Intergenerational Wellness Report
Intergenerational Wellness
In a 2021 submission to the provincial government as part of BC Redress, Dr. Karen Kobayashi championed the inclusion of health and healing funding. She advocated for addressing intergenerational trauma as a critical component of a broader historical wrongs framework.
While Dr. Kobayashi did not live to see the full impact of her advocacy, her efforts were instrumental in establishing Seniors Health & Wellness as one of the five funded legacies pillars of the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society (JCLS). Intergenerational Wellness, which was originally nestled under this pillar, eventually evolved into a dedicated Community Fund stream open to families, groups and organizations across the country.
Intergenerational Wellness was organized into three distinct categories: Family Sharing & Healing, Seniors Intergenerational Group Wellness, and Intergenerational Group Gatherings. JCLS thanks Eiko Eby for creating the draft guidelines for this critically important funding stream and the advisory and assessment teams comprised of Alex Miki, Nicola Koyanagi, Jan Nobuto, Leanne Toshiko Simpson, Lucy Komori, Jeff Masuda, Carley Okamura, John Endo Greenaway, Eiko Eby, and Taya Mikado. JCLS staff –Chika Buston, Eiko Eby, Larissa Higo, and Kathy Powelson – did incredible work helping families navigate the granting and reporting process.
Family Sharing & Healing
The Family Sharing & Healing category was specifically designed to support impacted Japanese Canadian individuals and families in addressing and healing from the intergenerational trauma that resulted from BC Government policies and actions in the 1940s. Community response was immediate, resulting in 241 distinct projects funded across two intakes. These initiatives took many forms, including oral histories, reflective storytelling, digital scrapbooks, self-published books, and family gatherings.
2026 Study
Intergenerational Wellness: Thoughts and Reflections from Family Sharing and Healing Grant Recipients
In 2026, JCLS contracted Lucy Komori to conduct a formal study of the Family Sharing & Healing grant recipients. The study revealed a significant surge in intergenerational engagement, with many respondents stating their desire to pass on their family stories and legacies to current generations of JCs and ensure that their histories are available to future generations. Two thirds of the projects involved exploration of family stories and histories, and a third of projects referenced “healing” as part of the project initiatives or process.
Study Description
The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase examined the geographic location and generational background of the primary applicant, as well as the type of project undertaken. The second phase gathered qualitative, anecdotal feedback through Zoom interviews with applicants who expressed interest in participating.
JCLS sent an invitation to participate in interviews to all 241 grant recipients. Fifty-seven applicants responded positively, and ultimately 54 interviews were conducted with 56 interviewees. Interviewees were geographically distributed as follows: 42% from Ontario, 42% from British Columbia, 11% from Alberta, 3% from Manitoba, and 2% from Quebec. This distribution closely reflects both the geographic breakdown of the primary applicants across all 241 funded projects and the broader distribution of the Nikkei population across Canada.
The report is publicly available and can be viewed here.
“Legacies has created the spaces and support structures for diverse histories, so we get a complicated understanding of what happened, how different families and groups in the community have rebuilt their lives and become who they are today. Diversity is really key, empowerment is really key. It’s exciting.”
– Kirsten McAllister
(Project: restoring family album of grandmother)
“It was healing to better understand my family and our family dynamics. What I didn’t expect was the healing aspect for survivor relatives, the opportunity to speak and share their stories and to be heard was really important.”
– Karen Koyanagi Geiger
(Project: compiling family stories from elders and family food gathering)
“One of the most powerful moments for me was reading my father’s writing for the first time. In a small family booklet, he contributed an essay called “Finding My Roots.” Despite being articulate and thoughtful, he has rarely spoken about his childhood or the internment years. Reading his reflections—memories he had never shared before—was emotional and profound.“
– Emmie Tsumura
(Project: family pilgrimage to pre-war and wartime family sites)
Acknowledgments
JCLS thanks Lucy Komori and her team of interviewers and advisors for their dedicated work on this important study. In illustrating how these grants brought families closer together, the study offers key insights into the intersection of collective trauma and individual healing. Finally, a special thank you to the grant recipients who participated in this study; we are grateful for the generosity of your time in sharing your stories.
