In late 2024, the Sedai Oral History Collection received funding from the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society to enhance our archival storage infrastructure and to activate and expand the collection during 2025-2026.
There are three main ‘pillars’ of the project:
- Preservation: Updating our collection to meet current archival standards for digitization of old media, secure storage, and better description of our records. We will improve access through the transcription of over 200 hours of interviews. This crucial groundwork will allow us to remain a trustworthy repository for oral histories from across the broader Japanese Canadian community, now and into the future.
- Outreach and education: Providing resources and support for Japanese Canadians to record oral histories of family members or community elders. The JCCC will be offering both in person and online workshops about how to best capture oral histories, as well as a youth researcher program for young Nikkei to engage with the community archive.
- Activation and Expansion: Using existing footage, we will be creating short documentaries to showcase the value of this collection. We will also be expanding our collection by accepting donations of Japanese Canadian oral histories created within the community, becoming a repository for community members and researchers alike.
Ways to get involved
Workshops:
Do you want to record stories with your family members but don’t know where to start? JCCC Heritage Staff will be presenting interactive oral history workshops both online and in-person for Japanese Canadian groups and individuals.
Participants will learn about preserving stories, interviewing, recording techniques, and informed consent.
If you are a Japanese Canadian organization wanting to request a workshop, please contact Karen Suzuki directly (karens@jccc.on.ca, 416-441-2345, ext. 300). We can arrange an online workshop and may be able to travel within Ontario.
If you are an individual, please fill out the following Google Form to express interest. We will contact you to let you know when the next workshops will take place! Workshops will be either online or in-person.
We have two workshops coming up this summer.
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Saturday July 11, 2:00pm (right before Natsu Matsuri)
Location: JCCC
Register -
Saturday August 1, 12:00pm to 2:30pm
Location: The 50th Annual Powell Street Festival
Vancouver Japanese Language School, 4F
No Registration Required
Donations of interview footage:
The Sedai Oral History Collection will consider donations of audio and video recordings of original interviews with people in the Japanese Canadian community or about Japanese Canadian history. If accepted, these interviews will become part of Sedai and will be kept safe for long-term preservation and access.
For inquiries, contact Claire at clairef@jccc.on.ca or 416-441-2345, ext. 303.
We will consider donations in any format. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept all donations. We will not accept: TV, radio or commercial recordings; recordings without permissions from the interviewee or their family; and/or recordings that do not meet collection priorities. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
No footage to donate? There are other ways to support Sedai. For more information, visit Donate.
Sedai Youth Creator Lab:
Our Sedai Youth Creators are working with JCCC Staff and the SYCL Mentors on several training workshops. They will be developing story themes to guide their interviews with community members. These recordings will be adapted into short documentaries with guidance from mentors, professional filmmakers, and JCCC staff.
Join us on December 16, 2026 to celebrate the public screening of the Sedai Youth Creator Lab documentaries! This screening will be the capstone event of both the Sedai Youth Creator Lab and the JCLS funded Sedai Grant Project.
Bios of Sedai Youth Creator Lab Students & Mentors