Remembrance Day 2025 

Wearing our poppies, we listen to the Last Post, a bugle call signalling the end of a soldier’s day and commemorating those who have died. We pause for two minutes at 11 a.m. on November 11. We reflect as we listen to the reading of the poem, In Flanders Fields.  

Remembrance Day ceremonies take place in communities across Canada including a televised ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.  

The original day was known as Armistice Day and started in 1919 on the second Monday in November and then in 1921, it was switched to the week of November 11 and coincided with Thanksgiving Day. Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day in 1931, and the federal government declared that it would be observed annually on November 11, and they also moved Thanksgiving Day to another date. The focus of the day would be to remember the sacrifice of the soldiers not political and military campaigns. 

This year, as I have done every year as an executive member of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC), I will attend the ceremony at the Japanese Canadian War Memorial in Stanley Park. I will lay a wreath on behalf of the NAJC.  

The cenotaph, the Japanese Canadian War Memorial was built in 1920 with funds from the Japanese Canadian community who wanted to honour the 225 Japanese Canadians who served Canada in the First World War. Saburo Shinobu gave a speech at the unveiling. Shinobu worked at the head office of the Canadian Japanese Association and helped Japanese Canadian soldiers before being sent and then after they returned, he was devoted to their rehabilitation, and assisted as an interpreter and consultant.  

The monument comprises a 34 foot (10.36 metre) sandstone column. The base is 12 feet divided into 12 sections with the names of the battles including The Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele. There are bronze plates which include the 225 names of volunteers from the First World War including the 54 dead and the names of the survivors. At the top of the column is a marble Japanese lantern. The lantern was supposed to be permanently lit, however, it was put out in 1942 when Japanese Canadians were forcibly uprooted, dispossessed, incarcerated and exiled. The lantern would not be relit until 43 years later. 

David Mitsui, describes how his grandfather, First World War veteran, Sgt. Masumi Mitsui, felt at the relighting. “He was especially proud, at the age of 97 years old, to be invited to re-dedicate the Japanese Canadian War Memorial Cenotaph on August 2, 1985 with the re-lighting of the eternal flame, stand and salute as he proclaimed, “I have done my last duty for my comrades…they are gone but not forgotten.”  Lest we forget.” 

Despite the heroism and bravery of the First World War Japanese Canadian veterans, there was opposition to the granting of franchise to them. Saburo Shinobu was an officer of the Canadian Japanese Association, and he helped with the circulating of a petition to members of the provincial legislation and sending a delegation in the spring of 1920. The Japanese Canadian veterans continued the fight and in 1925, they formed Number 9, their own branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. Slowly, they started to garner support from other veterans, Finally, on April 1, 1931, franchise was granted to the Japanese Canadian veterans. The amendment passed by one vote.  

David Mitsui said, “As the first President of the British Empire Service League Local Branch # 9 (now Royal Canadian Legion), Sgt Masumi Mitsui, Secretary Sinosuke Kubota and Advisor Saburo Shinobu, led the contingent of lobbyists to Victoria in 1931 and were successful in the Japanese Canadian veterans of WWI gaining the right to vote…an accomplishment recognized by Parks Canada in 2011 as a significant event of national historical importance because it was the first time a person of Asian ancestry was given the right to vote in British Columbia.” 

Susan Yatabe, granddaughter of Saburo Shinobu, said, “My mother often spoke of her father, who died before my birth, as a wise and educated Renaissance man who could have been a diplomat. Because of his work and his command of English, he was acquainted with many people throughout British Columbia. He is our undisputed family rock star. He mingled with royalty, received many awards and honours, was greeted as a hero in France, and was interned for 3 and a half years by his own country, Canada.” 

The First World War veterans would face another challenge in 1942 when the federal government would forcibly uproot 22,000 Japanese Canadians from the west coast of British Columbia including First World War Japanese Canadian veterans. They would also lose their hard won right to vote.  

Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in December 1941, and war was declared. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbour, the Canadian government authorized the dispossession of Japanese Canadians. About 1,200 Japanese Canadian fishing boats were taken, and then sold without the owners’ consents.  

The attack on Pearl Harbour was used by the racist politicians to push a hateful agenda. It wasn’t just uprooting, they took all property and possessions (farms, businesses, homes, vehicles, equipment, furniture, tools, appliances, personal items) of Japanese Canadians, sold everything without their permission, and put them into incarceration camps. The government had been told by the RCMP and the Canadian military that there wasn’t any Japanese Canadian who had committed any act of treason or sabotage. In fact, most of the Japanese Canadians were born in Canada and were multi-generational families who settled here in the 1800s or early 1900s. 

Just like in the First World War, Japanese Canadians wanted to prove their loyalty by signing up to serve their country, Canada. And like the First World War Japanese Canadian veterans, they faced rejection.  

My uncle Buck, Tatsuro Suzuki, was one of the Japanese Canadians who was denied. 

My paternal side of the family came in 1906 and settled on Oikawa Island near Annacis Island in the Fraser River. My uncle Buck was born on Oikawa Island. My paternal side were fishers and boat builders.  

Buck Suzuki was a fisher, and spokesperson for the Upper Fraser River Japanese Fisherman’s Association in the 1930s. At that time, the unions wouldn’t allow Japanese Canadians to join so they formed their own association, but my uncle was trying to build a relationship and work towards his dream of an inclusive union and society. In 1936, he was one of the founding members of the Japanese Canadian Citizens’ League (JCCL) advocating for the rights and equality for Japanese Canadians. 

The Canadian Army rejected Japanese Canadians. The British Army recognized their value, and offered to sign them up. Some signed on like my uncle. In 1945, it had been over three years, since the Joint Services Committee had first recommended enlistment of Japanese Canadians in the Canadian army. Facing increasing pressure, some speculate a message from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the Cabinet War Committee agreed to accept 100 Japanese Canadians. 148 Japanese Canadian me enlisted. Later it was decided that the Japanese Canadians were on loan to the British and Australian forces. 

Buck Suzuki left with a group of eleven other Nisei (2nd generation Japanese Canadians) on March 4, 1945. They headed to England and then India. He joined the Southeast Asia Translator Interrogator Centre in Rangoon. As a newly promoted warrant officer, he went to Singapore to work in broadcasting and also did war crimes investigation work in the Malay peninsula. 

He stayed for 19 months, missing the birth of his son. He wrote to his wife, “I wanted to go home more than anything else, but there is still unfinished work here, and I’m afraid we might undo what good we have done by leaving now. I’m a sucker or a dreamer, but I feel I have to carry on a little longer.”  

Suzuki finally returned in 1946 to see his wife and son. 

The Second World War ended in 1945, but because of the racism of some of the politicians, the incarceration of Japanese Canadians continued under the National Emergency Transitional Powers Act of 1945. Japanese Canadians would not be released until 1949, four years after the Second World War ended.  

Japanese Canadians loyally served Canada in the First and Second World Wars. They did it despite the racism they faced since they first settled in Canada in the 1800s, and despite the incarceration from 1942 to 1949. They continue to be loyal Canadians and have served Canada in subsequent conflicts. 

Every year at the cenotaph in Stanley Park, we honour the Japanese Canadians who served Canada. Mandy Shintani organizes the event as the chair of the Japanese Canadian War Memorial Committee (JCWMC) and she also has a personal connection. She grew up with a secret hidden in her parents’ closet, a 450-year-old samurai sword. She uncovered stories about her father, George Shintani and his time working on war crimes with Canadian and British Intelligence. You can listen to Mandy’s podcast, The Samurai In Our Closet, here.

I asked Mandy about this year’s Remembrance Day ceremony. She said, “The JCWMC looks forward to continuing our long-standing tradition of our special Remembrance Day service at the Japanese Canadian Cenotaph, with David Iwaasa once again serving as the emcee. We hope that Japanese Canadians across the country will join us by watching the live stream.”