Monument
Joint Initiative with the BC Government
A monument in Victoria, the province’s Capital, is being planned to honour all 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly uprooted and displaced from their BC coastal homes. The monument is overseen by the BC Ministry of Citizens’ Services in conjunction with the JCLS.
The dream and vision for the monument is that it will envelope the origin story of Japanese Canadians who settled in cities, towns, and villages, primarily along the coast. The tactile names on the wall will help to recognize individuals and families and where they lived before the forced uprooting, seizure and forced sale of assets, incarceration, internment, permanent dispossession, and two waves of displacement. We hope there will be a digital version of this project wherein people can search for the names and where they are situated on the monument.
– Susanne Tabata, CEO JC Legacies Society
Monument Update
Following a Province of BC public RFP for the design of the Japanese Canadian Monument in Victoria, the BC Government, in partnership with the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society (JCLS), has selected the design team of Toronto-based architecture firm KPMB led by founding partner Bruce Kuwabara working in collaboration with Vancouver-based landscape architecture and urban design firm PFS Studio, represented by Kelty Miyoshi McKinnon.
With key proponents from central Canada and the west coast, the Monument team reflects the shattering and dispersal of the community.
Database of Names
In 2023, the JCLS commissioned the University of Victoria to create a searchable list of names of 22,000 Japanese Canadian men, women, and children based on pre-war places of origin. A key contribution of the Monument Database team was the production of a comprehensive list of the over 3,000 children born between 1942 and 1949, when full rights of citizenship, including freedom of movement, were finally given to Japanese Canadians. Their names will be included on a supplemental wall.
Thank you very much to Project Director Michael Abe and the core Monument Database team out of the University of Victoria: Stacey Inouye, Kikuye Inouye, Maureen Bird, Natsuki Abe, Aya Timmer, Megan Koyanagi and Sakura Taji; along with Yukari Peerless, Miyuki Hatogai, Don and Mieko Fedrau, Kimi Chalmers, Lindy Marks, Alexis Moore, Skye Rohani, Rachel Kobayakawa, Djuna Nagasaki, and Kento Abe. Thanks also to UVic’s Stuart Arneil and Martin Holmes, created the database.