How much do you know about the history of Japanese internment in British Columbia?
The Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre (NIMC), located in New Denver, 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.
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.
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 NIMC 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 artifacts, interpretive displays, and Heiwa Teien garden designed by the renowned Roy (Tomomichi) Sumi chronicle this extraordinary episode in Canadian history.
- Canada’s Historic Places – Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre National Historic Site of Canada
- Village of New Denver
- Location map: Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre National Historic Site of Canada, 306 Josephine Street, New Denver, British Columbia, Canada
Submission courtesy of the Village of New Denver.
