Biography of Canadian Delegation

Appeal Court Hearing in Tokyo, May 20 & 21, 2003

Ellen Woodsworth

She is from a family that has been involved in working for social justice and economic equality for several generations. Her great uncle was JS Woodsworth founder and leader of the CCF and her cousin was Grace MacInnis who with her husband Angus MacInnis fought against the internment of Japanese Canadians in World War II. Her father was born and raised in Japan and Ellen completed grades 11 and 12 in Kobe, Japan. Ellen was Chair of the BC Action Network which was a broad coalition of organizations fighting the Free Trade Agreements. A tireless activist for human rights in the Downtown Eastside, for women, gays and lesbians and seniors, Ellen was elected to Vancouver City Council in November 2002. Ellen was a panelist at the Peace workshop of Canadian Conference on Preventing Crimes Against Humanities: Lessons from the Asia-Pacific War (1931-1945).  Currently she is Vice Chair of the Peace and Justice Committee at City Hall. She is working with others to develop Vancouver as a City of Peace and hopes that Vancouver will play host to a World Peace Conference in 2005.

Judy Hanazawa

Her background is in social work. She has been serving within the Japanese Canadian community as a member of the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association Human Rights Committee. She is currently a director of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) Board and the Chair of the NAJC Human Rights Committee. She participated in 1997 in gathering signatures for the petition concerning the Professor Ienega textbook lawsuit against the Japanese government and assisting with the Vancouver presentation of Unit 731 Exhibition & Witnessing forum in 1998. She recently participated as a workshop moderator on the Legacy of Japanese Canadian Redress in the Canadian Conference on Preventing Crimes Against Humanity: Lessons from the Asia Pacific War (1931-1945) at UBC, Vancouver. Despite the history of racism, internment, and redress which identifies the experience of Japanese Canadians, Canada demonstrated moral and social responsibility by acknowledging its unjust treatment of Japanese Canadians and signing a Redress Agreement with our community on September 22, 1988. Similarly, Japan's recognition and redress for her historic victims of germ warfare would only encourage opportunity for growth, foster reconciliation and trust between Japan and those who were victimized.   

Sarah Tsang

Born in Hong Kong, Sarah Tsang grew up both there and in Vancouver, Canada. She is a 2003 graduate from the University of British Columbia, with a B.A. (Honors) in History with International Relations.  From 2000-2001, she spent a year on exchange at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and thoroughly enjoyed Japanese life.  An ALPHA member, she wrote her Honours thesis on the plight of women victims and survivors of rape and forced prostitution (the so-called “comfort women”) during the Asia-Pacific War, and was involved in the Canadian Conference on Preventing Crimes Against Humanity: Lessons from the Asia Pacific War (1931-1945) in March 2003.

Excited to be a part of the growing international citizens movement for redress, she hopes that the legacy of World War II in Asia will be changed from one of hatred and bitterness to that of reconciliation and understanding for succeeding generations. Ultimately, Sarah hopes to pursue a career in international journalism or foreign diplomacy.

David McIntosh

David was raised in Osaka as son of Jack and Beth McIntosh, Canadian missionaries who worked for 40 years with partners within and outside of the Korean Christian Church in Japan. Since his days as a university student, David has supported from the margins a variety of social justice activities in Japan and Canada through as a Japanese-English interpreter and translator.  He is currently a member of the Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association Human Rights Committee in Vancouver, where he lives with wife FUSHII Maki, an ordained minister back at school, and daughter Flora Mei. Through his involvement with the JCCA, the church and other communities of friends, David hopes to contribute to the reconciliation of broken relations that touch his own life; between Koreans and Japanese, between First Nations and Canadians, between women and men, between nature and humanity, and between the Japanese government and their victims.

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