Paul Yee‘s letter of support to save the Kogawa House to the mayor and council:
From : Paul Yee
To: mayorandcouncil AT vancouver.ca
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 6:57 PM
Subject: save kogawa house
Mayor Campbell, City Councillors
City of Vancouver
I am writing to add my voice to many others that are asking that you take action to prevent the demolition of the Joy Kogawa House located at 1450 West 64th Avenue in Vancouver.
I have been writing about Vancouver’s Chinese Canadians in history and in fiction for some twenty-five years now, and I firmly believe that this house is of historical and literary significance. It is of especial importance because of its roots in Vancouver’s Japanese-Canadian community, which was uprooted and destroyed during World War II by the governments of the day. The built environment of the past is particularly fragile in Vancouver these days given the tremendous population and development pressures that exist. However, this is an occasion when delicate human memory requires the solid, three-dimensional frame of a house to endure and to flourish.
I urge you to preserve the Kogawa House.
Yours truly
Paul Yee
Toronto, ON