Joy of Canadian Words Fundraiser | Report by Todd Wong

by | Apr 26, 2006 | Events, Save the House | 0 comments

Joy of Canadian Words Fundraiser
Joy of Canadian Words: April 25th Fundraiser for Kogawa House – Actors Read Canadian Literary Works to Astound!

7:30pm, April 25th, 2006
Christ Church Cathedral at Georgia and Burrard

A beaming Joy Kogawa stands between the evening’s co-hosts Todd Wong (Save Kogawa House committee) and Bill Turner (The Land Conservancy), following a magical evening of reading performances – photo by Deb Martin.
The audience listened attentively to literary interpretations of how Coyote played a role in the Japanese internment and confiscation of property, as written through the comical lens of Thomas King.  The short story “Coyote and the Enemy Aliens” was read by Chief Rhonda Larrabee of the Qayqayt First Nations. It is painted a funny but ugly truth about how Canadians of Japanese descent were deprived of basic citizenship rights, and had their property confiscated for no reason other than possessing Japanese ancestry, even if they were 3rd generation Canadian. The trickster figure of Coyote is used to create a metaphor for mischief, as the BC and Canadian government found reasons based on racism, to move the Japanese out of Canada, and keep them from reclaiming their wrongfully confiscated property, homes and fishing boats.
This event was to raise money and awareness about the house that author Joy Kogawa grew up in. When she was 6 years old, her family was forced from the only home she had ever known and forced to live in what she described as shacks for the next 30 years. The family was interned in Slocan, than sent to work beet farms in Alberta, “to work for nothing and prove their loyalty to Canada,” as Coyote said in the Thomas King story.

Actors and cultural celebrities were invited to read some of Canada’s most important literary works. Obasan and some of the works read such as Anne of Green Gables are listed on the recent Literary Review of Canada’s 100 Most Important Canadian Books Ever Written. Authors such as Thomas King and Leonard Cohen were also presented, to create a short but incredibly rich and diverse sampling of Canadian literary riches.

Bill Turner, executive director of The Land Conservancy of BC, opened up the evening explaining how the Land Conservancy became involved  in  leading the fundraising to turn Kogawa’s child hood home into a literary and historic land mark for Vancouver.

“It is much more than a house,” stated Turner citing the importance and role of Kogawa House in the literary works of Obasan and Naomi’s Road, “It is a symbol of what we can create for society, to ensure that such racism never happens again.”

Bill Turner, co-host for the evening, executive director of The Land Conservancy – photo by Deb Martin.
Bill Turner, executive director of The Land Conservancy – photo by Deb Martin.
Sheryl Mackay reading from Anne of Green Gables at “Joy of Canadian Words” Kogawa House fundraiser – photo Deb Martin
Sheryl Mackay reading from Anne of Green Gables at “Joy of Canadian Words” – photo by Deb Martin.
Sheryl Mackay, host of CBC Radio’s weekend program “North By Northwest” read from Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. McKay is a native Prince Edward Islander, and told of many people who go to visit “Anne of Green Gables House” telling themselves “This is where she slept.”

McKay secretly commented to the audience “She isn’t real – she’s just a work of fiction.” McKay also pointed out that Kogawa House is real, and that Joy Kogawa actually slept in the bedrooms of Kogawa House, and it would be wonderful to save the house for generations to visit.

Joy Coghill, esteemed and legendary actor read from Emily Carr’s “Klee Wyck,” a collection of sketches about Carr’s experience with First Nations peoples. The book had won the Governor General’s prize for non-fiction.

Joy Coghill was amazing to watch. The timing and delivery was breathtaking as she read from Emily Carr’s “Klee-wyck.” As I watched, I knew that we had really hit the jackpot when we decided to ask actors to choose a book to read.

Joy Coghill read from Emily Carr’s “Klee Wyck” – photo Deb Martin
Joy Coghill reads from Emily Carr’s “Klee Wyck” – photo by Deb Martin.
3rd up was actor Doris Chilcott, again amazing to watch as the actor’s craft of presentation and speaking unfolded. Doris read three Alden Nowlan poems, a gifted writer who served many writers in residence programs across the country.

