Interview with Aiko Murakami (nee Kondo)

Aiko Kondo Murakami was born on March 13th, 1917 in Steveston, British Columbia. The interview is about Aiko Kondo Murakami and her family life in Steveston, Victoria, and Vancouver (before World War II); Kaslo and New Denver (during World War II); and Hamilton, Toronto, and Edmonton (after World War II). She discusses her parents’ working conditions: fishing, bookkeeping, and transforming immigrant wives. She talks a little bit about the history of Oriental Home. She attained a school education through Northward School, Victoria High School, Marietta’s School of Costume Design, and Ryerson University. She worked as a teacher, Vice-Principal, and Principal at the schools in New Denver; as a domestic in Toronto, at Lacey’s Brothers, and as a secretary for a Japanese firm. She was heavily involved in the Japanese Canadian Citizens League, redress, the Momiji Foundation, the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, and a community centre in Edmonton.