The Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre
The Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre is a National Historic Site dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of the internment of over 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War.
Mission
The purpose of the NIMC is to collect, preserve, conserve, research, exhibit, and interpret objects which represent the life and condition of the Nikkei living in the New Denver and West Kootenay camps between 1942-1957.
Description
Nik•kei (日系) : people or a person of Japanese heritage. Commonly used in Japan to refer to people of Japanese ancestry that are living abroad as citizens of other countries.
The Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre opened its doors in 1994 as an initiative from the New Denver Kyowakai Society to commemorate and honor the stories of over 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were stripped of their civil rights, labelled “enemy aliens” and uprooted from their coastal homes during the Second World War. Located on the site of a former internment camp, the original buildings, period artefacts, interpretive displays, and Heiwa Teien garden designed by the renowned Roy (Tomomichi) Sumi, chronicle this extraordinary episode in Canadian history.
For further information on the historical significance of the Nikkei Internment Memorial Site please visit HistoricPlaces.ca
Pour obtenir de l’information sur le lieu historique national du Canada du Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre, veuillez visiter Lieux Patrimoniaux de Canada.
To learn more about the history of the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre and the Japanese Canadian internment, please see our NIMC Resource Document to access links to websites, museums, films and much more.