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PLUMBING, HEATING, ELECTRICAL & INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY) Therm \. Hot Water Boilers by Hydro SENYA - ORI Former mayor combines best of Japan and Canada By DONNA ZUBER Special to the CasNews Japan may lay an ocean away, but Senya Mori keeps it close at heart in many ways After nearly 60 years of living in Canada, Mori's home in New Denver hints at the beauty of his homeland. Situated om the river's edge, his carefully groomed yard is graced with Japanese cherry and pear trees, black bamboo trees and miniature Buddhist tem ples Inside, a Japanese movie plays in the VCR. He tur ns it off and settles in to the quiet of his surroundings ““I’ve kept the good part of Japan,"” he says, ‘and learned the good part of Canada."” The father of five, Mori has tried to pass the Japanese values he thinks are most important on to his children. “‘Respect,’’ he says. “In Japan, we respect older people, even if they are just a little older. We always call someone by their surname, never their given name. If a MEMORIES... photo albums heip tell the story of Se New Denver — casnews photo by Donna Zuber téacher or policeman, someone important, goes by on the street, we bow and greet them. I don’t think Canada has that."" He brings out a brown manila folder and two photo albums. He refers to them often as he speaks: showing letters which were part of his Canadian citizenship process; pictures of him and his family in their home in Japan; his cousin’s coffee shop in Vancouver before it was sold by the government during the Second World War; his home as he was building it; and of him with other political figures when he was mayor of New Den- ver. Traces of his life. He is generous in his sharing of them. Mori was born in 1917 in Hikone-shi, a small town near the ancient capital Kyoto. He came to Vancouver with his family when he was 12, two years after his father had come to get settled He remembers it was good to get here “It was hard for my mother to look after the rice paddies and farm,"’ he said. ‘We used to help as much as we could, even if we were small.” (His mother died a few years later as a result of her long days of hard work in Japan.) But coming to Canada presented its difficulties, too. Mori did not know a word of English. On his first day of school, he was put in Grade 1, and on his second day, Grade 3. He finally settled into Grade 5 math and Grade 2 English “Japan is ahead of Canada in teaching math,”’ he said, adding that it was also easier to learn English num- bers than words. After a couple of years, however, his parents still weren’t happy with his| English. With so many other Japanese students in the School, it was too easy for Mori to get by using his mother tongue. He was sent to nya Mori’s life from Japan to Vancouver to another school where he was the only Japanese student and thereby forced to learn English. His parents also arranged room and board for him with an English speaking family. He went home only on Saturday after- noons. It was a tough way to learn, he said, but he did learn “My English teacher told me to bring a potato to class,”” he recalls, laughing at the memory. ‘tl had to talk with it in my mouth so I would twist it, to make me talk right.” Today, he still talks Japanese fluently. He did what he could to teach his children the language, giving them lessons before they went to school in the morning. He believes people should know their mother tongue, as well as the language of their new country. ATPEACE AT HOME... former New Denver mayor Senya Mori enjoys his retirement in his carefully tended garden. — casnews Pnotoby Donna Zuber He also believes in giri which, loosely translated, means obligation. . “No matter how much you hate a person, if anything happened to them, you would do the most you could to help them,”’ he said. ** That's giri.”” It is perhaps this belief that helped him get through the unjust, bitter times in confinement during the Second World War. Mori. was among 11,600 other Japanese Canadians evacuated from their homes and interned in camps. That and hope “never lost hope,”’ he said In 1942, just two years after he had married and a year after he had become a father for the first time, Mori was sent toa camp in Kelowna. His wife, son and father were sent to New Denver. He said the government inten tionally separated him from his family His father contacted the British Columbia Security Commission, arguing he needed at least one son with him because of his age and the hardships he faced in the camp. After one year alone in Kelowna, Mori was per mitted to join his family in New Denver The government was moving all Japanese Canadians into the interior of B.C. because it feared what would happen if the fighting Japanese ever hit the West Coast. At the same time, it was selling all property and possessions owned by the Japanese Canadians, allowing them to carry only 150 pounds of belongings with them into the camps. To protect his own home in Vancouver from the government, Mori turned the title of it over to a friend He intended to claim it again after the war. Instead, however, the woman sold the house and went to England, joining the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps “1 was so mad,” he said. ‘*All I had was a duffle bagandsuitcase.”” But Mori stopped being angry a long time ago. He even jokes about the government using money from the sale of Japanese property to pay them while interned. ‘lve kept the good part of Japan and learned the good part of Canada.’ — former New Denver mayor Senya Mori “We were paid 22 and a half cents a day,"’ he says, and adding with a laugh, ‘‘not much since we were paying ourselves. It wasn’t until 1949, four years after the war ended, that the interned Japanese were free to go By then, Mori and his wife had three children Mori’s biggest concern during those days of rebuilding was getting his children educated “If you have an education, you don’t have to worry,’ he said. He credits education for allowing Japanese Canadians to be successful, which has in turn given them more acceptance in Canada He also says the evacuation from Vancouver was a benefit to them. He said it broke up the strong cliques they circulated in, scattering them to places throughout Canada where people knew nothing about them except for their counterparts fighting overseas. He admits there was a great deal of animosity towards them at first, but not anymore. “People learned we are hard working,” he said “And we're human beings like everyone.’ Spreading out also gave the Japanese more oppor- tunity to learn about the ways of Canadian life, he said. in 1954, Mori became a Canadian citizen. His let- ters of correspondence arranging his citizenship are now yellowed, but still intact. He has also carefully kept the lists of questions a judge asked him as part of the process. Among them are several questions about the war and the treatment of the Japanese by the Canadian government That issue of treatment was finally put to rest last “ fall by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. After 15 years of struggling for some kind of retribution, Japanese ‘Mr. Mulroney made a promise and he kept it, that means a lot. Pil give him credit for that.’ — Senya Mori oncompensation for Japanese internees during the Second World War Canadians were recognized for their hardships during the war. Each eligible person received a certificate of acknowledgment, one in English and one in Japanese, signed by Mulroney, and a cheque fo $21,000 “It’s all right to compensate the people, even if it’s not much,”’ Mori said A lot of people could use it, but it’s not worth it toa lot of other people,” he added, referring to what they got compared to what they lost “But the gesture meant a lot,"’ he said. ‘*And the apology. Since Mr. Trudeau didn’t do.anything, and Mr. Mulroney did, we should thank himi for that. Mr Mulroney made a promise and he kept it, that means a lot. I'll give him credit for that Standing by one’s word in politics hits home for Mori. In 1955, he began an involvement with politics in New Denver that would span 30 years At first, he acted as a ‘‘go-between" for the Japanese who could not speak English. He relayed their concerns to city council for them, He was then an alderman for 17 years, and finally, in 1984, he was elec- ted mayor With one year remaining in his four-year term, however, Mori quit. He cited difficulties with council members as his reason, though he would not elaborate. Mor iis credited to this day, he says, for developing and maintaining much of the landscape in New,Denver “You have to speak your mind if what you think is right,” he said. ‘‘That’s how people learn, but it might make you enemies.” Having the freedom to speak out, and have choices, makes him distinctly Canadian, he says. He would never give up democracy Another indication of his Canadian ways became obvious to him when he visited Japan in 1970. Conversation there is very different,” he said, adding he did not see ‘*eye to eye”’ with most people. He said he has no desire to return Today, a free Canadian and comfortable with his Japanese belongings and heritage, Mori spends his now retired days fishing and gardening. He laughs easily, finding humor in most everything. It is obvidus he has long-since buried the pain that was once part of his past His photo albums and manila envelope are put away and he gets on with the rest of the day Group takes active 2317-6th Avenue, Castlegar © 365-7702 Fax 365-5889 . environmental role By DONNA ZUBER Special to the CasNews Look out politicians, there’s a whole new breed of activists out there They may not be politically oriented yet, but they are learning the only way to change things is to stand-up and doing something about it They call themselves the Conscious Party. The group consists of about 17 students in Grades 9 through 12 from Mount Sentinel secondary school in South Slocan. They are concerned about the en vironment and are taking an active stand in its future “Complaining is useless unless you do something about it,"" says Summer Abney, 14 During Environment Week, June 4 11, the group participated in a newspaper recycling drive sponsored. by the Kootenay Society for a Sustainable Future. In all, six tons of newspapers were collected. The closest depot, however, is Spokane, something the group would like changed, says the group’s sponsor, Margaret Cabral, a teacher at Mt. Sen- tinel Part of the group's involvement was recruiting donators from elementary schools in the «area. Tours to the schools also focused on creating awareness about environmental con- cerns, They toured nine schools this school year, seven in the last five mon- ths alone “We just talk with them,"’ says Kai Frobe, 18, one of the group's foun- ders. ‘*We talk more about what we can do than what's. wrong. We're not trying to scare them.”* The group has been impressed witht the responses they've gotten, saying, “They're the ones with answers, and because they’re young, they're easier toreach."’ “The younger ones are more en thusiastic about doing something,” says Andre Arnold, 16. Jakob Dulisse, 17, also a founder, says there is a link between the en- vironment and the pessimistic attitude young people have toda: “Thinking we can’t do anything about the nuclear question, the big one, has a really big effect on someone growing up with that hanging over them. If kids don’t think they have a future, what's driving them) , Making a difference is the group's message. It says people don't have to belong to a group to have an impact, individuals “can make a difference on their own."' “So many people didn’t care before and now they're starting to,’’ says f . rt RAISING CONSCIOUSNESS... Minette Winje, a Grade 11 student at Mount Sentinel secondary schoo! in South Slocan, and a member of the school’s C: Party, with a Grade 5 and 6 class at Brent Kennedy elementary school.