Monument
The Japanese Canadian community, including Japanese Canadians across Canada, has expressed a deep desire for a physical place where we can return to reflect on the places, identities and livelihoods that were taken. Such a monument containing the names of the nearly 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were uprooted, dispossessed and displaced, and erected in a central and accessible location, is an essential element of British Columbia’s full accounting and acknowledgement of what was taken, and what was lost.
We are working toward the creation of a monument to acknowledge, remember and honour our families uprooted and displaced during the Internment Era.
The BC Redress Monument meeting was held on April 28th, 2021, co-chaired by Susanne Tabata, and attended by Lorene Oikawa & Paul Kariya. Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Racism Initiatives Rachna Singh was joined by staff from the Attorney General’s Ministry, and staff representation from the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture.
Our Requests
- Establish a large scale monument with a Japanese landscape design, in a place of importance to the BC Government. This would provide a site for pilgrimage and reflection, and an ability for survivors and family members to touch, in large format, the names of the approximately 22,000 Japanese Canadians who experienced the Internment Era.
- Provide $111,000 to fund the mandatory research requirements in order to create a complete list of names, by disambiguating the 21,460 names from the 14,500 case files already digitized by the University of Victoria through the Landscapes of Injustice project.
Correspondence with the BC Government has narrowed site options to a potential site in Victoria between Southgate Street and Academy Close, south of the formal grounds of St. Ann’s Academy. Discussions are ongoing as to the feasibility of this site.
