Japanese Canadian Monument – Guided Tours

The JCLS welcomes you to walk the site of the Japanese Canadian Monument in recogntion of our elders past and present – Okagesame De.

Guided tours will provide:

1. A short background on the Japanese Canadian community, including its history in Victoria
2. The locations of the prewar settlements that existed up and down the west coast prior to 1942
3. Navigation tools, helping visitors locate persons on the wall using the index or related website.

The Monument wall honours 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly uprooted and permanently stripped of their homes, businesses, and belongings in 1942 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 wall lists individuals according to where they were uprooted from in 1942. In addition there are over 3,000 names of Japanese Canadians who were born after uprooting but before April 1,1949, when Japanese Canadians were free to return to the coast.

The JCLS is grateful to do this work on the ancestral lands of the Lekwungen peoples.
Any additional questions should be directed to [email protected]