Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba and the Manitoba Buddhist Temple will host a dinner to pay respect to the survivors of the actions of the BC and Federal Governments before, during, and after World War II. Gaman (我慢) is a Buddhist term that means “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.”
Japanese Canadians endured openly racist actions by successive BC governments in the decades leading up to World War II. The Federal government’s actions in 1942 to forcibly uproot, intern, dispossess and disperse almost 22,000 Japanese Canadians from the west coast were undertaken primarily because of lobbying by BC politicians. In addition, Japanese Canadians in Manitoba and elsewhere were unable to return to BC until April 1, 1949—four years after the end of the War—solely because of lobbying by the BC government. An evening to honour our survivors for enduring such actions with patience and dignity has been made possible through a BC Redress grant from the Japanese Canadian Survivors Health and Wellness Fund.
The event was held on Saturday June 4, 2022 at Canad Inns Polo Park, 1405 St. Matthews Avenue from 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm. The date will mark the 80th anniversary of the arrival in Winnipeg of the third trainload of Japanese Canadians from BC, all of whom were destined to live and work over the next several years in sugar beet fields in rural Manitoba.
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