The Land Concervancy Joins Community Efforts to Save Joy Kogawa’s Childhood Home
The Campaign Is Underway: “118 Days, and Counting”
December 2, 2005
VANCOUVER, BC – Community efforts to save Joy Kogawa’s childhood home from the wrecking ball moved into a new phase today as The Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC) has agreed to lead the campaign to acquire the house and secure its protection.
“The Kogawa house is a very important part of British Columbia’s heritage,” said TLC’s Executive Director Bill Turner, “and we are determined to see it protected. As of today, we have only 118 days to raise the funds needed to achieve this. We will need to raise $1.25 million to ensure the future of this site, and we’ll be getting to work immediately.”
The Kogawa house is located in the Marpole neighbourhood of Vancouver, and was the childhood home of noted Canadian author Joy Kogawa. She and her family were removed from the home in 1942 as part of the Government’s policy of internment of Canadians of Japanese ancestry during World War II.” Kogawa’s celebrated novel Obasan is a powerful and heart-rending story of that internment and features the house prominently as part of her childhood recollections. It has been listed by the Literary Review of Canada as one of the 100 most important Canadian books ever written.
Inspired by the Save Kogawa House Committee, many community groups such as the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, Heritage Vancouver and the Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture and other cultural organizations like the Writers’ Union of Canada and the Federation of BC Writers have come together to support the protection of Kogawa House. On November 3 they were able to convince the City of Vancouver to delay a demolition permit on the house for 120 days (effective November 30) to give the community time to raise the funds to buy it. This followed the symbolic planting at City Hall of a graft from the cherry tree at Kogawa House, as Mayor Larry Campbell proclaimed Obasan Cherry Tree Day on November 1.
“I am so touched by the way the community has rallied to protect this house that holds such symbolic importance for me – and for so many others,” said Joy Kogawa. “I just wonder when I’m going to wake up from this dream of miracles.”
Committee spokesperson Ann-Marie Metten said “We are delighted that The Land Conservancy is taking on this project. As British Columbia’s National Trust they have the expertise to know what needs to be done and the ability to do it. They have a great record of success in similar projects around the Province and we all believe that by working together we will be successful here too.”
TLC’s Turner said that the fundraising campaign is underway. “We are calling on everyone who has been moved by Joy Kogawa’s writing to contribute to saving the house. Your contribution will not only recognize and honour Joy’s accomplishments but will also provide the opportunity for a writers-in-residence program that will enable a new generation of writers to be inspired by her work. We are also calling on everyone who has been touched by Canada’s past treatment of communities such as the Japanese-Canadian community. This house will stand as a symbol of the wrongs that were committed in the past, but also as a symbol of what a community can achieve when it pulls together.”
Donations can be made to The Land Conservancy through our website at www.conservancy.bc.ca, or by calling our Lower Mainland Office at (604) 733-2312 or our Head Office in Victoria at (250) 479-8053.