MAY 22 - Thursday - 7pm
(Literary) Hiroshima Immigrants in Canada, 1891-1941
by Michiko Midge Ayukawa
and
The Triumph of Citizenship, The Japanese and Chinese in Canada, 1941-67
by Patricia E. Roy
Time: 7:00-9:00pm
National Nikkei Heritage Centre, 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, BC
tel 604.777.7000
6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, BC
www.jcnm.ca / www.nikkeiplace.org
Please RSVP to museum@nikkeiplace.org or 604.777.7000 ext.109
Japanese Canadian National Museum and UBC Press are pleased to announce the launch
of two new publications about Japanese Canadian history.
Hiroshima Immigrants in Canada, 1891-1941
Michiko Midge Ayukawa
Hiroshima Immigrants in Canada, 1891-1941 is a fascinating investigation of Japanese migration
to Canada prior to the Second World War. It makes Japanese-language scholarship on the subject
available for the first time, and also draws on interviews, diaries, community histories, biographies,
and the author’s own family history.
Starting with the history of the feudal fiefs of Aki and Bingo, which were merged into Hiroshima
prefecture, Ayukawa describes the political, economic, and social circumstances that precipitated
emigration between 1891 and 1941. She then examines the lives and experiences of those migrants
who settled in western Canada. Interviews with three generations of community members, as well
as with those who never emigrated, supplement research on immigrant labour, the central role of
women, and the challenges Canadian-born children faced as they navigated life between two cultures.
This book is a must-read for scholars of migrations, diaspora, and transnationalism, and will also be
of great interest to general readers who wish to learn more about the lives and experiences of
Japanese Canadians.
Michiko Midge Ayukawa lives in Victoria, British Columbia, and has published widely on Japanese Canadian history.
Reviews
“Midge Ayukawa has produced an impressive social history by weaving personal narratives with
careful scholarship. Hiroshima Immigrants in Canada, 1891-1941 is a unique and important
contribution to our knowledge of the Japanese in Canada.”
-- Patricia E. Roy, author of A White Man’s Province, The Oriental Question, and A Triumph of Citizenship
For more information about Hiroshima Immigrants in Canada, 1891-1941:
http://www.ubcpress.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=299171934
The Triumph of Citizenship
The Japanese and Chinese in Canada, 1941-67
Patricia E. Roy
[Triumph of Citizenship has been nominated for the 2008 BC Book Prizes Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Award]
In this companion volume to A White Man’s Province and The Oriental Question, Patricia E. Roy examines
the climax of antipathy to Asians in Canada: the removal of all Japanese Canadians from the BC coast in 1942.
Their free return was not allowed until 1949. Yet the war also brought increased respect for Chinese Canadians;
they were enfranchised in 1947 and the federal government softened its ban on Chinese immigration.
The Triumph of Citizenship explains why Canada ignored the rights of Japanese Canadians and placed strict
limits on Chinese immigration. In response, Japanese Canadians and their supporters in the human rights
movement managed to halt "repatriation" to Japan, and Chinese Canadians successfully lobbied for the same
rights as other Canadians to sponsor immigrants. The final triumph of citizenship came in 1967, when
immigration regulations were overhauled and the last remnants of discrimination removed.
The Triumph of Citizenship reminds all Canadians of the values and limits of their citizenship; students of
political history and of ethnic relations in particular will find this book compelling.
Patricia E. Roy is a professor emerita of history at the University of Victoria and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.
For more information about The Triumph of Citizenship:
http://www.ubcpress.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=5150