Our Board & Staff

The Japanese Canadian Legacies Society JCLS board is accountable to the BC Government and the community in its oversight of the implementation of the BC Redress initiatives, which are in keeping with an approved set of Japanese Canadian Legacy Initiatives proposals. The new society was incorporated on June 29, 2022 following approval by the NAJC.

JCL Board Members

  • Paul Kariya

    President

    Paul Kariya

    President

    Paul is a Senior Policy Advisor for Coastal First Nations and has 35 years of experience in leadership roles in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors including societal reconciliation. He is Vice-President of the Nikkei Place Foundation & was the BC Redress Project Advisor.

  • Brian Tsuji

    Secretary

    Brian Tsuji

    Secretary

    Fluent in both Japanese and English, Brian has over 30 years experience in immigration law, with a client list from more than 50 countries. He is currently at the Vancouver office at DLA Piper and is a director of the Nikkei Seniors Health Care & Housing Society and President of the Nikkei Place Foundation.

  • Larry Okada

    Treasurer

    Larry Okada

    Treasurer

    Larry is a retired chartered accountant. A former principal of his firm, Staley Okada, he has worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP and as CFO and Audit Chair for the mining sector and other public companies. He currently serves as the acting Chief Financial Officer of Africo Resources Ltd. and is the Treasurer on the Board of Tonari Gumi.

  • Fred Yada

    Director

    Fred Yada

    Director

    Fred Yada is a retired partner in the CA firm DMCL, was the Treasurer and Director of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation for 10 years, and currently sits on the boards of the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, the Nikkei Place Foundation, and the National Nikkei Museum & Cultural Centre. He is a past director of the Sarah McLachlan Foundation.

  • Les Kojima

    Director

    Les Kojima

    Director

    Les is a retired chartered accountant, having worked as an audit director at the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, and as a senior financial management specialist for the World Bank in South Asia. He lives in Winnipeg and is the President of the NAJC.

  • Karen Nishi

    Director

    Karen Nishi

    Director

    Karen is a partner at Crux and brings 35 years of experience specializing in organizational clarity, strategic planning and communications across non-for-profit, crown, and corporate clients. Karen is a former Board member of Tonari Gumi.

JCL Staff

  • Susanne Tabata

    Chief Executive Officer

    Susanne Tabata

    Chief Executive Officer

    Susanne is a community advocate & organizer, project manager, instructional designer, broadcast television writer, director, and producer, with 35 years industry experience in film & TV, and short form media, specializing in the documentary and strategic video communications. An adjunct college professor, Susanne led the NAJC BC Redress Project from 2020 – 2022, and is now serving to implement the set of multi-stakeholder complex projects developed under the six-fold framework: monument; education; heritage; community; seniors health & wellness; anti-racism.

  • Larissa Higo

    Senior Manager Community Fund

    Larissa Higo

    Senior Manager Community Fund

    Larissa has spent the past three years serving as Program Manager at Vancouver Film School, and has also spent time working for the Canucks for Kids Fund 50/50 Program as a Program Coordinator, and assisting with the annual CFKF Telethon. A yonsei, Larissa is excited to join the JCLS team and grateful for the opportunity to work in the community. Larissa can be contacted at community@jclegacies.com

  • Sandra Hamade

    Office Manager

    Sandra Hamade

    Office Manager

  • Eiko Eby

    Intergenerational Wellness Program Manager

    Eiko Eby

    Intergenerational Wellness Program Manager

  • Kathy Powelson

    Community Fund Coordinator

    Kathy Powelson

    Community Fund Coordinator

  • John Endo Greenaway

    Communications Coordinator

    John Endo Greenaway

    Communications Coordinator

    John Endo Greenaway has been immersed in the Japanese Canadian community for over forty years, working as a graphic + web designer, taiko player/composer and as managing editor of The Bulletin, a journal of Japanese Canadian community, history and culture, a position he has held since 1992. In 2017 he co-authored the book Departures: the expulsion of the Japanese Canadians from the west coast 1942–1949, that he began many years ago with his mother, Fumiko Greenaway. A founding member of Katari Taiko, Canada’s first taiko group, and Uzume Taiko, Canada’s first professional taiko group, he is currently a member of Sansho Daiko, a spicy addition to the west coast taiko community.

  • Ella Law

    Controller

    Ella Law

    Controller

    TBA

  • Rachael Mah

    Community Fund Coordinator

    Rachael Mah

    Community Fund Coordinator

  • Chiaki Yamada

    Community Fund Coordinator

    Chiaki Yamada

    Community Fund Coordinator

    TBA

  • Yumi Kawaoka

    Community Fund Coordinator

    Yumi Kawaoka

    Community Fund Coordinator

    Yumi was born in Fukuoka, Kyushu. After graduating from university, she gained over ten years experience in human resources, administration, and secretarial positions at a Japanese company in Tokyo. In Canada, Yumi gained experience in the hospitality industry and worked as an operations manager at the Vancouver Japanese Language School.

  • Megan Koyanagi

    Community Fund Coordinator

    Megan Koyanagi

    Community Fund Coordinator

  • Linda Kawamoto Reid

    BC Heritage Sites Coordinator

    Linda Kawamoto Reid

    BC Heritage Sites Coordinator

    Linda was born post-war in Vernon BC, where her family lived until they could return to the coast. Her father and grandfather helped build the shacks in East Lillooet in April 1942, but within a year they secured orchard work in Vernon, where eventually all eight nisei siblings reunited there with their families. Linda’s family was close-knit, with her father telling her whatever she wanted to know about the Internment. Her interest in Nikkei history started in 1977 when she read her grandmother’s first-prize story about being a picture bride in 1907. Key among her expertise is the vast knowledge of pre-war farming communities in the BC lower mainland. Genealogy and family history research has been a passion since 1977, which led her to the Nikkei National Museum where she worked as research archivist from 2007-2023.

  • Lane McGarrity

    BC Heritage Sites Coordinator

    Lane McGarrity

    BC Heritage Sites Coordinator

    Lane McGarrity is a dedicated heritage professional focusing on community engagement and project coordination. He began shaping his career through involvement in the Landscapes of Injustice Project, contributing to the Community Records cluster. Lane’s commitment was recognized with the Kalman Award for International Heritage Studies, leading him to research how historical narratives shape contemporary social relations in museums and heritage sites. Lane brings with him lived experience, having been brought up in northern BC and working in the fishing industry.


Japanese Canadian Legacies are initiatives that honour our elders past and present. We are grateful to be doing this work on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish peoples.