Suzukiography

Last weekend's Globe and Mail featured a sample from David Suzuki's forthcoming The Autobiography. A compact retelling of his days spent in Slocan Valley as an interned Japanese non-citizen, his prose is moving and personal. I was reminded of why I became so interested in Suzuk in the first place--after seeing "The Nature of David Suzuki" on CBC's Life & Times series.
I was in the eleventh grade, and had never heard about the internment of Japanese-Canadians during WWII. "When were they going to tell me!?!" I thought in shock, thinking of all my history and Sciences Humaines teachers, who seemed to have completely forgotten this embarassing chapter of systematic racism in Canada's recent history. Was it not part of our curriculum? Then again, the White Paper wasn't included in our studies either. But them Loyalists sure figured prominently (to the detriment of the Acadians and their expulsion which was also skipped over, another shocking late-teens independent discovery), as well as Tea Parties and Laura Secord. New England's history sounded like a well-catered party to me.

Joy Kogawa, an acclaimed writer whose novel Obasan chronicles a little girl's experiences growing up at one of the internment camps, is currently campaigning to save her childhood home from demolition. Obasan House, located in Vancouver, is set to be demolished this month despite efforts to save it and transform it into a heritage and culture monument. We should find out soon whether the efforts of Kogawa and the Land Conservancy of British Columbia have paid off.

Til then, I await April 22, the release-date for Suzuk's memoir. He will be speaking all over the country in May and June; I intend to see him here in Edmonton on May 9 at the Citadel Theatre, and at Congress at York in June. What will he inscribe on my title page this time? In my The Sacred Balance is written: "Michelle, Let's find the balance. David Suzuki".

Hmmm. "Michelle, Let's make some memories, Suzuk"?