Mary Kitagawa

{{short description|Canadian educator (born 1934)}} {{Distinguish|Marin Kitagawa}} {{Use Canadian English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Mary Kitagawa | honorific_suffix = {{post-nom|country=CAN|OBC|size=100%}} | image = | caption = | birth_name = Keiko Mary Murakami | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1934|07|30}} | birth_place = Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada | spouse = Tosh Kitagawa | children = 2 | occupation = | notable_works = | education = | years_active = | known_for = }} '''Mary Kitagawa''' ({{nee|Murakami}}; born July 30, 1934<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Peng |first=Jenny |date=3 May 2023 |title=Keiko Mary Kitagawa |url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/keiko-mary-kitagawa |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |location=Toronto |publisher=Historica Canada |access-date=11 May 2026}}</ref>) {{post-nom|country=CAN|OBC}} is a Canadian educator. As a Japanese-Canadian growing up in British Columbia, her family was placed in various Japanese Internment Camps during World War II. After the war, she accepted a position in Kitsilano Secondary School and was later awarded an honorary degree from the University of British Columbia.

==Early life== Kitagawa was born and raised in Salt Spring Island, British Columbia to a family of five.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Peng |first1=Jenny |title=Japanese-Canadian 'crusader' Mary Kitagawa appointed Order of B.C. |url=https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2018/08/09/from-hastings-barn-to-order-of-bc-japanese-canadian-crusader-mary-kitagawa-reflect-on-lifelong-activism.html |accessdate=January 16, 2020 |publisher=Toronto Star |date=August 9, 2018}}</ref> When she was seven years old, her father was arrested as part of the incarceration of Japanese Canadians across British Columbia's coastline during the Second World War. The rest of her family would eventually join her father in various Internment Camps and lose possession of their farm.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Maryse Zeidler |title=75th anniversary of Japanese-Canadian internment camps echoes as fears of Islamophobia rise |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/japanese-canadian-internment-camp-anniversary-75-1.3996885 |website=cbc.ca |accessdate=January 16, 2020 |date=February 25, 2017}}</ref> After the war ended, she returned to Salt Spring Island in 1954.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Angela |first1=Jeffs |title=Canadian garden of unity and reconciliation |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2008/01/19/general/canadian-garden-of-unity-and-reconciliation/#.Xh_4vBdKjjA |accessdate=January 16, 2020 |publisher=The Japan Times |date=January 19, 2008}}</ref>

==Career== Kitagawa wished to begin her teaching career at home on Salt Spring Island but faced prejudices due to her race.<ref name = "Jacques">{{cite news |last1=Jacques |first1=Ian |title=South Deltan appointed to Order of B.C. |url=https://www.delta-optimist.com/news/south-deltan-appointed-to-order-of-b-c-1.23393666 |accessdate=January 16, 2020 |publisher=Delta Optimist |date=August 8, 2018}}</ref> As a result, she began her teaching career at Kitsilano Secondary School, where she would meet her future husband.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Endo Greenway |first1=John |title=Mary and Tosh Kitagawa: Two Peas in a Pod |url=http://jccabulletin-geppo.ca/mary-and-tosh-kitagawa-two-peas-in-a-pod/ |website=jccabulletin.ca |accessdate=January 16, 2020 |date=February 12, 2013}}</ref> After her children were born, she began work as a substitute teacher and eventually enrolled in the University of British Columbia (UBC).<ref name = "Jacques"/> In 2011, Kitagawa successfully advocated UBC to gift the 76 Japanese Canadian students who were forced out of UBC following the Attack on Pearl Harbor honorary degrees.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Takeuchi |first1=Craig |title=UBC to grant honorary degrees to interned Japanese Canadians, create Asian Canadian Studies program |url=https://www.straight.com/news/ubc-grant-honorary-degrees-interned-japanese-canadians-create-asian-canadian-studies-program |website=straight.com |accessdate=January 16, 2020 |date=March 22, 2012}}</ref> She was later the recipient of the 2013 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal<ref>{{cite web |last1=Endo Greenway |first1=John |title=Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals to be awarded |url=http://jccabulletin-geppo.ca/queen-elizabeth-ii-diamond-jubilee-medals-to-be-awarded/ |website=jccabulletin.ca |accessdate=January 16, 2020 |date=January 25, 2013}}</ref> and National Association of Japanese Canadians Leadership Award.<ref>{{cite web |title=NAJC AGM |url=http://jccabulletin-geppo.ca/najc-agm/ |website=jccabulletin.ca |accessdate=January 16, 2020 |date=April 1, 2014}}</ref> Kitagawa and her husband Tosh also sat on the Community Council for the Landscapes of Injustice project at the University of Victoria.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Honorary Advisory Council Members |url=http://najc.ca/wp/national-honorary-advisory-council-members/ |website=najc.ca |date=June 7, 2017 |accessdate=January 16, 2020}}</ref>

In 2018, Kitagawa received the Order of British Columbia for her activism efforts for Japanese Canadians.<ref>{{cite web |title=2018 Recipient: Mary Kitagawa – Delta |url=https://orderofbc.gov.bc.ca/2018-recipient-mary-kitagawa-delta/ |website=orderofbc.gov.bc.ca |accessdate=January 16, 2020}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitagawa, Mary}} Category:Living people Category:1935 births Category:Canadian educators Category:Canadian women educators Category:Japanese-Canadian internees Category:People from the Capital Regional District Category:Members of the Order of British Columbia