The Second World War Shaped my Parents’ Lives: A Presentation by Susan Yatabe

Join us for a powerful evening exploring the Japanese Canadian experience during the Second World War  with speaker Susan Yatabe 

Susan will recount the Second World War experiences of her Japanese Canadian parents, who were born in Vancouver.

Susan’s mother Kathryn (Kazuko) became a Grade 3 teacher while interned in a prison camp in Kaslo, B.C. A rediscovered collection of her students’ artwork and photographs became the foundation of a 2025 museum exhibition in Kaslo. 83 years after the internment, Susan located thirteen of her mother’s former students (or their descendants) and documented their stories.

Susan’s father John (Eiji) was one of 148 Japanese Canadian men who enlisted in the Canadian army while their families were interned in prison camps and on sugarbeet farms across Canada. He and his brother were posted to Southeast Asia with the Canadian Intelligence Corps. They investigated Japanese war crimes against allied troops, including crimes related to the building of the Burma-Siam Railway.

Monday May 11 at 7pm in the Deep River Library Program Room