New Chemainus mural honours Japanese Canadian community

New Chemainus mural honours Japanese Canadian community

Published 11:27 am Thursday, October 1, 2026

Hundreds of people gathered in Chemainus on Saturday as a new mural was unveiled to honour the Japanese Canadians who once lived, worked and built a community in town before being forcibly uprooted during the Second World War.

Approximately 200 people attended the Sept. 19 unveiling on Croft Street, with the crowd spilling into the street as the new Remembering and Honouring Japanese Canadians in Chemainus installation was revealed.

The ceremony opened and closed with performances by Shachihoko Taiko, a Nanaimo-based Japanese taiko drumming group.

The installation centres around an eight-foot-high, 16-foot-long mural depicting scenes from Chemainus’ Japanese community before the war, including its involvement in the fishing and forestry industries and students outside the Kyoritsu Chemainus Japanese Language School.

Tom Andrews, president of the Chemainus Festival of Murals, said approximately 300 Japanese Canadians once lived in Chemainus before they were uprooted during the Second World War.

“None of them ever returned,” Andrews said. “So, it’s time that we remembered and honoured them, because they were a big part of the community.”

The project was funded by the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society (JCLS) and managed locally by the Chemainus Festival of Murals Society.

Susanne Tabata, CEO of the JCLS, said the organization has worked to broaden the understanding of Japanese Canadian history beyond some of the places most commonly associated with it.

Prior to 1942, she said, Japanese Canadians lived in 195 communities throughout British Columbia, with a population of approximately 22,000 before their forced uprooting.

“Historically, the community has kept a lot of its vision and view around Steveston, Vancouver and maybe some of the internment camps,” Tabata said. “But we felt it was really important to spread that lens or to open the lens to include a look at communities all over B.C.”

She said Chemainus offers a glimpse into what Japanese Canadian life looked like in smaller resource communities before the war.

“Chemainus … represents a real slice of life of early B.C.,” Tabata said. “You see the work around the resource industries, and that this was a mill town.”

The mural brings together three historical images showing fishing boats in the harbour, forestry workers felling a tree and children and a teacher outside the Japanese Canadian hall and language school.

Mural artist Silke Seiler said the three photographs inspired a theme of generations that developed as the painting took shape.

The mature fir trees surrounding the forestry workers represent the older generation, while the young fir saplings in the foreground represent the children pictured outside the school.

“To me, I saw a real theme of the generations in the three photos I was given to paint,” Seiler said, adding that figures representing ancestors also emerged on the steps of the school house as she painted.

“I originally wasn’t going to paint the ancestors on the steps of the school house,” Seiler said. “But as I started painting, as any artist knows, once you get into the process, some things just sort of emerge.”

The mural is surrounded by a larger Japanese-inspired installation, including a three part roof structure, Japanese garden, stonework, cedar fencing and two marble benches where visitors can sit and reflect.

Andrews said the project complements the Chemainus Valley Museum’s None Came Back exhibit, which also explores the history of the town’s Japanese Canadian community.

The mural society has completed two major projects over the past three years and Andrews said the organization plans to take some time before tackling another large project.

“We just want to chill a bit and reflect and enjoy what we’ve done before we tackle something else,” he said.