100th anniversary of Vancouver’s Japanese-Canadian War Memorial
Posted November 10, 2020 9:14 pm.
Last Updated November 11, 2020 6:29 am.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — This year marks the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of Vancouver’s Japanese-Canadian War Memorial.
The Japanese-Canadian War Memorial in Stanley Park was created in 1920 in honour of Japanese-Canadians who fought in the First World War.
Kathy Enros is the granddaughter of Veteran Sainosuke Kubota, one of the men whose name can be found on the century-old reminder of Canada’s history.
“He wanted to show his patriotism to his new country and wanted to enlist and fight for Canada and represent Canada in the First World War,” she says.
At the time, Japanese people in the province were not allowed to join the war. So Enros’ grandfather had signed up in Calgary and recruited 100 other Japanese-Canadians to do the same.
“Off they went. He actually fought in Vimy Ridge but was injured, was honourably discharged, and returned to Vancouver,” she says.
#LestWeForget https://t.co/coI8XM6D3W
— Ashley Burr (@AshleyBurr_) November 11, 2020
For the 222 Japanese-Canadian’s who fought in the First World War and the 54 of them who lost their lives in battle, all their names were engraved on the Vancouver monument.
But in 1942, Japanese-Canadians were forced into internment camps for the entire duration of the Second World War.
“Everything was taken away from them. My grandfather had a fishing business and they had a house,” Enros says. “And literally everything was taken away from them”.
Due to the pandemic, a Remembrance Day service will be live-streamed through the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre’s YouTube channel at 10:30 on Nov. 11.
