Mistakes of the past finally corrected says Nelson/Creston MLA
By Nelson Daily Staff
Nelson/Creston MLA Michelle Mungall is pleased to see the B.C. government finally awarding degrees to 75 Japanese-Canadian UBC students denied degrees because they were interned during the Second World War.
One of the recipients is 93-year-old Fred Sasaki of Kaslo
“Separated from his family, Fred was forced out of UBC. The racism was dehumanizing and cruel,” said Mungall in a written press release.
“I want to congratulate Fred and his classmates. You have overcome injustice, contributed to your communities and made Canada a better place.”
The province issued a formal apology to Japanese Canadians for its involvement in their interment in the 1940s.
Mungall noted that the Minister of Advanced Education, who delivered the apology, shared her own family’s experience to illustrate how important the apology is in rectifying the past.
“While professors spoke out against the injustice, it took seventy years for them and the students to finally be heard,” Mungall said.
Sasaki saw members of his family sent to an internment camp located on the current site of the Kaslo Hotel overlooking Kootenay Lake.
