Kim Uyede-Kai

Kim Uyede-Kai is a yonsei (maternal side) and has been a board member of the Greater Toronto Chapter of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (Toronto NAJC) for a number of years. She has a special interest in social justice, human rights, right relations and Indigenous justice. She was previously a member of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) human rights committee. She is employed with the United Church of Canada with particular experience in intercultural, LGBTQ+, Indigenous right relations and anti-racist initiatives.

Remembering the injustices of Japanese Canadian community incarceration, its intergenerational effects, and the struggle for redress, identity and righting Canadian history matter to her not only personally, but because this is a Canadian issue. As long as there are Canadians who don’t know about this government-sanctioned Canadian history of human rights injustices to one racialized community, there is work to be done to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Though small, the Japanese Canadian community can use its voice of experience to speak with any other Canadian minority or Indigenous group experiencing injustice.