{{Short description|Japanese-Canadian internment camp survivor (1933–2024)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Grace Eiko Thomson | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = Eiko Nishikihama | birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|10|15}} | birth_place = Richmond, British Columbia, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|07|11|1933|10|15}} | death_place = Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | citizenship = | alma_mater = | education = {{plainlist| *University of Manitoba (BFA) *University of Leeds (Masters) }} | occupation = Curator, memoirist | organisation = | years_active = | employer = | agent = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | title = | party = | movement = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards = | website = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }}
'''Grace Eiko Thomson''' (born '''Eiko Nishikihama''', October 15, 1933 – July 11, 2024) was a Japanese-Canadian World War II internee. She was the founder of the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre in British Columbia and a memoirist.
==Early life== Eiko Nishikihama was born at the Japanese Fishermen's Hospital in the Steveston neighbourhood of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, on October 15, 1933.<ref name="lam">{{cite news |url=https://centre.nikkeiplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NI_2020_Summer_Digital.pdf |title=A Life Dedicated to Justice, Healing, and Memory: Grace Eiko Thomson |first=Derek |last=Lam |pages=20–21 |newspaper=Nikkei Images |volume=25 |number=2 |publisher=Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre |year=2020}}</ref> Her father, Taguchi Torasaburo, and mother, Sawae, were both naturalized Canadian citizens, having emigrated from Japan, and she was one of five children the couple raised in Vancouver's Japantown, or ''Paueru-gai''.<ref name="lam"/><ref name="johnson">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.createastir.ca/articles/chiru-sakura-falling-cherry-blossoms |title=Grace Eiko Thomson releases memoir of Japanese Canadian internment, racism, and resilience |first=Gail |last=Johnson |magazine=Stir |date=13 May 2021 |location=Vancouver}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2016/4/12/grace-eiko-thomson-1/ |first=Norm Masaji |last=Ibuki |date=12 April 2016 |website=Discover Nikkei |title=The Remarkable Life and Times of Grace Eiko Thomson - Part 1 |access-date=6 September 2022}}</ref> In 1942, the family was upended when they were forcibly relocated to an internment site in Minto City, in accordance with the War Measures Act.<ref name="lam"/> The family was not allowed to return to their coastal home after the war, moving to Middlechurch, Manitoba, and eventually settling in Winnipeg in 1949 when restrictions on the movement of Japanese Canadians were finally lifted.<ref name="lam"/><ref name="price">{{cite news |url=https://www.timescolonist.com/islander/the-final-straw-japanese-canadians-offered-an-impossible-choice-4677610 |title=The final straw: Japanese Canadians offered an impossible choice |newspaper=Times Colonist |first=John |last=Price |date=8 December 2019 |location=Victoria |access-date=6 September 2022}}</ref> In 1959, she married Alistair MacDonald Thomson, and the couple would have two children of their own.<ref name="lam"/>
==Career== Thomson always had a keen interest in the arts and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Manitoba in 1977 as a mature student and later a master's degree from the University of Leeds.<ref name="johnson"/><ref name="greenaway">{{cite magazine |url=http://jccabulletin-geppo.ca/chiru-sakura-a-mother-and-daughters-journey-by-grace-eiko-thomson/ |title=Chiru Sakura, a Mother and Daughter's Journey by Grace Eiko Thomson |first=John Endo |last=Greenaway |date=6 March 2021 |magazine=The Bulletin}}</ref> She has worked as a curator at art galleries in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, and as an advisor to the Sanavik Inuit Cooperative in Nunavut.<ref name="johnson"/> In the 1990s, she returned to Vancouver to help care for her mother, accepting a position at the Burnaby Art Gallery.<ref name="price"/>
In 1995, Thomson was asked to coordinate an event for artists of Japanese heritage from across Canada, sparking a renewed interest in the history of her community.<ref name="price"/> In 2000, she became the inaugural curator and director of the new Japanese Canadian National Museum (now the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre).<ref name="price"/> She resigned from that position in 2002, but continued to collaborate with the museum as a guest curator.<ref name="price"/> From 2005 until her 2010 retirement, she was president of the National Association of Japanese Canadians.<ref name="price"/>
==''Chiru Sakura: Falling Cherry Blossoms''== In 2021, Thomson published a memoir based on her family's experience, ''Chiru Sakura: Falling Cherry Blossoms'', published by Caitlin Press.<ref name="johnson"/> At 84, Thomson's mother began keeping a journal in Japanese, recording her memories and family history.<ref name="johnson"/> The memoir weaves together Thomson's translations of passages from her mother's diary along with her own stories of identity, trauma and racism and her efforts to find social justice for herself and others.<ref name="johnson"/><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://bcstudies.com/book_film_review/chiru-sakura-falling-cherry-blossoms-a-mother-daughters-journey-through-racism-internment-and-oppression/ |title=Chiru Sakura – Falling Cherry Blossoms: A Mother and Daughter's Journey through Racism, Internment, and Oppression |issue=213 |date=Spring 2022 |first=Andrea |last=Geiger |journal=BC Studies |pages=156–158}}</ref>
''Chiru Sakura'' was shortlisted for the 2022 City of Vancouver Book Award.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/book-award-past-years.aspx |title=Book Award winners and short lists |publisher=City of Vancouver |work=City of Vancouver Book Award |access-date=6 September 2022}}</ref>
== Death == Thomson died at her Winnipeg home on July 11, 2024, at the age of 90.<ref>{{cite web |title=Grace Eiko Thomson 1933 – 2024 |url=https://www.asahibaseball.com/home/grace-eiko-thomson-1933-2024 |website=Asahi Baseball |access-date=18 July 2024 |date=11 July 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Grace Eiko}} Category:1933 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Activists from Vancouver Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds Category:Canadian art curators Category:Canadian women activists Category:Canadian women memoirists Category:Japanese-Canadian internees Category:People from Richmond, British Columbia Category:University of Manitoba alumni Category:Writers from Vancouver Category:21st-century Canadian memoirists Category:21st-century Canadian women writers Category:Canadian women curators