Please Help! – I’m looking for some social media magic. For several months I have been working on bringing a special exhibit to Regina. The exhibit, “A Call for Justice: Fighting for Japanese Canadian Redress (1977-1988)”, was developed by the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre and will be hosted by the RCMP Heritage Centre from late-September – into December. I’m looking for two things: 1. We are still looking for some additional corporate funding to cover the administrative, shipping, and promotion of the exhibit. The RCMP Heritage Centre has a variety of options and benefit packages (sponsor recognition in the exhibit and promotional material, admission passes to the heritage centre, use of space, etc.) If you have a connection to or know of any organization who might be willing to assist us – PLEASE contact me. An RCMP rep and I can go make the pitch if needed, but it would be helpful if we had a connection to start with or knew who to talk to. 2. As part of the exhibit – we would like to have an activity where guest could create their own Redress or Anti-racism button. So, we’re on the hunt for an old-school button press. If you know of someone that has one of these, please share their contact with me. For more information – please continue reading below: The exhibit examines the hard work and perseverance of a dedicated group of community members who, for over 10 years, strategized, argued and debated with the government, while fighting criticism from the press and from their own community. This powerful story is told using historic photographs, artifacts, poetry, personal statements, art and video. While the exhibit focuses on the Redress experience, by extension, it also provides an opportunity to review the historical wrongs committed by the Government of Canada during WWII when people of Japanese descent were considered to be a threat to the country. Under the War Measures Act, over 22,000 Japanese Canadians were banned from the BC Coast and dispersed across the country. Families were separated with men sent to road camps in Alberta or prisoner of war camps in Ontario. Families who lived along the coastline were herded into a livestock building in Vancouver. Some families remained together and were sent to work on sugar-beet farms with meagre income and back breaking labour living in sheds or barns. Internment camps were created in abandoned mining towns in the interior BC where tents and shacks were hastily built for multiple family living. Property and belongings left behind were sold without owners consent by the gov’t at fire-sale prices. In March 1945, all Japanese Canadians from the province of BC were given the choice to move east of the Rockies or be exiled to Japan. This restriction was enforced until April 1, 1949. There are members of our community who personally, or whose parents and grandparents, did go through this experience. We acknowledge that these acts did not affect all Japanese Canadians in the same way. It is true that Japanese Canadians living here in Saskatchewan were not removed from their homes and didn’t have their property confiscated, but they were not immune to the ritual racism of the time. Nor can we say that Saskatchewan is exempt from the internment experience. At the end of the war, 128 Nisei and Issei internees from Angler and other prisoner of war camps (who had refused to follow the orders of the Canadian government for evacuation, relocation, and repatriation) were shipped to Moose Jaw “Hostel” at the former RCAF depot, 4 miles south of the city where they remained until the camp closed. Despite their ill-treatment during the war, many Japanese Canadians chose to remain in Canada and some chose to settle here in Saskatchewan. The negotiation of the redress settlement was made possible through the efforts of ordinary citizens who believed that justice would prevail. Today, other ethno-cultural organizations continue to look to the efforts of the Japanese community as a role model for civil liberties and human rights in Canada. By bringing this exhibit to Regina, it is our chance to honor the determination of Japanese Canadians who, despite great stress and hardship, retained their commitment and loyalty to Canada and continued to contribute to the development of the Canadian nation. It is our hope that this story will remain for future generations of Canadians, a prime example of one community’s struggle to overcome the devastating effects of racism, to affirm the rights of all individuals in a democracy, and to actually strengthen the democratic system. We hope to open the exhibit during Saskatchewan Culture Days and are actively seeking corporate sponsorship to help promote this exhibit within the community. Again, if you or anyone you know has a connection to an organization that might be willing to contribute to this culturally and historically significant exhibit, I graciously invite you to contact me with further details.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 17:50:40 +0000
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