Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents

Mark Sakamoto

In this compelling family memoir, Canadian lawyer Mark Sakamoto writes about his grandparents’ harrowing experiences during World War II. In so doing, he shares with us one of the ugliest and most shameful parts of our country’s history, the forced evacuation of Japanese Canadians from the coastal areas of British Columbia.

The author’s paternal grandparents, Hideo and Mitsue Sakamoto, both Canadian citizens born in Canada, were living and working in Vancouver when the war broke out. They were forced from their home and relocated to a sugar beet farm in southern Alberta where they lived in a crudely converted chicken coop and worked like slaves. They lost their possessions, their community, and their freedom and when the war was over, the government of Canada reimbursed them $25.65, less than 2% of the value of their lost possessions and wages. 

While the Sakamotos were eking out an existence in southern Alberta, the author’s maternal grandfather, Ralph MacLean, experienced a very different war. A young soldier from eastern Canada’s Magdalen Islands, he was shipped out to Hong Kong where he was captured by the Japanese army. Spending the remainder of the war in prisoner of war camps, he enduring illness, abuse, and degradation at the hands of his captors. Barely surviving, he was released at the end of the war and returned to Canada where he found work in Medicine Hat, Alberta.  

A generation later, Ralph and his wife come face to face with Hideo and Mitsue when their daughter falls in love with the Sakamoto’s son. It is a testament to both sides when they are able to put aside the past, choose to forgive, and become friends. 

In the final third of the book, the author focuses on his own life’s story, particularly the trauma that he experienced after his parents’ marriage ends, his mother remarries a violent man, and her life descends into the depths of alcohol and drug addiction. The theme of forgiveness ties the story together, however; forgiveness learned from his grandparents. 

I would caution those who are interested in historical accuracy that the book does contain a few errors related to geography and timing that should have been caught by the editor, but keep in mind that the writer was depending on his grandparents’ memories and telling their story rather than basing his book on historical research. 

Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents won the Canada Reads 2018 award and a stage adaptation by Hiroko Kanagawa played in live theatres across Canada in 2022-2023. I vaguely remember hearing about it then and now I wish that I had purchased tickets and made the effort to travel to the city for a performance.