Site of memory: Ross Bay Cemetery

Type: Memorial

Who or what is remembered?: Japanese Canadians living in Victoria

Canadians of Japanese heritage are buried at more than 150 gravesites at Victorias Ross Bay Cemetery (opened in 1873). They were early Japanese immigrants who’s descendants were forced to leave Victoria and were interned in 1942 during the Second World War. 273 Japanese Canadians were forced to leave and none of them returned after the ban was lifted in 1949.

In the 1980s the Kakehashi Project (Kakehashi means bridge) was established, spearheaded by Yoshiro Arakawa. In collaboration with the Old Cemeteries society, Japanese gravesites were identified and graves marked, where the traditional wooden markers were deteriorated. Individual markers of grey granite with a stylized sakura were placed on unmarked gravesites. Every year on Obon, members of the Nikkei community clean gravestones at the Ross Bay Cemetery, lay flowers and hold an Obon ceremony.

In 1999 a monument dedicated to Japanese pioneers was erected at Ross Bay Cemetery.