Questionnaire for planning conference

Questionnaire for planning conference
Honouring Our Past
September 25 – 27, 2009, Vancouver, BC
Sponsored by the National Association of Japanese Canadians
and the Greater Vancouver JCCA

Although the redress settlement of September 22, 1988, encouraged many members of the Japanese Canadian community to finally speak of their wartime experience of internment and forced dispersal, some members of younger generations continue to describe gaps in knowledge about family history.

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.

The purpose of this conference is to hear the stories of survivors, learn from these experiences and support families in preserving these stories for future generations.  This conference also seeks to create dialogue between generations and give descendants of survivors the opportunity to learn more about their family’s history.

Furthermore, the wartime experience of Japanese Canadians is part of community heritage and history.  Lessons learned from sharing our family stories and community history may not only benefit descendants of survivors but also other community members, such as postwar immigrants and all Canadians, regardless of ethnic background.

Questionnaire
To assist us in planning a conference which will be relevant to participant interests, and possibly evoke curiosity about your family story, we invite you to answer this questionnaire:

Note: Please do not feel that you have to know all the answers before sending this in and if you have more to say than space permits feel free to send in more pages.

1. Where was your family before the war? _______________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. Where was your family during the war?_______________________
______________________________________________________________
3.    Where was your family after the war? ________________________
_______________________________________________________________

4.    What would you like to ask your parents/grandparents about the period around World War II? ___________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

5.    What would you like to tell your children/grandchildren about your family history in Canada? __________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Please send your response either by email or regular mail asap to:

Vancouver JCCA Human Rights Committee
#200-6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, BC V5E 4M7
gvjcca@shaw.ca