Gillis House
Dr. J.J. Gillis: An Act of Wartime Kindness
February 24, 1942 – WWII was raging. In reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the Canadian government ordered all Japanese Canadians on the west coast to be moved 160km inland and one of the darkest periods in Canadian history had begun. The Japanese Internment uprooted over 8,000 people from their homes and livelihoods on the coast of B.C.
At that same time, Dr. J.J. Gillis was the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Yale Electoral District and a prominent businessman and citizen of Merritt, B.C. Born in Prince Edward Island in 1881, Dr. John Joseph Gillis moved west and opened a medical practice in Merritt in 1911. He was known as a kind and generous man who had an open-door policy with all of his patients. Anyone could knock on his door on Garcia Street and he would see them no matter what time of day or night. In 1928, he became the town’s mayor and then acted as MLA for the area from 1928 to 1958. Gillis was also involved in Merritt’s booming fox farm industry in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
When the internment began one of Dr. Gillis’s former employees, Masao “Frank” Suzuki, who had moved back to Vancouver with his family, was desperate for help and called the doctor.
Decades later Elizabeth Faber, who had purchased the old Gillis house and turned it into a Bed and Breakfast, wrote a letter to the Merritt Herald newspaper after the paper called for residents to submit stories of their favourite Merritonians.
“Little did I know when I purchased the house at 2276 Garcia St.,” Elizabeth wrote, “I was stepping into the legacy of a remarkable, and highly esteemed politician and doctor …”
Elizabeth had met Jack, one of Gillis’ children through a synchronistic series of events in Vancouver. She was trying to buy a house in Merritt. Curious and having never met her before, he asked what the address was. She told him and he burst into a big smile. That was the house he had grown up in. Jack and Elizabeth became friends, and he shared many stories of his father with her, including the one that changed the fortunes of the Suzuki family.
Here is the story Jack Gillis recounted to Elizabeth:
“Masoa [pronounced Massawa] Suzuki was a servant in our household for about 10 years when he moved to the Coast to work with relatives. When the decree [was issued] that all Japanese-Canadians must leave their homes and be detained in camps, Masoa phoned dad … , his former employer and pleaded with him to do something to spare him the indignity of that radical measure.
My father had a history of compassionate actions. He arranged for Masoa, his wife Elsie, his father, Elsie’s father and uncle, and several younger children and adult women, to occupy unused homes on the ranch [Glenwalker Ranch, which was owned by Gillis at the time].”
There were 27 mouths to feed and according to Jack, Dr. Gillis paid all the grocery bills.
“After two or three years,” Jack’s story continued, “the Japanese families moved to quarters at the Fox Farm….located on the slopes of Iron Mountain... Here [they] planted vegetables which they sold. When the war ended, Masoa, now commonly known as Frank, and his family had sufficient funds to buy a sawmill in Merritt, and were soon on the road to prosperity.”
In concluding her letter to the newspaper, Elizabeth wrote:
“Since moving to Merritt and occupying the Gillis family home, I have heard many wonderful and heart-warming stories about Dr. J.J. Gillis. He was a true humanitarian to the citizens of this community, and even though I never met him, he is my favourite Merittonian.”
- Elizabeth Faber, Letter to the Merritt Herald, December 14, 2005
Dr. Gillis died in 1965 but his legacy lives on. Gillis House, a 74-bed care facility in Merritt, was named in his honour. Elizabeth Faber has moved to Vancouver but still recalls the stories of Dr. J.J. Gillis and the Gillis family with great fondness. The Suzuki name is still a strong part of the Merritt community as some decedents of the original family taken in by Dr. Gillis are still living and working there today.
Bibliography and Sources:
Faber, E. Personal interview. July 2, 2017.
“Fox Farming” (February 20, 2013), in Nicola Valley Museum and Archives: blog, Retrieved July 2, 2017 from http://nicolavalleymuseum.org/blog/2013/02/20/fox-farming-a-once-booming-industry-in-the-nicola-valley
“Japanese Internment: Banished and Beyond Tears” (no date), in Historica Canada, Retrieved July 2, 2017 from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/japanese-internment-banished-and-beyond-tears-feature/
“Little did I know when I purchased the house at 2276 Garcia St.” (December 14, 2005), in Merritt Herald: Letters, Retrieved June 13, 2017 from http://www.merrittherald.com/little-did-i-know-when-i-purchased-the-house-at-2276-garcia-st/
“Street names that tell a story” (November 5, 2015), in Merritt Herald: Community, Retrieved June 14, 2017 from http://www.merrittherald.com/street-names-that-tell-a-story/
Detailed access information:
Heading South towards Brookmere on Highway 5, turn onto Coldwater Rd. Park in the large gravel pullout to the left of the stop sign. Use caution to cross Coldwater Rd from the pull out and you will find the Great Trail (formerly KVR trail). Follow the trail north (to the left).