Japanese Canadians, who trace their family history to pre-war times in Canada, often identify themselves by generation, such as second (nisei), third (sansei), fourth (yonsei), or fifth (gosei), because it conveys what relationship they have to the Japanese Canadian internment that took place during the Second World War.
As families and communities that were devastated and deeply impacted by forcible relocation conducted by the Canadian government, Japanese Canadians are now calling upon community members to support the survivors of residential schools in Canada.
An open letter was issued today on Canada Day (July 1) and endorsed by several Japanese Canadian organizations, including the the Greater Toronto and Hamilton chapters of the National Association of Japanese Canadians, the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens Association, the Japanese Canadian Association of Yukon andthe Ottawa Japanese Community Association.
The letter cites the recent confirmations of hundreds unmarked graves at several residential schools across Canada, including in Kamloops and Saskatchewan.
“Many of our community members are themselves sansei and yonsei or third and fourth generation Canadians whose parents and grandparents were subject to the Canadian government’s racist policies of dispossession, confinement, and assimilation during the 1940s that targeted our mothers, our brothers, our grandmothers, our great-grandfathers,” the letter states.
“Several community members who went through what is commonly referred to as the internment are still alive today. In the Spirit of Redress, or that spirit of courage and tenacity in the face of horrible injustice, racism, ignorance, and denial of the truth and of the past, let us stand together in support of residential school survivors, now.”
The letter urges Japanese Canadians to learn about and support the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Actions and “to bring the demands of Residential School survivors and their communities to their own networks and churches in any capacity they are able and can influence”.
In addition, the letter states:
“We join with Indigenous Peoples in saying that it is time for the Catholic Church to be accountable and take responsibility.
“We join with Indigenous Peoples in calling on federal, provincial, and local governments to fund investigations into finding and protecting burial sites.
“We call for proper accountability for the genocide committed against Indigenous peoples that has been and continues to be revealed in this country.”
Meanwhile, the Japanese Canadian Association of Manitoba (JCAM) prepared three senbazuru (mobiles of 1,000 origami cranes each) to present to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg; Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre in Headingley and Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre in Winnipeg, in support of Every Child Matters and Truth and Reconciliation.
The JCAM is now asking for more cranes to present to the Nak’azdli Whut’en community and the First Nations Health Authority in B.C.
The cranes should be folded but not opened, and the neck should not be folded (to make the stringing look clearer). Cranes can be mailed to: Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba, 180 McPhillips Street in Winnipeg, MB, R3E 2J9.
According to Japanese legend, anyone who folds 1,000 cranes (cranes are traditionally regarded as mystical in Japanese culture) will be granted a wish by the gods.
This story originally appeared in the Georgia Straight.
