A place for cherry trees to bloom

Kevin James presents his design for a memorial to Japanese Canadians interned during the Second World War.

Ripped from their homes and stripped of their property, 22,000 Japanese-Canadians, primarily from British Columbia, were crammed into internment camps during the Second World War. While Canadians are regarded as liberators overseas, oppression was occurring at home.

Japanese-Canadian internment during the war is as much a part of Canadian history as the landing on Juno Beach on D-Day. But an acknowledgement of the injustice in the form of a national cultural institution or memorial doesn’t exist.

Dalhousie graduate Kevin James would like to change that. And now his vision to bring awareness to this difficult subject has earned him a national award.

Mr. James, 33, has received the Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, given to architects and architectural graduates for buildings in the design stage, for his design “Seeking Specificity in the Universal: A Memorial for Japanese Canadians Interned During the Second World War.” The Toronto native graduated from Dalhousie in May 2008 with a Masters of Architecture.

“I wanted to address something history hasn't really talked about,” says Mr. James. “Everyone knows about the crimes against Jewish people in the Second World War and to ignore similar crimes in North America and wash over them is irresponsible.” 

After travelling to B.C. and researching at the Nikkei Heritage Museum and the University of British Columbia and touring the site of a large camp, Mr. James designed a full-scale memorial over the site. The landscape-based design features a submerged path that takes visitors through the camp to the sites of the 350 shacks where 2,600 people were imprisoned.

“The design makes you understand the magnitude of the camp,” says Mr. James. “Visitors would actually get a sense of the scale of the internment by walking the full length of the camp.”

The design isn’t limited to Japanese cultural symbols. “This event is part of Canadian history and I wanted all Canadians, regardless of ethnicity to be part of it.”

On the site of each shack, visitors would plant cherry trees requiring ongoing maintenance. This ensures that the design is not only a memorial site, but a lasting commitment to acknowledge the past.

“Books tell you the history,” he says. “The role of architecture can actually put you in that place, providing a visceral experience of the site.”

Mr. James, now working for RDH Architects in Toronto, is grateful for the award and would like to one day see his vision become reality. “I was surprised to win, I'm very pleased,” he says. “Hopefully this will help get the issue out in the open and discussed, eventually to the level of the federal government.”