November 3, 2009

Kinuko Laskey

J. Kwan: On October 24, I attended the unveiling of a bronze memorial statue dedicated to peace activist and educator Kinuko Laskey at the Seaforth Peace Park. She’s one of the few, if not the only, first immigrant Asian-Canadian women to be honoured in the province of B.C. in this way.

Kinuko Laskey was a survivor of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing on August 6, 1945. At the time she was a 16-year-old student nurse and was less than two kilometres away from the hypocentre. As a result, she suffered from radiation sickness, loss of sight in her right eye and underwent many plastic surgery operations.

She immigrated to Canada and settled in Vancouver with her husband, David, in 1953. Kinuko’s personal experience of the horrors of nuclear warfare prompted her to actively promote peace in schools, within our communities and across the globe. She was a founding member of the Canadian Society of Atomic Bomb Survivors. She delivered a message of peace to Vancouver’s Expo 86, and in 1987 she co-lit the Vancouver Centennial Peace Monument flame with former Mayor Mike Harcourt at Seaforth Peace Park, the same park where her statue now stands.

Her dedication was an inspiration to many, including artist Keith Shields, who donated the beautiful sculpture of Kinuko Laskey for this memorial, and to the members of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, who are also strong supporters of social justice and the peace movement and are the sponsors of the memorial project.

Kinuko passed away on the third of November 2004, but the memory of her work continues. I would like to ask all members of the House to recognize Kinuko Laskey for her contributions and to reflect on her words and wishes that we must all be tolerant and respect each other, and we must know how important peace is to each and every one of us.