One woman told of being an expatriate to Japan and all the hardship she faced when she lived there just after the war. Others told of moving from place to place like vagabonds. Many discovered connections with others in the group.

As an independent production, we are in serious need of financial support to educate people and to preserve this part of Canada’s history and the producers are now looking to the community for assistance in bringing this project to life.

Your 1993 visit to the Okinawa sites where tens of thousands of civilians died in the war was also appreciated by many people throughout Japan and beyond. We would like to appeal for your continued efforts to help bring healing and justice to the victims of atrocities committed by Japan before and during the Asia-Pacific War, and for your for support of the endeavours to keep Article 9 intact in the spirit of peace.

By remaining mute or blind – for I cannot say whether it is out of fear or ignorance that the community remains silent – to contemporary government abuse, the stated altruistic concerns of the Japanese Canadian community for human rights rings quite hollow.

I had met John Asfour shortly after redress in Montreal as we participated on a panel discussion at McGill University that included Dr. Desmond Morton, a McGill historian, a representative from the Canadian Jewish Congress. John Asfour, as president of the Canadian Arab Federation and myself, from the National Association of Japanese Canadians.

Honouring Our Past is a conference that will pay tribute to the lives of Japanese Canadians who experienced racism, alienation, betrayal, restrictions, uprooting and loss during and after WWII. It will acknowledge the resilience and perseverance shown by Japanese Canadians who not only endured but often prospered after the war.

1) Nikkei Community New Year’s party
Saturday January 17, Nikkei Place
Tickets are available through Nikkei Place and the GVJCCA.
Please phone 604.777.7000 for additional information.
Valentine’s Day Dance
Saturday February 14 at Nikkei Place.
Second GVJCCA dance and first fundraiser for 2009.
There will be prizes, snacks and DJ music. Tickets ($25) and information are available through the GVJCCA at 604.777.5222 or Nikkei Place. The aim is to help raise funds for the GVJCCA so that we can provide information through workshops and sessions on various aspects of human rights, Japanese Canadian immigration laws and social …

The opening event of the 2009 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (VCBF) is underway, with budding and established poets from around the world invited to submit one unpublished English-language haiku on the theme of cherry blossoms. The deadline for submissions is December 19, 2008.

Kelowna animation filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns has won another ELAN award. The first time, in 2006, was for his hapa short What Are You Anyways?

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