75 Years Ago on Labour Day Weekend

The founding conference of the National Association of Japanese Canadian Citizens (NJCCA) took place in Toronto on Labour Day weekend 1947. It was organized by the Toronto based Japanese Canadian Committee for Democracy (JCCD). Held at Playter Hall at Broadview and Danforth, over 800 Japanese Canadians attended. A smaller group convened which included voting delegates and founding president Roger Obata. They worked through the weekend at the Labour Lyceum and home of founding secretary George Tanaka to draft the constitution. The NJCCA was renamed NAJC in 1980.

Founding Delegates: 

BC: Seiiji Homma, Hideo Onotera, T. Kobayashi
AB: K. Taguchi, Kiyoto Shigehiro
MB: Takaichi Umezuki, Harold Hirose
ON: Edward Ide, Roger Obata, George Tanaka
QC: Hiroshi Okuda