A new monument honouring thousands of Japanese Canadians forcibly uprooted from their homes during the Second World War will officially open in Victoria this weekend.
The Japanese Canadian Monument will open Saturday, October 3rd, at 839 Academy Close, just blocks from the BC legislature.
The monument was developed through a partnership between the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society (JCLS) and the BC government as part of ongoing efforts to recognize and preserve the history of Japanese Canadians who were forcibly displaced, dispossessed and interned during the Second World War.
At the heart of the new monument is a 300-foot-long ‘Wall of Names’ composed of 100 granite panels.
According to JCLS, for the first time, the names of nearly 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly uprooted from communities along the BC coast beginning in 1942 will be brought together in one place.
The wall also includes the names of more than 3,000 children born during the internment era between 1942 and 1949.
JCLS says the names are grouped according to where families lived before they were uprooted, connecting descendants with communities that once stretched from fishing settlements along the north and central coast to farms in the Fraser Valley.
According to the Province, beginning in 1942, Japanese Canadians living within 100 miles of the BC coast were stripped of their homes, property and businesses. They were displaced across Canada or relocated to internment camps and other sites outside coastal BC, while some were exiled to Japan. Most of those uprooted were born in BC.
Restrictions against Japanese Canadians continued even after the Second World War ended, with full rights of citizenship, including freedom of movement, not restored until 1949.
Victoria was deliberately chosen as the home of the monument, with the Province saying the location recognizes the city’s long connection to Japanese Canadian history and its role as the provincial capital.
Japanese immigrants began settling in Victoria in the 1870s, and the monument sits within a historic precinct near where some of those early immigrants established themselves.
The monument’s location near the BC legislature also places that history close to the seat of provincial government.
JCLS commissioned a UVic research team, led by Michael Abe, to develop the database of names that would eventually appear on the monument.
According to JCLS, researchers worked with approximately 14,500 Library and Archives Canada case files, along with multiple other databases, to compile the names of Japanese Canadians who were uprooted and displaced.
The team also developed a separate list of more than 3,000 children born between 1942 and 1949.
The monument was designed by a team led by Bruce Kuwabara, founding partner of Toronto-based KPMB Architects, in collaboration with Vancouver-based landscape architecture firm PFS Studio.
Kuwabara also has a personal connection to the project: his own name, along with the names of his parents and siblings, will appear on the monument.
Saturday’s opening is expected to be an emotional gathering, with survivors, descendants and families travelling from across Canada to Victoria.
The ceremony begins at 1 p.m., but JCLS says the in-person opening has already reached capacity and is now closed to additional attendees.
Instead, the ceremony will be livestreamed, with 15 viewing parties planned across Canada.
For those in Victoria who are unable to attend the ceremony, the monument grounds will open to the general public after 4 p.m. Saturday and will be illuminated after dusk.
Guided tours are also being offered from October 4th to 7th, although tours scheduled for October 4th have already reached capacity.
Once opening celebrations are complete, the monument won’t be limited to special occasions.
According to JCLS, the grounds will be open 24 hours a day and illuminated at night.
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