Tanaka, George

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Tanaka, George

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      • Tanaka, Joji

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      Dates of existence

      1912-1982

      History

      George Tanaka was born in Vancouver, B.C. in 1912. After high school he began working with Mr. Moritsugu in 1920 as a gardener, and studied architecture and landscaping on his own.

      After Pearl Harbor, he was sent to a sugar beet farm near Tilbury, O.N., then moved to Toronto, working in electronics. In 1943, he with other Japanese Canadians founded the Japanese Canadian Committee for Democracy (JCCD). At the tail end of the war when Japanese Canadians were allowed to join the army, he served with the Canadian Armed Forces. He also took part in the National Japanese Canadian Citizens Association (NJCCA, now the National Association of Japanese Canadians) as national executive secretary from 1947 to 1953.

      In 1955 Tanaka began his own landscape practice in Ontario. From there his career quickly grew. He was elected vice-president of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA), serving from 1967 to 1970. Tanaka received awards for his work in landscaping, winning two of the top Excellence in Design Awards at the first national competition of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CLSA) in 1969. He then joined the board of the CSLA in 1972 as secretary, and was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1975.

      Throughout his successful career, Tanaka continued to advocate for Japanese Canadians. He was a founding member of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC). He and his wife Cana tragically passed away in a car accident in 1982.

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      Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library

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      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      Created January 12, 2023 by E. Carroll.

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          Sources

          Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. “George Tanaka.” Accessed January 12, 2024. https://www.csla-aapc.ca/awards/college-fellows/george-tanaka

          George Tanaka fonds. XL3 MS A005. University of Guelph. Guelph, Ontario.

          Harvey, Kathryn. “George Tanaka: Activist and landscape architect.” The Ontarion, May 7, 2021. https://theontarion.com/2021/05/07/george-tanaka-activist-and-landscape-architect/

          Obata, Roger. “Chapter 3: Relocation to Toronto.” In Japanese Canadian Redress: The Toronto Story, ed. Momoye Sugiman. Toronto: HpF Press, 2000. https://torontonajc.ca/torontostory/chapter3.html

          “To Lobby For Vote: Japanese Seek End to Poll Barriers.” The Vancouver Daily Province, April 6, 1948. http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fapril-6-1948-page-5-26%2Fdocview%2F2368714518%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D14771

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