The Farnham Nikkei Memorial Project is an ongoing community-led research initiative organized by the Quebec Chapter of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC-QC). The project’s main goal is to create a lasting memorial to honour the experiences of the Japanese Canadians forcibly relocated to Farnham, Quebec, after World War II, and to increase awareness about this chapter of Quebec Nikkei history.
Farnham is a city in the Eastern Townships, located about 70 kilometres outside of Montreal. For about 18 months in 1946-1947, a military base outside of the city limits was used as a temporary “clearing house” for Japanese Canadians relocating east from British Columbia, after being told that they could not return to their homes following Internment. The families and individuals who stayed at the so-called “Farnham Hostel” often moved on to other cities and towns when they found work and a place to live; many relocated to Montreal, others to Ontario. A few families also stayed in Farnham, working and raising their children there even after the Hostel closed.
While much important work has been done to educate Canadians about the effects of the War Measures Act on Japanese Canadians, there have been fewer opportunities to talk about the subsequent dispersal and fracturing of our community, and our resilience in rebuilding lives in new homes and new provinces. The Farnham Nikkei Memorial, in its physical and online forms, is one way we are making space for this conversation and remembering an important part of our past as Nikkei, as Quebecers, and as Canadians.