National Association of Japanese Canadians(NAJC) is holding its AGM in Victoria this year on September 25-27. AGM portion will be done by Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning conference and also keynote speech on Saturday evening (with or without banquet) are open to the general public. Conference panels are free to attend, however, you need to register as an observer. Register by emailing info@vncs.ca. Registration deadline is September 22, 2015.

Conference agenda is as follows;

Saturday, September 26: Conference Day 1

Chateau Victoria Hotel

12:00-1:45 pm

Panel: Landscapes of Injustice (LOI) (45 minutes)

Jordan Stranger-Ross, Project Director and Sherri Kajiwara, Director-Curator, Nikkei National Museum

Facilitator: Mike Abe

NAJC/LOI Hide Hyodo-Shimizu Scholarship Recipient Report (15 minutes)

Hikari Rachmat

Facilitator: Sherri Kajiwara

Landscapes of Injustice: Community Council Report (45 minutes)

Susanne Tabata, Eiko Eby, Mary Kitagawa, vivian Wakabayash Rygnestad

Facilitator: Tosh Kitagawa

1:45 – 2:25pm Preserving the Past (Documents, photographs, objects and stories)

Lisa Uyeda, Linda Reid

2:30-3:10pm Retention of Adult Volunteers and Youth

Liz Bean (Inter-Cultural Association of Victoria) and Kyla Fitzgerald

3:30-4:10pm Addressing Issues Related to Aging in the Japanese Canadian Community

Karen Kobayashi (Uvic Centre on Aging), C. Keiko Funahashi and Cathy Makihara (Nikkei Seniors Health care & Housing Society)

NAJC Banquet Saturday, September 26: Ambrosia Center (638 Fisgard Street) 

Keynote speaker: Setsuko Thurlow, Renowned Peace Activist and Hiroshima Bomb Survivor(Hibakusha)

6:00pm Doors open

Art Miki National Leadership Award presentation

Soran Bushi Dance fro Victoria Heritage Japanese Language School

VNCS Lifetime Achievement Award

Buffet dinner

Japanese music entertainment

7:45pm Doors open for lecture only attendees

Keynote Speech

Silent Auction

Banquet and keynote speech: $35 per person (register at ino@vncs.ca)

You may also join for the lecture portion only.

Lecture only with coffee/tea and dessert: $5 suggested donation

Sunday, September 27th: Conference Day 2

Chateau Victoria Hotel

9:00-10:00am Youth Engagement & Empowerment/JC Young Leaders Winnipeg Conference Report

Lisa Schoenhofer and Erica Isomura

10:00-10:45am Consul General Okada speech

10:45-11:30am Centre Reports from Regina, Nanaimo, Montreal

11:30am-12:15pm The Victoria Story : History of Japanese Canadians in Victoria

Ann-Lee and Gordon Switzer

12:45pm End of conference