> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Victoria Unveils Japanese Canadian Internment Monument Honouring 25,000 Names - URL: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/japanese-canadian-monument-victoria/ - Published: 2026-10-05T17:34:18.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-05T20:22:01.000Z - Description: Japanese Canadian monument in Victoria honours nearly 25,000 names of people uprooted and interned during the Second World War. - Author: Steve Cogbill - Tags: Daily News, British Columbia | Sourced from 4 independent sources · 1 point in dispute | | ------------------------------------------------------- | newswire.ca, oakbaynews.com, europesays.com, and globalnews.ca Sources agree on most key facts but differ on 1 point. 7 key facts · 5 corroborated · 1 disputed Where sources differ Whether the monument grounds would be open 24 hours a day or temporarily closed for construction after opening-week events. Newswire: Following opening-week events from October 3 to 7, the monument site would temporarily close for final construction work from October 8 through the end of October and is expected to reopen to visitors in November. Global News: The grounds will be open 24 hours a day and will be lit at night. This summary is compiled from the independent sources listed above. Nearly 25,000 names now stretch across granite near British Columbia’s Legislature, forming a permanent public record of Japanese Canadians uprooted and interned during the Second World War. The Japanese Canadian monument, officially unveiled in Victoria, stands at 839 Academy Close, a short distance from the B.C. Legislature. Its 300-foot-long centrepiece is made up of 100 granite panels bearing the names of approximately 22,000 Japanese Canadians forcibly uprooted from homes and communities in British Columbia beginning in 1942, as well as roughly 3,000 children born after the displacement. ## Names Made Permanent For survivors and families, the wall is both a record and a place to grieve. “A monument does not restore homes, businesses, fish boats, property or years that were taken, but it can make a positive record permanent,” Japanese Canadian Legacies Society president Paul Kariya said at the opening. “Here in granite, in the provincial capital, the names of those who were uprooted will endure.” According to Newswire, the names are organized by the communities people called home before forced uprooting began in 1942\. The arrangement offers families and descendants a way to find names alongside the places from which people were taken. Susanne Tabata, CEO of the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society, said the monument restores public visibility to histories that were carried privately through generations. “For generations, Japanese Canadians carried the memory of communities that were uprooted and scattered across British Columbia,” Tabata said. “This monument makes those people, places and stories visible again, permanently.” ## A Survivor’s Memory Mary Kitagawa, a survivor, recalled the day her family’s life changed on Salt Spring Island. “We had a wonderful life on our family’s 17-acre farm on Salt Spring Island,” she said. “Then, when I was seven years old, an RCMP officer came and took my father away.” Kitagawa remembered running after the truck with her sisters, crying for their father to return. “From that point on, our lives changed forever,” she said, “and that is a memory I have never been able to erase.” Howard Shimokura, another survivor, said seeing family names together on the wall was deeply moving. He described the physical, emotional and cultural impact of forced uprooting, incarceration, dispossession and dispersal on Japanese Canadians. “So much of our history was lost or remains unknown,” Shimokura said. “I hope people come to see all these names together, learn about the communities where we lived and carry that history forward.” ## Redress Funding Supports Project Funding for the project came in 2022 through a $100-million redress package provided by the B.C. government. The monument places that investment in one of the province’s most visible civic settings, near the Legislature, where visitors can encounter thousands of names rather than history reduced to a single plaque or date. The scale is deliberate: 100 granite panels across 300 feet. Each panel contributes to a wall that records people uprooted from communities throughout British Columbia, alongside children born after their families’ displacement. ## A Place for Reflection The Japanese Canadian Legacies Society has presented the monument as a place for remembrance, reflection and learning, connecting individual names to a larger history that continues to shape families and communities. According to Newswire, the monument was designed by KPMB Architects and PFS Studio and constructed by Chandos Construction. For Kitagawa, Shimokura and other survivors and descendants, the wall does not erase what happened. But it ensures the people affected will no longer be absent from public view. **Reader-funded. No ads. No paywall.** The Canada Report is independent, reader-funded Canadian news — no advertisers, nothing behind a paywall, kept free for everyone. If you value it, you can help keep it that way. [Support The Canada Report →](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/support/) --- [*Source 1*](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/japanese-canadian-monument-opens-in-victoria-honouring-a-community-s-history-and-resilience-838952162.html?ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 2*](https://oakbaynews.com/2026/10/03/life-behind-each-name-victoria-monument-honours-japanese-canadians-interned-during-ww2/?ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 3*](https://www.europesays.com/japan/100952/?ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 4*](https://globalnews.ca/video/12085649/japanese-canadian-monument-unveiled-in-victoria/?ref=thecanadareport.ca) ## Sign up for The Canada Report Your modern digest of Canadian news. Friendly, clear, and in your inbox. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.