Forgiveness, A Gift From My Grandparents (2014) - by Mark Sakamoto

This inspiring book, the winner of the 2018 CBC Canada Reads competition, deeply touches our emotions. It is an eye-opener that not only makes us aware of how little we know about important episodes of our history but also of the untold stories of Canadians who have shown extraordinary courage in the face of tragedy. It is the of story of the author's paternal grandmother, Mitsu Sakamoto, a Canadian of Japanese descent from Vancouver, and that of his maternal grandfather, Ralph Maclean, from the Magdalen Islands. Their lives were shaped by WWII, and this book is based on stories, memories and souvenirs they shared with their grandson.

Mitsu Sakamoto's life took a tragic turn after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. British Columbia was given absolute power by Federal Justice Minister Louis Saint-laurent, to re-locate Japanese Canadians to internment camps in BC, or to sugar beet work farms in Alberta which had started to grow this crop after sugar supplies had been cut off and farm hands were needed. It reluctantly accepted Japanese workers. WWII also brought tragedy into Ralph Maclean's life. In order to escape the hardships of life on his island, he enrolled in the army. His battalion was sent to Hong Kong, unaware, like the rest of the troops, that he was embarking on a suicide mission. Churchill had deemed this British colony indefensible and chosen not to send reinforcements, but he readily accepted Canada’s offer to send 2000 men. As Sakamoto sees it, “Canada was eager to prove itself. Australia and New Zealand were helping in North Africa.(...) hubris carried the day [and] political opportunism swept military logic out the door.”

Sakamoto goes on to describe the hardships, the brutal treatment that both endured: Mitsu at the hands of her Canadian fellow citizens, Ralph at those of the Japanese.

In early 1942, Mitsu's family was put on a train headed east. They were assigned to a farmer from southern Alberta, who put them up in a chicken coop. During more than six years they were subjected to inhuman living conditions, ranging from scarcity of water and food, to unbearable heat, to the backbreaking task of pulling beets day after day, in isolation from other Japanese Canadians. But eventually the family found ways to improve its living conditions and the means to start a new life in Medicine Hat.

In 1941, Ralph's battalion arrived in Hong Kong shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbour. Sakamoto describes, in so far as it is possible to do so, what the troops suffered, first in trying to defend this Colony and then as Japanese POWS: constant starvation, illness, pestilence and all forms of cruelty. In 1943, Ralph Maclean was sent to Japan to work in a shipyard where, “…he went from being a POW to being a slave.”

When the war ended, the Americans dropped barrels of supplies to the POWS in Japan. Ralph found a Gideon Bible in one of the barrels. He opened it and fell on Mark 11:25 “.. if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him...” He knew then that he was going to live by those words. As for Mitsu, she had learned about forgiveness through the Japanese wisdom her father passed on to his children, her upbringing as a Baptist, and her teachings at Sunday school.

Ralph and Mitsu met in an unexpected twist of fate. After his return from Japan, the train which was taking Ralph to Halifax stopped in Calgary. Among the well-wishers at the station was a young girl who attracted his attention. They spoke long enough for her to give him her address. After visiting his family, Ralph returned to Calgary and married her. They had a daughter, Diane, who met Mitsu's son, Stan, at a high school dance, fell in love with him, and married. Through the power of forgiveness, Ralph welcomed a Canadian of Japanese descent as his son-in-law, and Mitsu a Canadian from Alberta as her daughter-in-law.

As this book testifies, forgiveness, as all other universal values, can find its way into our heart no matter the differences in culture, religion and life experience. After their children's marriage, Mitsu and Ralph “… shared a deep and unrelenting respect and love for one another. As impossible as it may seem, (they) saw themselves in one another,”

Although the book centres on the lives of the author’s grandparents, the reader learns about the arrival of Japanese immigrants, their integration into Canadian society, their resilience, sense of community and determination to preserve their traditions and culture. To a lesser extent, the reader is also introduced to life on the Magdalen Islands.

This book is written in a simple style and is easy to read; the story it tells has appealed to such a wide readership that CBC is preparing a television series based on it.

I had the opportunity to present Forgiveness at the Lennoxville Library's 2018 Canada Reads evening held in March. At this event, as well as in the actual CBC Canada Reads competition, Forgiveness was selected as the “One Book to Open Your Eyes,” a well-deserved accolade.

Author Mark Sakamoto is a lawyer by training. He has served as a senior political advisor in Ottawa, and is currently executive vice president of Think Research, and chair of the Ontario Media Development Corporation Board. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two daughters.

Forgiveness is Lennoxville Library. available at the

-Jocelyne Blais