NAJC SUPPORTS UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA FIELD SCHOOL

OUR GOAL FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
The NAJC has a mandate to publicly educate learners – of all ages – about our history which includes  forced uprooting & internment, dispossession & dispersal, and redress & renewal. Our goal is to ensure this history is taught in Canadian schools. We are open to support multiple initiatives on this topic. One project we support is the Landscapes of Injustice, with funding for the development of teacher resources and in-service workshops. 2019 marks the first year a field school will be held to provide in-service teachers with a tool kit of resources to teach the history of internment and dispossession in school districts across the country. The teacher resources cluster has made a national outreach and sought applicants directly from 217 school districts in Canada. Our funding of $30,500 over two years, offsets the costs for teachers travelling across Canada for the field school, and it also goes directly towards the development of the resources. The NAJC has been actively involved in Landscapes of Injustice since 2015.

WHAT IS LANDSCAPES OF INJUSTICE
Landscapes of Injustice is a partnership project on the dispossession of the property of Japanese Canadians in the 1940s. Funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, its national team works to understand why the property of Japanese Canadians was forcibly sold, who benefited, and how the history of property loss has been remembered, and forgotten, in the decades since. In 2018 the project received an Award of Excellence from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation for anti-racist education. It currently focusses on initiatives to encourage public discussion, including educational resources designed by experienced teachers and an exhibit co-curated by the Nikkei National Museum (NNM) and the Royal BC Museum (RBCM). This exhibit will launch in 2020 at the NNM and then travel east across the country. It will conclude with a 2022 finale at the RBCM, bringing the Landscapes of Injustice project to a close.

ABOUT THE FIELD SCHOOL
In recognition of the need for teacher outreach and training, the project is launching this July a UVIC Field School for in-service teachers from across Canada, which it hopes to run for the three remaining years of the project. The course begins with the NNM’s one-week tour of internment sites in the BC interior, where participants will learn this history from community leaders. Then, in an intensive week at UVIC, participants will discuss recent research, receive custom-developed teaching resources, and learn from experienced teachers how they approach this topic in their own classrooms.

PROJECT PARTNERS
Project partners include: University of Victoria (host), Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Library and Archives Canada, National Association of Japanese Canadians, Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall, Royal British Columbia Museum, Simon Fraser University, University of Alberta, and the University of Winnipeg.


CALL OUT FOR AN ADDITIONAL APPLICANT…
While the call out for interested in-service teachers was thorough in four provinces, there is one more spot for a teacher with links to the Japanese Canadian community.  Please read about this exciting opportunity.

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