(University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC)
Distinguished authors Iris Chang and Maryka Omatsu will address the issue of racism and war in the opening session of the Canadian Conference on Preventing Crimes against Humanity: Lessons from the Asia-Pacific War (1931-1945) that begins on March 21, international anti-racism day

Ms. Chang, an American of Chinese descent and author of "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II", will speak on "Racism and the Rape of Nanking." Her book won international acclaim as the first comprehensive study of one of the worst atrocities committed by the Japanese imperial army during World War II in Asia. Racism in Japan against the Chinese and peoples of other invaded countries was an important contributing factor to the atrocities committed including the Nanking massacre in which as many as 300,000 perished.

"The history of the war and racism shows that under certain circumstances recruited soldiers who were otherwise good citizens at home could commit unimaginable atrocities against people in an occupied country" says Tatsuo Kage, representative of the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadians Association (JCCA) Human Rights Committee.

Ms. Omatsu is the first female judge of Asian descent in Canada and author of "Bittersweet Passage: Redress and Japanese Canadian Experience." She will speak on "Racism in Wartime Canada: Uprooting and Internment of Japanese Canadians." Being regarded as "enemy aliens", 21,000 Japanese Canadians in British Columbia were uprooted from their homes and incarcerated. Even after the end of war the government gave them a "choice" - to disperse to east of the Rockies or to be exiled to Japan, thus destroying their community.

"Racism was at the root of these injustices. This history teaches us that even the government of a democratic state can implement oppressive measures toward its own citizens, can commit crimes against humanity." said Thekla Lit, Co-chair of Canada Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (ALPHA).

The two-day conference commemorates the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and will include plenary and workshop sessions on Japan's military sexual slavery ("comfort women"), biological warfare, terror of A-bombs, POWs & Canadian Hong Kong veterans, violence against women in war and in peace, the First Nation's residential school experiences, peace and justice in the Middle East, racial profiling, weaponization of space and a special workshop for teachers.

Registration for the conference can be done on-line via the conference web-site: www.aplconference.ca. In order to make the conference widely accessible, organizers have set a low registration fee and out-of-town students can apply for travel subsidies.

This conference is jointly sponsored by Canada Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (ALPHA); Canada Asia Pacific Resource Network (CAPRN); Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association (JCCA) Human Rights Committee; UBC First Nations House of Learning; UBC Women's Studies and Gender Relations; UBC International House.

Contact: Peter Scott Phone: 604-822-4904 Fax: 604-822-5099 E-mail: bcalpha@shaw.ca

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