I encourage everyone to read Michael’s last blog post “Obasan’s future in Canada”. Michael talked about our visit to the Joy Kogawa fonds and specifically about a letter from, then Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau. Michael highlighted the surprisingly brief nature of Trudeau’s letter and expanded it to Canada’s general lack of discussion surrounding Japanese Interment. What really resonated with me was when he says the short letter misses the entire point and premise of Obasan. I agree with Michael on this, as Naomi’s transition in the novel occurs because of her willingness to break the silence after receiving the truth about her mother’s fate. Trudeau’s letters and actions did not necessarily strive to ‘break the silence’. Although the Canadian government issued a public apology and provided reparation, I believe there is room for more improvement in the acknowledgment of the atrocities that thousands of Japanese Canadians suffered through, especially in Canada’s education system. 

This blog post post reminded me of a field trip I went on in high school to a symposium, where we learned about several horrific issues that were occurring around the world during World War II, such as the use of ‘comfort women’, who were hundreds of thousands of women and girls forced into military brothels for sexual slavery in Asia. I remember explaining my shock to my social studies teacher that I had never heard of these events, emphasizing the often one-sided nature of the history that we learn at school. I agree with Michael when he says Canada should do more to include Japanese internment in an open conversation in order to “implement Joy Kogawa’s message”.

-Harnoor Sidhu