Original JCCC at 123 Wynford Drive
July 3, 2023
Help write the history books at city hall.
The developers’ proposal for the original Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre at 123 Wynford Drive asserts: “Historical research does not indicate that the property yields information that contributes to or has the potential to yield information that contributes to an understanding of a community or culture.”
WITH YOUR HELP A BETTER PLAN IS POSSIBLE
Meetings have been held with the developers, Councillor Jon Burnside, Toronto City Planning, Heritage Department, and the Architectural Conservancy of Canada. Apart from the developers, all others are supportive that there is a better way to honour the architecture and the history of the site than placing a 48-storey condo atop the original building. The current design effectively smothers and obscures the original building. The rezoning requested by the developers has not yet been approved.
SHARE YOUR STORY ON ZOOM
he Toronto Heritage Department is sympathetic, but they need to hear individual stories that address these questions. REGISTER HERE to speak or listen.
What does the old Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre mean to you personally and your identity?
What stories do you have about what you did and when at the cultural centre?
What kind of events did you attend and what did they mean to you and your family?
You can also make a difference by sending your personal reflections, which can be short or long to:
Ana Martins ana.martins2@toronto.ca
Marian Prejel marian.prejel2@toronto.ca
SOME KIND OF MIRACLE
In 1962, George Tanaka, a board member of the Japanese Canadian Centre, a forerunner of the JCCC, wrote a New Canadian article titled “The Centre is For the People.” In it, he referred to the dream of the JCCC as “some kind of miracle.” Tanaka was one of the group of 75 individuals who risked homes and businesses to fund the site on 123 Wynford Drive. While most people were not able to risk as much, just about every Japanese Canadian did what they could to contribute.
This former JCCC is more than a shell to be disposed of when outgrown. It symbolizes the hopes and dreams of a community rebounding from harm and injustice. As a milestone it is distinct from its current location on Garamond Court. Ken Adachi wrote in the Enemy That Never Was that the JCCC was “First suggested in 1948 as a modest recreational and social centre, the concept broadened by 1953 into a ‘living memorial’ for the ‘pioneer issei.’”