The Daily UbuntuThread 05 · War and Reconciliation · September 25, 2026
Repairing, for their children and for ours
In 1988, Canada recognized the injustice done to Japanese Canadians during the war and chose to repair, not just to regret.
1 · The scene
In the basement of a church in Villeray, a white-haired woman teaches origami to the neighbourhood children. Her fingers fold the paper without hesitation. A boy asks her where she learned.
"In a little house, far from the sea. We had to leave everything behind." She says nothing more. She places a paper crane in the boy's hand. "Here. This one is for you."
Original vignette
2 · The documented case
The 1988 Redress Agreement
In 1942, during the Second World War, the federal government invoked the War Measures Act. About 23,000 Japanese Canadians, men, women and children, were driven from their homes. More than 75% of them had been born in Canada or were naturalized. Many were sent to camps in the interior or to farms on the Prairies. Their property was sold without their consent.
After the war, about 4,000 people were exiled to Japan. The last restrictions were not lifted until 1949.
The community, led notably by the National Association of Japanese Canadians, sought justice for years. On September 22, 1988, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the Association's president, Art Miki, announced a redress agreement. The government offered an official apology. Each person directly affected received $21,000. A $12 million community fund was created, as well as $24 million to establish the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, tasked with fighting racism across the country.
What stands out is that the repair did not stop with yesterday's victims. It built a tool for everyone who would come after. That is Ubuntu justice: repairing a wound by strengthening the whole "us."
3 · The voice
“To set things right with their children, and with ours.”
4 · The question
What repair, here at home, could benefit not only those who were hurt, but everyone's children too?
Sources
- Canadian Museum for Human Rights, "Japanese Canadian internment and the struggle for redress." humanrights.ca
- National Association of Japanese Canadians, "Japanese Canadian History." najc.ca
- Canadian Race Relations Foundation, "Redress and Momentum," September 2025. crrf-fcrr.ca
Every figure on this page links to a verifiable public source.
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