It is without a doubt Vancouver is highly known for the great sushi we have but the history behind it, is a different story. Back in 1942 Japanese internment camps happened. Over 22,000 Japanese Canadians were placed in them which comprised over 90% of the Japanese Canadian population in British Columbia.

Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed and interned for the matter of national security – the majority of those removed were actually Canadian citizens. The events that followed were the Japanese invasions of British Hong Kong and Malaya, the attack on Pearl Harbour in Hawaii and, well, the declaration of war on Japan during WWII. Japanese Canadians were forced to relocate and experienced government-enforced curfews, interrogations, job loss and property loss.

A bit of the history of the Japanese neighbourhood remains to this day on Powell Street. The Vancouver Buddist Church which used to be known as the Japanese Methodist Church still exists on 220 Jackson-Avenue on Powell Street, The Vancouver Japanese Language School and The Japanese Hall remain on Alexander Street. These are the only properties in Canada that ever returned to Japanese Canadians after WWII.

Learning about history is important to everyone but being able to hear the stories from the people themselves, well that’s a lot better.

The virtual exhibit Broken Promises is a 7 year project done researching countless documents and learning about people’s stories themselves, in order to remind everyone about the Japanese history. The story is followed with 7 narrators telling you the history.

This virtual exhibit will launch on September 26th from 1:00pm to 2:00pm on a Live stream here. If you wish to view the exhibit on September 26th you are required to pre-book here a gallery charge of $5 will be done at the door.

September 29th and on they will be open from 10am – 5pm, Tuesday – Saturday. Covid-19 protocols are in place as there is a limit of 8 people at a time inside.