Our grandparents were born in the 1920’s in Vancouver BC. Their parents had immigrated to the Canadian West Coast from Gunma, Nagano, and Hiroshima. During the war, our grandmother and grandfather along with their families were interned in Tashme. Both of them were young adults during the time of the internment and had finished high school, so they became teachers. After the war, our grandparents worked hard to create a Japanese-Canadian presence in Ontario. Our grandfather was one of the presidents of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and played a large role in gifting the temple bell to the province of Ontario.
When we knew our grandmother, she never talked about the war or the internment with us. They never made it seem like they held any anger or disdain against Canada. We did not even realize the gravity of their situation until we got older. Our grandmother was an avid fan of the Toronto Blue Jays and a proud Canadian. Most of our information about our family history comes from what our mother and extended family knows.