Next up to hit a home run, was gospel jazz singer Leora Cashe. How could she not hit a home run while singing Leonard Cohen’s song “Dance Me to the End of Love.” Definitely a winner.

Chief Rhonda Larrabee hit another home run, with the insightful and wickedly ironic and humourous Thomas King story titled “Coyote and the Enemy Aliens”? Imagine the trickster figure of Coyote behind the internment of Japanese Canadians and the confiscation of their property. It all sounds like a bad dream, and King makes it so!

I introduced actor Bill Dow, as having recently performed in the play The Diary of Anne Frank, relating how the House of Anne Frank is a major tourist attraction in Amsterdam, and how Kogawa House could be that for Vancouver. Tourist and people making pilgramages could say to each other “This is the house that Joy was taken away from.”

Bill gave a dramatic reading of Aron Buchkowsky’s “The Promised Land.” I pointed out that Buchowsky, Leora Cashe and Joy Kogawa all had fathers who were ministers. Rhonda Larrabee’s great grandfather had been a minister.

Doris Chilcott read poems by Alden Nowlan – photo by Deb Martin

Doris Chilcott read poems by Alden Nowlan – photo by Deb Martin

Rhonda Larrabee, Chief of Qayqayt First Nations, reads “Coyote and the Enemy Aliens” by Thomas King – photo by Deb Martin

Bill Dow reading Aron Buchkowsky’s “The Promised Land” – photo by Deb Martin

Bill next invited to the stage actors, Hiro Kanagawa, Maiko Yamamoto and Manami Hara to read Dorothy Livesay’s radio documentary poem “Call My People Home.” Written in 1949, it is one of the first written pieces to criticize the internment of Japanese Canadians. It was a magical group reading, as the voices took turns speaking alone or in unison, each giving voice to different aspects of the internment and the dispersal of Japanese Canadians, away from their homes on the BC West coast.

Marion Quednau of the Writer’s Union of Canada, gave a spirited explanation about why Kogawa House is an important landmark for all Canadians, by telling the story of how she convinced the city council of Mission to support Kogawa House, by explaining the historical Japanese connections in the Fraser Valley.

I was privileged to introduce Joy Kogawa, and held up the program asking everybody to look at the cover picture of Richmond school children with a smiling white haired lady raising her arms in happiness. “That’s Joy Kogawa…” and I shared some of Joy’s accomplishments.

Joy stood at the podium, and stated simply, “This is wonderful… how could you ask for anything more.” She thanked members of The Land Conservancy and the Save Kogawa House committee for helping bring a dream closer to reality. “I believe in miracles, and these people are miracles,” she shared.

Maiko Yamamoto, Manami Hara, Bill Dow and Hiro Kanagawa, reading Dorothy Livesay’s “Call My People Home” – photo by Deb Martin

Marion Quednau of the Canadian Writer’s Union – photo Deb Martin

Joy Kogawa smiling and expressing “There are miracles!” – photo by Deb Martin

Doris Chilcott, Marion Quednau, Rhonda Larrabee, Sheryl Mackay, Bryan Larrabee – photo by Deb Martin

Joy then read from the prologue of Obasan, then a section describing the house. She then read from a section she had never read from before. It was about the process of how the Canadian government had voted to keep the Japanese Canadians interned up to 1947, and decided to continually exclude them from resettling on the Pacific Coast. It was all decidely heart-breaking and apalling to learn that this was the Canadian government’s doing.

Bill Turner came back and explained how the audience could help support the vision of Kogawa House.

It was a wonderful evening. An evening where there were friendly smiles on everybody’s faces. Strangers greeted strangers. And books were bought and signed. A six year old girl named Ashashi proudly showed me the copy of Obasan that Joy had signed for her.

Then on the evening CTV news… we saw Bill Turner interviewed at our event, as he made his plea for Canadians to support the Kogawa House project.

Cheers, Todd

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