Japanese Canadian Survivors Health & Wellness Fund
About the Fund
The Province of BC has provided Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society (Nikkei Seniors) with $2 million as part of its commitment to honour seniors who lived through the traumatic uprooting and displacement of almost 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. The Province of BC is acknowledging the role they played in the historical wrongs committed against the Japanese Canadian community during the period between 1942 and April 1, 1949. The grant came out of the efforts of the National Association of Japanese Canadians’ (NAJC) BC Redress initiative. The NAJC is currently in talks with the BC Provincial Government to determine multiple legacy initiatives for the community.
Purpose
The Nikkei Seniors has designated the $2 million for the Japanese Canadian Survivors Health & Wellness Fund (“Fund”).
At its core, the fund is primarily targeted at seniors who were directly impacted – uprooted and displaced – by the BC Government during this period. By extension, seniors whose families left BC during the war but were born out of province from 1942-1949 are part of this demographic. Nikkei Seniors will also strive to include impacted seniors who were not displaced yet lived in BC and suffered through this era and its aftermath. The fund will be distributed in Canada.
The purpose of the Fund is to provide grants to enhance programs, activities, and services that will directly benefit the health and wellness of these living survivors.
This Fund is an initial step to meet the health and wellness needs of these Japanese Canadian survivors and provide community asset mapping to identify health care gaps and this data will be used for future projects.
The project timeline is one year.