In April 1942, the Office of the Custodian allowed Japanese Canadians to document the value of their property and possessions using registration forms prior to their displacement. However, insufficient warnings of displacement (sometimes as little 24 hours in advance) as well as fear of theft lead many individuals to abandon their homes or burn and bury their possessions. Vacated Japanese Canadian communities were commonly vandalized and looted. An official from the town of Steveston reported that “every building formerly owned by Japanese…has been entered at one time or another”. In Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, officials described that “…it appears to be just the love of destruction which has made the thieves go through the buildings[.”. The Marpole-Richmond Review reported that despite attempts to remove valuable items from the Steveston Buddhist Temple, looting had resulted in “…numbers of cans in which have been deposited the white ashes of cremated former citizens of Steveston, have had their seals broken and their contents scattered over the floor…”.