groups promoting the firing of the Asian and South Asian employees, though not until it was necessary to let people go for the sake of the business. Three years earlier, when the Native Sons and Abbotsford Board of Trade requested that the Chinese, Japanese, and Sikh employees be fired, there was no need to do so. They were good employees, and some had worked at the mill for years. The Abbotsford Lumber Company did not bow entirely to outside pressure but continued to foster their relationship with immigrant communities in Abbotsford.
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NOTES
1. “Abbotsford Lumber Mill Hit By Depressed Markets,” Abbotsford Sumas and Matsqui News, June 25, 1930.
2.  “Orientals Fired at Lumber Mill.” Abbotsford Sumas and Matsqui News. July 9, 1930. The Reach Gallery Museum. Folder: Abbotsford Lumber Company.