The National Association of Japanese Canadians and the Landscapes of Injustice Partnership Project are proud to jointly announce the:
“HIDE HYODO-SHIMIZU RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP”
Valued at $10,000, this research scholarship will be awarded to a student who was enrolled full time at a Canadian University in the 2014-2015 academic year. The successful applicant will join the Landscapes of Injustice research team in late April 2015, participating in its 2015 national team gathering, and then join the research team for the duration of summer.
Landscapes of Injustice is a 7-year multi-sector and interdisciplinary project to uncover and tell the history of the dispossession of Japanese Canadians to audiences across Canada and beyond. The first years of the project include research in a range of areas necessary to telling this history. Our work will result in a traveling museum exhibit, teaching materials for elementary and secondary school classes, educational websites, scholarly and popular publications, and public presentations across the country. Most Canadians know that people of Japanese ancestry, the large majority of them Canadian citizens, were uprooted from the British Columbia coast during the 1940s. Much less known is the policy, unique to Canada, to forcibly sell all of their property. The dispossession of Japanese Canadians caused lasting harm. It left Japanese Canadians without homes to which they could return after restrictions were finally lifted in 1949. It forced the eradication of Canada’s historic Japanese-Canadian neighbourhoods and settlements, thereby transforming individual lives and identities, and the broader landscapes of Canadian ethnic and urban life. It caused material hardship that stretches across multiple generations.
Like other shameful episodes of our national history, these events may seem to belong to a distant past, to a history left behind by multicultural Canada. In reality, however, the past is not so easily escaped. As Canada enters a century in which it will grow ever more diverse, a deep conversation about the enduring legacy of racism is of pressing importance. Landscapes of Injustice is committed to telling this history. Our team includes 15 institutions and over 30 specialists from universities, community organizations, and museums across Canada. The project is funded by a major grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by participating institutions.
Applications are accepted until 4 pm PST April 16, 2015. See details below.
Position Details
The successful Research Associate will participate with graduate students, faculty, and staff in the second summer of research on this project, beginning April 27, 2015.
They will work in one of two “clusters” of research activity this summer:
- Land Title Research: this cluster works with records of Land Title to learn what precisely happened to the homes and businesses of Japanese Canadians when they were forcibly sold;
- Community Records: this cluster works with community directories, and other local records to reconstruct the communities disrupted by the uprooting and the liquidation of property.
These positions include participation in team meetings, training sessions, and archival research. They may include travel to locations outside of Victoria, with travel and accommodation arranged and paid for by the project.
The fellowship will be paid a wage of $14.65/hr (plus benefits), totaling approximately $8,200 in total wages. The balance of the scholarship will be used to defray other costs associated with training and accommodation as the student participates in the project.
The position will last approximately 16 weeks, depending on specific arrangements with the supervisor.
A faculty or staff member who is a team leader on the project will supervise the Research Associate. Payment of the full funding amount is contingent on successful participation in the project as directed by this supervisor.
Application Details
Should include a:
- A cover letter demonstrating engagement with and strong interest in Japanese Canadian history and community;
- A letter of support from a NAJC local chapter;
- Full official academic transcripts, including for the 2014-2015 academic year;
- CV;
- Contact information for three referees;
Applications should be emailed to Mike Abe, Project Manager, Landscapes of Injustice at mkabe@uvic.ca
We will begin reviewing applications on Friday, April 17, 2015 and continue on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
Hide Hyodo-Shimizu
Hide Shimizu (née Hyodo) was born in Vancouver in 1908 and died in 1999. She spent one year at the University of British Columbia before transferring to Teachers’ Training School. She received her teaching certificate in 1926 and began teaching Grade One at Lord Byng School. Shortly thereafter, the provincial government prohibited any other Japanese Canadian from receiving a certificate. Thus at 18 years old, Hide Hyodo was the first and only Japanese Canadian to hold a teaching certificate. In 1936, she was the female member of a delegation of four sent to Ottawa by the Japanese Canadian Citizen’s League to seek the franchise for Japanese Canadians. Parliament defeated the motion but she and the others set a precedent for a non-white community demanding the vote. With the removal of the Japanese Canadians from the BC coast in 1942, Hide was asked to supervise the education of the Japanese Canadian youth first in Hastings Park, a clearing house for out-of-town Japanese Canadians, and then in the internment camps of the interior. She set about planning primary curriculum, organizing a school system among seven camps, and recruiting and training volunteer teachers and principals. She constantly travelled from camp to camp throughout the war. She was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1982. And in 1993, she was honoured by the Status of Women-Canada, the Secretary of State and Eaton’s of Canada in a month long tribute to thirty-two women who helped shape the history of Canada.
To honour the life-long dedication of Hide Shimizu to education; support of Japanese Canadian heritage and civil liberties for all Canadians, the National Association of Japanese Canadians is proud to partner with the Landscapes of Injustice Project, University of Victoria.