The Village of Cumberland is working towards long-term heritage protection of the Saito House, a privately owned residence located within Coal Creek Historic Park.

Saito House is a surviving representative of the dozens of rural miner cottages which once filled Cumberland’s Japanese, Chinese and Black town sites from the 1890s to the 1960s.

The Village says it is an enduring record of the Japanese Canadian community as the last standing building of former No. 1 Japanese Town Site following the forced removal in 1942.

While the structure itself is privately owned, the land it sits on is owned by the Village.

The arrangement, according to the Village, makes the long-term preservation and maintenance of the home difficult, particularly for the current or a future owner, who does not own the underlying land.

The Village has been exploring how to improve the long term heritage protection of the privately owned house through a heritage covenant and by resolving the land tenure issue.

For more information on the project and latest updates, visit Village of Cumberland.