BC Redress: Japanese Canadian Survivors Health & Wellness Fund

BC Redress

Japanese Canadian Legacy Initiatives

MANDATE FROM THE BC GOVERNMENT

The NAJC has received a letter from BC Attorney General, the Hon. David Eby, and Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Racism Rachna Singh (April 25, 2021), which sets out a mandate to work with the NAJC through its set of ‘asks,’ Japanese Canadian Legacy Initiatives delivered to the Premier’s offi ce in July 2020 and buttressed by the November 2020 Institute of Fiscal Studies in Democracy (IFSD) report. NAJC meetings with the BC Government are occurring now through August 2021 to determine the details of a package for the community in the areas of commemoration, seniors health & wellness, education, anti-racism, heritage preservation, and community & culture. Meetings will be held between April and August 2021 to refi ne the package. The NAJC’s meetings with the BC Government produced the fi rst grant to BC Seniors Health Care and Housing Society for a Japanese Canadians Survivors Health & Wellness

Fund, an initial $2million grant announced on May 5 during a live press conference with the Ministry of Attorney General Parliamentary Secretary of Anti-racism Rachna Singh.

JAPANESE CANADIAN SURVIVORS HEALTH AND WELLNESS FUND

The Province of BC has provided Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society (Nikkei Seniors) with $2 million as part of its commitment to honour seniors who lived through the traumatic uprooting and displacement of almost 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. The Province of BC is acknowledging the role they played in the historical wrongs committed against the Japanese Canadian community during the period between 1942 and 1949. The grant came out of the eff orts of the National Association of Japanese Canadians’ (NAJC) BC Redress initiative. The NAJC is currently in talks with the BC Provincial Government to determine multiple legacy initiatives for the community.

Purpose Nikkei Seniors has designated the $2 million for the Japanese Canadian Survivors Health & Wellness Fund (Fund). At its core, the fund is primarily targeted at seniors who were directly impacted – uprooted and displaced – by the BC Government during this period. By extension, seniors whose families left BC during the war but were born out of province from 1942-1949 are part of this demographic. Nikkei Seniors will also

L to R: Susanne Tabata, Ruth Coles, Susumu Tabata, Cathy Makihara. Photo: John Endo Greenaway.

strive to include impacted seniors who were not displaced yet lived in BC and suff ered through this era and its aftermath. The fund will be distributed in Canada. The purpose of the Fund is to provide grants to enhance programs, activities, and services that will directly benefi t the health and wellness of these living survivors.

BC Redress

Japanese Canadian Legacy Initiatives

This Fund is an initial step to meet the health and wellness needs of these Japanese Canadian survivors and provide community asset mapping to identify health care gaps. This data will be used for future projects. First Round of Meetings with NAJC Chapters The Project has met with all 18 NAJC chapters and their boards in the fi rst phase of our community outreach. We are pleased to have some of the organizations engaging in the process on a Working Group. They will be assisting us by connecting us with their regional organizations, small groups, and community leader contacts. In addition, they will help with our communication eff orts by spreading the word through various communication platforms. Outreach Continues as Criteria is Developing We are just starting the outreach to other community organizations. Those meetings are underway. We are working on developing the criteria for the grants as we continue our outreach, with Linda Kawamoto Reid as project assistant. How to Get Involved The Project offi ce is up and running. If you are from a small group or organization, and have not yet been contacted by our Working Group, please feel free to reach out to the Project Offi ce.

New Denver ca. 1943. Library and Archives Canada.

Looking for small groups and organizations

Please include as much information as possible. 1. Name of organization 2. Contact person 3. Contact Information – address, email and telephone number 4. Type of organization e.g. ad hoc/informal; formal such as those with constitution/bylaws 5. Type of activity you do e.g. religious, recreational, health care, community services, social 6. Estimate of size of group 7. Estimate of the number of Japanese Canadian Survivors

EIKO EBY Project Manager Japanese Canadian Survivors Health & Wellness Fund Email: eikoeby@nikkeishc.com Phone: 250.797.6300 Website: jcwellness.org

New Denver Kyowakai Society, 2010. Photo John Endo Greenaway.

BC Redress Logo by John Endo Greenaway The diamond-shaped visual is taken from a centre section of a Japanese ka-mon (family crest). Extracted from its usual frame, it forms the window of an internment-era shack, viewed from an oblique angle. The BC coastline, including Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii, is viewed through the window. The broken diamond shape also represents the rending apart of a community that none-the-less maintained its traditions and values in the face of forced removal and mass incarceration.