Roy Miki - "Redress: Dealing With Past Injustices" June 13, 2005

FREE. Call 604-822-1444 to reserve your seat.

How can past injustices be recognized by today?s generation? In this annual UBC-Laurier Institution Multiculturalism lecture, Roy Miki explores the personal and collective memories of the 1980s redress movement that saw Japanese Canadians obtain a settlement with the federal government. He speculates on the continuing importance of redress as principles of human rights and democratic governance.

The evening will be set by the Vancouver Opera who will perform special pieces from their new opera Naomi?s Road. Music by Ramona Luengen, libretto by Ann Hodges based on Joy Kogawa?s novel Naomi?s Road with permission of the author. Soprano Jessica Cheung, who will create the title role in the world premiere production of Naomi?s Road, in the fall of 2005, will be joined by mezzo-soprano Grace Chan and baritone Krzysztof Biernacki. (This touching opera, set during World War II, depicts the dramatic journey of nine-year-old Naomi, with her Japanese Canadian family, from Vancouver to an internment camp in the interior of BC. In a sensitive, visually evocative production filled with emotion, humour and soaring melodies, Naomi and her older brother Stephen struggle with the harshness of war, racism, bullying and loss of family. Ultimately brother and sister triumph over their fears and discover the gifts that sustain them: music, words and love. Their resilience of spirit offers hope for the future and will lead audiences to discover the power of understanding and the beauty of compassion.)

Roy Miki is a writer, poet, editor and teacher. Born in Winnipeg, he relocated to the West Coast in the late 1960s. He is the author of Justice in Our Time (co-authored with Cassandra Kobayashi); two books of poems, Saving Face and Random Access File; and a collection of critical essays, Broken Entries: Race, Subjectivity, Writing. He has also edited numerous books, including Pacific Windows: Collected Poems of Roy K. Kiyooka, which won the 1997 Poetry Award from the Association of Asian American Studies, and more recently, Meanwhile: The Critical Writings of bpNichol. His third book of poems, Surrender, received the Governor General's Award for Poetry. His latest book is Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice. Dr. Miki teaches contemporary literature in the English Department at Simon Fraser University.