22,000 Names Etched in Granite as Victoria Monument Remembers Japanese Canadian Internment

A major memorial project in Victoria is taking shape as a permanent tribute to more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly removed from their homes and communities and sent to internment camps during the Second World War.

The Japanese Canadian Monument Park, being developed near Beacon Hill Park and St. Ann’s Academy, will feature a sweeping granite wall carrying the names of those affected by one of the darkest chapters in British Columbia’s history.

The centrepiece of the memorial consists of 100 granite slabs, each weighing approximately half a ton. Together, the panels will create a curved wall stretching about 300 feet through the site.

The names engraved into the granite represent people whose lives were profoundly disrupted after the Canadian government imposed restrictions on Japanese Canadians during the war.

The monument is expected to be dedicated on October 3, with the ceremony planned to include Japanese Canadian elders sharing personal and family stories about the internment period. The dedication is also expected to be livestreamed, allowing people outside Victoria to participate.

The memorial is intended to be more than a monument. Organizers describe it as a place for education, reflection, healing and intergenerational remembrance.

A Japanese inspired garden will surround and complement the granite wall, creating a space where visitors can learn about the history while also having an opportunity for quiet reflection.

Among the names engraved on the monument are more than 3,000 children who were born after the forced removal began and before Japanese Canadians were permitted to return to the British Columbia coast in 1949.

Organizers say the memorial also highlights an important part of the history that existed before the internment.

Of the more than 22,000 people represented on the wall, approximately 76 per cent were born in British Columbia. They had established families, businesses, farms and communities across the province before wartime policies transformed their lives.

During the Second World War, more than 90 per cent of Japanese Canadians living in British Columbia were detained or forcibly displaced under the War Measures Act. A large majority were Canadian citizens.

The government established an exclusion zone extending roughly 160 kilometres from the Pacific coast and removed Japanese Canadian families from their homes.

Many were transported to camps in the British Columbia Interior, including locations associated with former mining operations and agricultural areas. Others were sent to road construction camps or forced to work on sugar beet farms in Alberta.

Some families were separated, while others were relocated to different parts of Canada, including Ontario and Manitoba.

The displacement also involved the loss of homes, businesses, farms, fishing boats and personal belongings. Property belonging to Japanese Canadians was confiscated and sold, often without allowing families to recover the full value of what they had built over decades.

The impact extended far beyond the initial removal. Families lost their economic security, communities were broken apart and thousands of people were forced to rebuild their lives elsewhere.

Approximately 4,000 Japanese Canadians were eventually sent to Japan. For some, the country was unfamiliar because they had been born and raised in Canada and had little connection with Japan.

The new monument seeks to ensure that these experiences remain part of Canada’s public history.

The extensive research behind the project took more than seven years. The University of Victoria’s Humanities Computing and Media Centre worked with the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society to research, verify and compile the names that appear on the memorial.

The project forms part of a broader effort to acknowledge the historical treatment of Japanese Canadians in British Columbia.

In 2022, the provincial government announced a $100 million redress package supporting heritage, education and community initiatives connected to the historical injustices experienced by Japanese Canadians during the war.

The monument is one of the most visible projects emerging from that commitment.

The design has involved architects, landscape specialists, community representatives and construction professionals. Architect Jack Kobayashi initially worked with the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society to establish the project’s concept and scale.

Toronto based architecture firm KPMB later became involved in the design, with founding partner Bruce Kuwabara leading the architectural work. Vancouver based landscape architect Kelty Miyoshi McKinnon of PFS Studio worked on the surrounding landscape.

Chandos Construction is serving as the general contractor, while the granite panels are being engraved by a Quebec based specialist.

Interpretive boulders at the site will provide additional historical and cultural information, including a dedication from the Songhees First Nation.

The location itself adds significance to the project. Situated near Beacon Hill Park and St. Ann’s Academy, the memorial will become a publicly accessible place where residents, visitors, students and future generations can encounter this history.

The Japanese Canadian Monument Park is expected to open to the public following its October 3 dedication. Guided small group tours are planned for October 4 through 7, giving visitors an opportunity to learn more about the people represented by the names on the wall and the circumstances surrounding their displacement.

For Japanese Canadian families, the monument represents an opportunity to remember relatives whose lives were interrupted by government policies based on wartime suspicion and discrimination.

For the wider community, it provides a permanent reminder of the consequences of removing civil rights and treating an entire population as a security threat because of its ancestry.

The thousands of names carved into stone are therefore more than a historical record. Each name represents an individual, a family and a life that existed in British Columbia before the internment.

By preserving those names in a public space, the memorial aims to ensure that the experiences of Japanese Canadians are not forgotten and that future generations can understand how discrimination and the loss of fundamental rights affected Canadian communities.

The project also reflects a broader effort to confront difficult chapters in Canadian history rather than allowing them to disappear from public memory.

As construction nears completion, the curved granite wall is becoming a powerful physical representation of that history. More than 22,000 names will stand together in one place, creating a lasting memorial to those who lost their homes, possessions, communities and freedoms during the Second World War.

The monument’s message extends beyond remembrance. It is also intended to encourage reflection on the importance of equality, human rights, citizenship and the protection of communities during times of fear and national crisis.

With its dedication scheduled for October, Victoria will soon have a permanent space where the history of Japanese Canadian internment can be remembered not only through dates and government policies, but through the names of the people who lived through it.