About this project
Monument Park in Victoria
The Province of British Columbia, in partnership with the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society (JCLS) is developing a Monument Park and Japanese Garden in Victoria, BC, the provincial capital, to honour the lives of 22,000 internment-era Japanese Canadians impacted during World War II. In the 1940s, Canadians of Japanese descent living in British Columbia were forcibly uprooted and permanently stripped of their homes, businesses, and belongings and relocated to internment camps outside the coastal BC area and displaced across the country, with some exiled to Japan. The majority of the uprooted Japanese Canadians were born in BC.
The Monument will be situated within a park-like setting and Japanese garden in Victoria, BC. The Monument Park will be a destination for survivors and descendants – a place for contemplation, reflection, healing, and gathering, while sharing this history and its lessons with all those who visit.
The park and garden, located on provincial land at the corner of Southgate Street and Blanshard Avenue, between Academy Close, will be designed as a place for visitors and residents alike to enjoy.
The Monument Park project will be jointly run by the BC Ministry of Citizens Services (CITZ), and the Multiculturalism, Anti-Racism Branch (MARB) of the BC Ministry of Attorney General, and the JCLS.
Database of Names
The JCLS contracted the University of Victoria to produce a list of names of Uprooted Japanese Canadians organized by place of origin, and a second list of Japanese 3,000 children born after the uprooting but before freedom of movement was granted in 1949. The 3,000 names will be included on a supplemental wall.
Thank you very much to the core Monument Database team led by Project Director Michael Abe: Stacey Inouye, Kikuye Inouye, Maureen Bird, Natsuki Abe, Aya Timmer, Megan Koyanagi and Sakura Taji; along with Yukari Peerless, Miyuki Hatogai, Don and Mieko Fedrau, Kimi Chalmers, Lindy Marks, Alexis Moore, Skye Rohani, Rachel Kobayakawa, Djuna Nagasaki, and Kento Abe. Special thanks to the Humanities Computing and Media Centre (HCMC) at UVic and Stewart Arneil, Janelle Jenstad and Martin Holmes without whom this database would not have been possible.
The dream and vision for the monument is that it will envelope the origin story of Japanese Canadians who settled in cities, towns, and villages, primarily along the coast. The tactile names on the wall will help to recognize individuals and families and where they lived before the forced uprooting, seizure and forced sale of assets, incarceration, internment, permanent dispossession, and two waves of displacement. We hope there will be a digital version of this project wherein people can search for the names and where they are situated on the monument.