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Renewal - Role of the NAJC
An administration fund was provided in the redress agreement for the NAJC to establish national, regional and local liaison offices to assist with the implementation process. of Vancouver was hired as the National Administrator to manage this enormous task, establish offices and employ personnel.
The Japanese Canadian Redress Secretariat collaborated with the NAJC in developing the information pamphlet outlining the criteria for eligibility for applicants seeking individual redress payments.
Three phases for the implementation program were developed. The first phase included disseminating redress information through advertisements, telephone contacts with field officers, organizing community meetings and workshops and directly assisting individual applicants. In the second phase, the NAJC field staff located and identified applicants requiring special assistance such as the elderly, the disabled and those confined to institutions or living in remote areas. In the third phase, projects that enhanced or promoted the awareness of redress were carried out.
The NAJC funded the during the implementation phase to ensure that all Japanese Canadian families were kept informed.
A Redress Advisory Committee, consisting of two representatives from the government and two from NAJC along with a chair, was established to deal with cases that did not clearly meet the eligibility criteria. Some 800 applications required recommendations from the committee to the Minister who made the final decision.
Naomi Shikaze and lawyer Glenn Hara assist two applicants in notarizing the redress payment application form in Vancouver. (photo: Tatsuo Kage)
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Redress information meeting in Winnipeg, October 1988. (photo: Art Miki)
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