The Raymond Moriyama-designed Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre has been re-established as the Noor Cultural Centre. Photo by James Brittain
Toronto is, by many accounts, the world?s most multi-cultural city, in a country that prides itself on diversity and inclusion. But it wasn?t always that way. In 1964, Japanese Canadians were still reeling from the trauma of being detained in internment camps during the Second World War. The policy particularly targeted people of Japanese descent on the Pacific Coast; during their detention, their homes and businesses were sold by the government. After the war, the internees were forced to return to Japan or relocate east of the Rockies.
In an act of extraordinary resilience, the Japanese community in Toronto decided to build a cultural centre that would serve as a foundation to re-establish themselves within Canadian society, rather than apart from it. To secure financing for the centre, 75 families signed on to a mortgage, putting their personal assets at stake. The land, next to the Don Valley, was cleared by volunteers. Architect Raymond Moriyama?who was then only 28 years old?was selected to design the centre, at a budget of $14 per square foot ($116 in 2020 dollars). He envisaged a pagoda-like structure hovering within the trees, like the treehouse that he had secretly built for himself as a child, while detained in the Slocan Valley with his mother and siblings.
Inside the two-storey auditorium of the centre, an upper level of g...