On November 19-21, 2010, the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) hosted The Japanese Canadian Experience Conference: Sharing Your Stories of the War Years. The JCCC has recognized the importance of documenting the history of Japanese Canadians during WWII and so through this conference, the JCCC has invited all niseis to share their stories. The conference brought together 370 participants primarily from Ontario as well as individuals from Montreal, Alberta, Winnipeg, and Victoria.
The conference opened with a reception on Friday, November 19 with performance by the Lemon Creek Harmonica Band (Noji Murase, Junji Ikeno, George Tsushima, George Funamoto, and Ako Matsubayashi) and a speech by Dr. Greg Robinson, an Associate Professor at the l’Université du Québec à Montréal, and author of A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America. The following day, Dr. Satsuki Ina, Professor Emeritus at the California State University, gave a keynote speech on the importance of sharing memories that kicked off the primary portion of the conference where nisei storytellers share their personal experiences. On day two, journalist and WWII veteran, Frank Moritsugu conducted a seminar on the key events of Japanese Canadian history. The conference also presented a screening of Brendan Uegama’s film, Henry’s Glasses.