Community History
A Call to Leadership, History of the National Association of Japanese Canadians
Japanese Canadian Timeline – Ontario
ONTARIO MILESTONES
From: An Inheritance of Activism – Celebrating 75 Years: A Tribute to the Founders of the NJCCA – NAJC Copyright © 2022
A publication of the Greater Toronto Chapter, National Association of Japanese Canadians
Published 2022, Printed in Canada
ISBN: 978-1-7386729-0-5
All rights reserved. No part of the information from this website may be reproduced in
any form without written permission from the publisher.
Nipponia Home
By Lynn Deutscher Kobayashi
Nipponia Home, the first Japanese Canadian (JC) home for older adults in Canada, opened in Beamsville, Ont. in 1958. Founder Yasutaro Yamaga, an issei, personally donated $25,000. The project received support from the Lincoln community, province of Ontario and $27,000 was raised from 853 JC donors. Other issei founding members were Takashi Komiyama, Toyonori Namba, Takaichi Umezuki and Tomiyo Uyehara.
Yamaga immigrated to British Columbia in 1908 and dreamt of owning Canadian farmland. Well-respected in his community, he became involved in agriculture before being forcibly displaced and dispossessed from Maple Ridge, B.C. to the Niagara Region.
Knowledge of the hardships issei faced drove Yamaga to establish the JC haven: many had survived the Depression, but after years of working to own homes and establish businesses, lost everything through unjust dispossession.
Nipponia Home’s grounds were renowned for their gardens and reflected Japanese landscaping practices. In an early model for culturally appropriate care, both Japanese and Canadian meals were served daily, and residents could bathe in an ofuro, a traditional Japanese bath, twice weekly.
Following 42 years of service, in 2000 a new government policy, requiring seniors’ homes to serve a larger number of residents, and other factors forced the facility to close. It was a sad time for residents who, after repeated displacement and relocation, had finally found a home.
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre
Adapted from Japanese Canadian Redress: The Toronto Story
In the fall of 1975, Toyo Takata brought a proposal to the National Japanese Canadian Citizens Association (NJCCA). He proposed a year-long, national centennial commemorating of the arrival of the first documented immigrant from Japan, Manzo Nagano (1854-1924).
The 1977 JC Centennial provided JCs with an occasion to illustrate the substantial contributions issei forebears made to Canada’s economic development especially in British Columbia. After 35 years of struggle to regain their footing, following dispossession and expulsion from B.C., the JC community was ready to mark its tumultuous 100- year history.
It became apparent a country-wide celebration required a national organization to coordinate events. Toronto’s organizing committee established the National Japanese Canadian Centennial Society (NJCCS) and the board included: Roger Obata (national chair), Toyo Takata (executive director), Tami Marubashi (co-chair), Sam Nishiyama (treasurer), Toshi Oikawa (recording secretary), Denise Nishimura (corresponding secretary), Susan Hidaka (public relations) and George Imai (government contact coordinator). The national executive encompassed 13 other members plus representatives from each participating province. A May 1977 banquet launched the centennial in Toronto.
Obata recalled Ken Adachi’s The Enemy That Never Was “was ready for distribution, barely in time for the big banquet.” Taking two decades to complete, Adachi was commissioned in 1959 by the NJCCA history committee, chaired by George Tanaka, to build on collected histories. As project manager, Tanaka once said he could author his own book about this seminal work. On resigning from the Toronto JCCA in 1953, he vowed: “his last task to fulfill . . . was the history of the he Japanese Canadians.”
Japanese Canadian Centennial Temple Bell
By Lynn Deutscher Kobayashi and Ron Shimizu
The Japanese Canadian (JC) Centennial temple bell in Ontario Place was a gift to Ontarians from JCs in commemoration of the 1977 JC Centennial.
The 1,200-pound bronze bell was commissioned by the Japan External Trade Organization for the 1977 Canadian National Exhibition. They later offered the bell to the Toronto JC Centennial committee, who decided to present it to the province. The Ontario JC Centennial committee, representing 17,000 JCs, agreed. Fundraising efforts across Ontario followed and paid for the belfry designed by Raymond Moriyama.
Despite JCs forcible uprooting, which brought them to Ontario, this gift acknowledged a positive relationship had ensued. The provincial government accepted the bell for placement in their premier park. The unveiling included a Buddhist invocation, cultural performances and a presentation by Mikio Nakamura, Ontario chapter president of the JC Centennial Society. Ontario Lt.-Gov. Pauline McGibbon made the first bell strike and Premier Bill Davis, on a trade mission, sent congratulations from Tokyo.
Community events at the site followed from 1977 to 2012. Obon, the day of honouring ancestors, was held until the mid-90s. While Joya No Kane, the New Year’s Eve bell-ringing ceremony led by the Toronto Buddhist Church, continued almost every year until 2012 when redevelopment plans shuttered the park.
The bell’s future became uncertain. The Toronto NAJC advocated for the bell to remain at Ontario Place and updates be provided to the JC community. A written response, shortly after closure, offered these assurances. Once Trillium Park and the William G. Davis Trail opened in 2017, the bell became accessible again, but the dedication plaque was now missing. The Toronto NAJC resumed communications with Ontario Place management and government. A new plaque was laid in June 2022.
The striker, which remained stored since 2012, was reinstalled on Sept. 22, 2021, for a Toronto NAJC Redress and Reconciliation event. Mayor John Tory spoke and rang the bell for the first time in a decade.
Discussions with the Ontario Place redevelopment team are ongoing.
Momiji Health Care Society
Adapted from Japanese Canadian Redress: The Toronto Story
Momiji Health Care Society is the realization of a vision shared by founders Mary and Roger Obata, Kazuo Oiye, Roy Shinobu, Fred Sasaki and Dr. Fred Sunahara. Established in 1978, the not-for-profit, charitable organization was created for the issei – the first generation of Japanese immigrants who settled in the Toronto area after the Second World War.
Its origins began in 1975 with the JCCA committee for elderly care. Its location on Kingston Road in Scarborough was purchased in 1990 and following 14 years of fund- raising, a sod-turning ceremony was held on March 15, 1991. In December 1991, the first tenants arrived.
The facility includes 133 apartments, a large communal area, auditorium, crafts room, day lounge, atrium, boardroom, library, restaurant, chapel, fitness room, grocery store and other conveniences.
A sense of community prevails among the residents at Momiji thanks to daily cultural and social activities, and outreach services across the Greater Toronto Area. In 1998, a beautiful Japanese garden was established in celebration of Momiji’s 20th anniversary.
The Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation made an initial capital contribution of $1.15 million and subsequent grants of $600,000 and $63,745. During the past seven years, the Greater Toronto Chapter of the NAJC has contributed nearly $100,000 to Momiji. Within that total, $13,000 was redirected from the Toronto NAJC’s own grant funding.