Solemn event in Canada recalls Nanjing Massacre

Leaders from Asian communities, representatives from the provincial government and opposition parties as well as young people gathered at Queen’s Park in Toronto, Canada, to observe the 81st anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre on Thursday.

By acknowledging that the Ontario Legislative Assembly has designated Dec 13 as the Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day every year, Joseph Wong, founder of Toronto ALPHA (Association for Learning and Preserving the History of World War II in Asia), said the day is a solemn one.

“It’s important to remember, but it’s more important to educate,” Wong said, adding that the Asia Pacific Peace Museum and Education Center is being built to offer a comprehensive history of the war in Asia.

Starting on Dec 13, 1937, the invading Japanese Army captured the city of Nanjing, then the capital of China. The lives of 300,000 Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were brutally wiped out by the Japanese troops in the following six weeks.

Nathalie Des Rosiers, a Liberal member of the provincial parliament, said the massive violence, killings and sexual assaults had a profound effect. “The trauma is passed through generations. Families live with the memories. It is worse when the memories remain untold or silenced.”

On Oct 26, 2017, the Ontario legislature gave unanimous consent to MPP Soo Wong’s Motion 66, designating Dec 13 each year as Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day.

Wang Haicheng, chairman of the World War II Asian Memorial Museum of Canada, said: “The peace of the world needs to be kept by every country and ethnicity.” He called for support for establishing a memorial museum for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre in Canada.

On Dec 12, 2017, a motion was moved by Joe Li, York Region Councilor, and it was unanimously passed at the Council of Markham, to make Dec 13 the commemorative day of the Nanjing Massacre.

After the public memorial, an exhibition including evidence, witness testimony and pictures presented by the Memorial Museum was held at Markham Civic Center.