our mission

The Canadian Japanese Cultural Centre of Hamilton (CJCC) is a registered charity founded by a group of like-minded Japanese Canadians who wished to preserve their Japanese heritage for future generations. Its goals are to:

• Encourage and co-ordinate cultural activities which are essentially of Japanese origin.

• Encourage interest in those activities.

• Provide instruction in and facilities for these activities.

• Promote these activities in the community.

• Acquaint fellow Canadians with similar interests in Japanese cultural activities with each other.

Our history

CJCC was established March 5 1986 at the former Onteora Public School  by Japanese Canadian community leaders who were displaced and dispossessed during World War II.  Japanese Canadians came to Hamilton when the B.C. security commission allowed them to leave forced labour farms, internment, work and prison camps after 1949 because Hamilton was one of the few cities in Ontario that did not have a resettlement quota for Japanese Canadians after World War II. The current location, 45 Hempstead Drive,  was purchased outright after a major community fundraising drive within the Japanese Canadian community. The aim was to help rebuild the Japanese Canadian community destroyed by the War Measures Act during World War II.  The purchase of the building was also made possible by money awarded to the Japanese Canadian community through the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation and included substantial financial assistance from Hamilton Chapter: National Association of Japanese Canadians.

Board of directors

Executive and Board Members for the Hamilton CJCC (2022)

President: Mitchell Akira Kawasaki
Vice President: Michael Kimeda
Executive Secretary: Cairney Martin
Executive Treasurer: Ronald C. Hampson

Directors:

John Anger

Joyce Wall

Lydia Greenly

Michel Felix Vasquez

Patricia June Simpson