Now more than ever: 36th anniversary of the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement 

Photo credit: Toronto Chapter, National Association of Japanese Canadians

“Pay it forward. If I have this knowledge, I should pass it to the next person. Hopefully, that person will pass on the same knowledge to someone else.” 

Art Miki, the first director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation in his latest memoir Gaman – Perseverance: Japanese Canadians’ Journey to Justice 

When Japanese-Canadian Arthur Miki was five years old, he and his family were forcibly removed by Canadian authorities from their home in Haney, British Columbia, to work on a sugar beet farm in Ste-Agathe, Manitoba. 21,000 other Japanese Canadians shared the Miki family’s experience of forced displacement and were only allowed by the Canadian federal government to return home in 1949, four years after World War Two ended.  

Miki’s experience as a survivor of the Japanese Canadian internment changed his life, and he later led negotiations for the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement, which was signed in 1988. The Canadian Race relations Foundation was born from the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement, with the mandate to fight systemic racism in Canada.  

Today, that mandate is more important than ever. 

From our National Anti-Racism Fund to our national series with Canada’s Globe & Mail on Finding Common Ground to our initiatives to advance Canadian policy on hate crimes and incidents, we continue to honour this commitment in collaboration with communities and government bodies across the country. At a time of unprecedented polarization, this work is critical to the present and future success of Canada, and we honour and give thanks to the Japanese Canadian community for their vision and perseverance in ensuring its place. 

This year, the CRRF was proud to support the launch of Arthur Miki’s memoir, Gaman – Perseverance, which describes the long journey towards resolution for the historic injustice that deprived Japanese Canadians of their basic human rights during and after World War II through Miki’s eyes. As his time on the CRRF Board draws to a close, we recognize this important contribution, honour this work, and look forward to continuing to collaborate with the National Association of Japanese Canadians and the Japanese Canadian community.  

As we continue the hard work on building a better Canada together, this timely reminder of the power of perseverance is an inspiration for all communities to hold fast to the vision of justice and equity for everyone who shares this land.