On May 7, the District of Lillooet celebrated the completion of the East Lillooet Internment Memorial Garden, 17 months after Northern Development approved a $30,000 Community Places grant to assist with the $57,000 budget.
The 12-person volunteer construction team was led by Louis Horii and Bruce Tasaka, two 84-year-old men who were both interned when they were children. Other volunteers were members of internee families or descendants of people who had been interned.
This project is a meaningful way to honour the Japanese Canadian internees and to give recognition to the historical importance of the local site. The addition of distinctly Japanese features creates a destination heritage site that will be the anchor for the other two Japanese Canadian historic sites in Lillooet – the Historic Miyazaki House and the Forbidden Bridge.
To help commemorate the project’s completion, Northern Development contracted a local photographer to capture the day. See some of the photos below:
Grant funding for the East Lillooet Internment Memorial Garden was contributed through Northern Development’s Community Places program. Introduced in September 2020, this was the fifth project to be approved through the fund.
