Still from film The Right To Remain. | Photo courtesy of Greg Masuda
On Oct. 31, the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre will screen the film Right to Remain, a documentary part of the Revitalizing Japantown? exhibit, which explores how present-day human rights issues of the Downtown Eastside are connected to the area’s legacy as a Japanese-Canadian locus.
The Right to Remain exhibit is intended to be a multi-layered exhibition. The centre’s curator, Sherri Kajiwara, says that it focuses on three themes of human rights: the right to history, home and culture.
“History is about the memory and constant repetition of displacement of those living in the Downtown East Side. There is also the displacement of memories, the silencing, oppression and erasing from public consciousness,” says Kajiwara.
This repetition of displacement draws parallels between the internment of Japanese-Canadians living in the Powell area and present-day displacements, explains Kajiwara.
“From the late 1800s to 1942 the Canadian population of Japanese immigrants were in that area most famously known as Powell grounds or Powdugai. Subsequent displacement have included the black population through Hogan’s Alley when the viaduct was built and in modern day, it is low income – those requiring social assistance mental health assistance,” she says.
Japanese-Canadian internment and modern displacement
Filmmaker Greg Masuda. | Photo courtesy of Greg Masuda
Greg Masuda’s film, Right to Remain, is the product of a three-year research project conducted by several scholars at Queen’s University, including Masuda’s own brother, Jeff.
“Jeff has been studying the Downtown Eastside for about nine years. He and I are of Japanese-Canadian descent, as our grandparents immigrated to Powell Street in the early 1900s. Our family was displaced from the West Coast during the Japanese internment of the Second World War,” says Masuda.
In the film, Masuda shows how the identity of the historical Japanese community through the use of the brand of ‘Japantown’ gentrifies the Downtown Eastside.
“The question mark in Revitalizing Japantown?is the most important thing because Japantown is being used to displace low income residents,” he says.
With this goal in mind, Masuda chose to film the documentary in a genuine style.
“You show up with your camera and hope that something happens. You don’t manipulate or stage anything and there isn’t any sit down interviews. I wanted to show things from the perspective of a fly on the wall,” says Masuda.
A community-friendly business, a single dad, a couple on welfare and an activist are the main subjects for the film – subjects that Madusa believes will counter misrepresentations of the Downtown Eastside in the media.
“It is a vibrant, functional group of thousands of people that happen to live under challenging circumstances. The film highlights the impact that the middle class have on the area using the ‘Japantown’ brand as a form of gentrification,” Masuda adds.
Masuda hopes that by disseminating the results of the research project through the Nikkei Museum, the public will be more informed. He also hopes that the public will take away an important lesson in history for the future.
“There are injustices happening today that are similar to past injustices that have happened in Canada’s history. We keep making the same mistake and society keeps letting things happen to people,” says Masuda. “It’s important to tell these stories and bring it to the surface that history is repeating itself so we don’t continue to repeat mistakes of the past.”
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