President’s Message

Season’s Greetings everyone!
I would like to begin by paying a tribute to Pearl Williams, who passed away on November 3 at Vancouver General Hospital. Pearl sat on the Board of Directors of the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association for the past few years as well as the boards of Mokuyokai, Japanese Canadian War Memorial and numerous other societies. Previously Pearl had sat on the Boards of the Canada-Japan Society, Powell Street Festival Society, Tonari Gumi, plus others in the Japanese Canadian community. Pearl received many awards and was perhaps best known for pioneering the Vancouver film society movement, Pacific Cinematheque and the first Vancouver International Film Festival in the 1970s.

Pearl leaves her husband, Lawrence, a retired Canadian Airlines Machinist, son Perry (Tosh), granddaughter Faye (Steve), great-grand-children Damien, Aiden, Lea, and Nolan.

Pearl touched the hearts and lives of many in the Japanese Canadian and arts communities and will always be remembered for her dedication to those communities, along with a great breadth of knowledge about many things, together with a passion of life. Even though her health sometimes prevented her from attending a meeting in person, she was always a phone call away in the event a decision or input was needed. I will miss our regular talks on the phone and lengthy discussions over many matters affecting the community. I can honestly say that we will all miss her in the community.

In respect to family wishes, there will be a celebration of Pearl Williams’ life sometime in the New Year; we hope that you can attend.

Getting down to business, the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association will host the annual 2009 Keirokai at Nikkei Place located at 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, on Jan 10, 2009. The time will be from 12noon to 3pm. Keirokai is a community event that the GVJCCA holds to recognize seniors 70 years and older. The seniors built the community we enjoy today and provide inspiration to us all in terms of what we leave for our future generations. Please register at Tonari Gumi, phone 604.687.2172. Volunteers please phone Shag Ando 604.922.9226 or email gvjcca@shaw.ca.

The annual Nikkei Community New Year’s Party (Shinnen-kai) will be held at Nikkei Place on January 17th. Tickets and any other additional information are available through the GVJCCA or any of the other community organizations.

The Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association will be holding a fund-raising Valentines Day Dance on Saturday February 14th at Nikkei Place, 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby. This will be a dinner/dance event with door prizes. $ 25.00/person. Tickets to be purchased in advance. Cocktails 6:00 PM. Dinner 7:00 PM. Purchase tickets through the GVJCCA 604.777.5222 or gvjcca@shaw.ca ; April 604.421.3632; Shag 604.922.9226; Nikkei Place 604.777.7000.

Finally, on behalf of the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association and all its Committees, I would like to extend a “Happy Holiday Season!” to all our membership and members of our Japanese Canadian community. Be safe and considerate to your fellow human being.

Thanks

Ron Nishimura, President
Greater Vancouver Japanese
Canadian Citizens’ Association