Our annual Nikkei Veterans' Lunch will be held on Thursday, November 9, at 11:00am. The event will feature a service of remembrance for all Japanese Canadians who have served, a screening of the short film Minoru: Memory of Exile by Michael Fukushima, and a luncheon. We encourage you to join us in honouring our Veterans. Preregistration is required by November 1 for those who wish to remain for the luncheon. The cost of the luncheon will be $20 (+HST). There will be no cost to attend the service of remembrance. 

Screening of Minoru: Memory of Exile at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre

Update (11/06): Michael Fukushima is no longer able to join us for a post-screening discussion, but we will still be screening Minoru.

Minoru: Memory of Exile – directed by Michael Fukushima (19 minutes, 1992) The bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor by a nation he knew only by name thrust nine-year-old Minoru Fukushima into a world of racism so malevolent he would be forced to leave Canada, the land of his birth. Like thousands of other Japanese Canadians, Minoru and his family were branded as an enemy of Canada, dispatched to internment camps in the interior of British Columbia, and finally deported to Japan. Directed by Michael Fukushima, Minoru's son, the film artfully combines classical animation with archival material. The memories of the father are interspersed with the voice of the son, weaving a tale of suffering and survival, of a birthright lost and recovered.

About Michael Fukushima

For 40 years, Michael Fukushima has been an animator and filmmaker, and for 24 of those years was a producer and eventually head of the National Film Board of Canada’s Animation Studio. He’s directed, produced, or executive produced over 200 films, is a member of the AMPAS® Academy and produced three Oscar-nominated animation shorts and executive produced a fourth. Though mostly retired, he is Executive Producer-in-Residence at OCADU’s Experimental Animation programme, and otherwise skis, cycles, and advises on projects with filmmakers he admires.