Vancouver Sun: Non-profit leads fight to save Kogawa home

Check out this Vancouver Sun story by Kevin Griffin Vancouver Sun

Published: Saturday, December 31, 2005 

In fewer than 90 days, the south Vancouver home that writer Joy Kogawa grew up in and wrote about in the novel Obasan faces being demolished and lost forever as a physical reminder of the internment of 22,000 Japanese-Canadians in B.C. during the Second World War.

In an effort to save the wood-frame house at 1450 W. 64th Ave., The Land Conservancy of B.C. has decided to lead a campaign to raise $1.25 million to save the modest bungalow.

Bill Turner, TLC's executive director, said the Kogawa House is a very important part of the province's heritage.

"Joy is a very well-respected Canadian writer -- the house is important because it was her childhood home," Turner said. "It's also historically important when you tie that together with her book Obasan and with the internment of Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War.

Kogawa lived in the house in the Marpole neighbourhood with her family when she was a child. In 1942, at age six, she and her family were removed from the house under the War Measures Act and interned in a camp in the Slocan Valley. As with thousands of other Canadians of Japanese ancestry, many of whom lived in the Marpole area, Steveston and in what was called Japantown in the Downtown Eastside, the Kogawas had their property auctioned off by the federal government without their consent. After the war, Japanese-Canadians were prohibited from moving back to Vancouver and other coastal areas and instead were dispersed across the country.

Kogawa went on to become one of the country's most celebrated writers. Obasan, described as one of the 100 most important Canadian books ever written, reflects Kogawa's internment experiences and includes many references to the home she lost as a child. It tells the story of internment through the eyes of Naomi Nakane who is protected by her aunt Obasan.

Obasan was selected by the Vancouver Public Library as the selection for One Book, One Vancouver in 2005.

In November, Vancouver council delayed issuing a demotion permit for 120 days starting Nov. 30. The deadline expires Tuesday, March 30.

Turner said the campaign to save the Kogawa house starts in earnest in January. He said the $1.25 million fundraising goal includes $670,000 for the house and property, $170,000 for restoration, and $300,000 for an endowment so that the Kogawa house can become a residence for writers of conscience.

He said anyone wishing to donate to help save the Kogawa house can go to TLC's website at www.conservancy.bc.ca or call TLC at 604-733-2313. So far, the campaign has raised $35,000.

In the first week of January, pledge forms will be distributed to independent bookstores around Greater Vancouver such as Duthie's, Hagar Books, Characters Books, Vancouver Kidsbooks, and 32 Books Co.

"I think the timeline is short but the people of Vancouver will be up to it," Turner said. "We can pull this off."

Usually known as TLC, The Land Conservancy is a non-profit, charitable land trust founded in 1997. Modelled after the National Trust of Great Britain, TLC selects important cultural and natural landscapes for protection. Properties saved by TLC include Victoria's Abkhazi Garden, Sooke Potholes, and Burnaby's Baldwin House, the Arthur Erickson-designed post-and-beam house by Deer Lake. The Kogawa house is the TLC's first property in Vancouver.

Joy Kogawa said that the campaign to save her family home has caught her entirely by surprise.

"It's all too magic for words. I'm completely dumfounded by it all," Kogawa said.

"Where does it come from? That concern, that love, that compassion? I don't know whether it was because Obasan was chosen as the one book for the city or that, somehow, some energy formed, just flew out of the ground. People seem to care about it.

"It's more than gratifying -- it's healing. I feel that my cup is absolutely overflowing."

Kogawa said with all public support for the campaign to save her childhood home, it makes her feel as if people are standing by her and saying that her story isn't being forgotten. She said that needs to happen for other people all over the world who feel an internal hollowness when their stories aren't acknowledged.

"There's a need for racism to be understood and for us to see each other not as enemies but as neighbours and to embrace one another. If this can serve that purpose, it will be good for the city and for the country. That would be a wonderful thing."

Besides the Save Kogawa House Committee, groups supporting the campaign include the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, Heritage Vancouver, the Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture as well as the Writers' Union of Canada and the Federation of BC Writers.

kevingriffin@png.canwest.com