Aim:
In cooperation with people who pursue peace and justice all over
the world, and with due respect to the lessons of history, we aim
to preserve the truthfulness of historical records of the Second
World War in Asia, especially the wars of resistance against Japanese
aggression and atrocities, with a view to making the Japanese government
acknowledge her role in the Asian Holocaust, apologize for its actions
and pay compensation for her war crimes, and to correcting the tampered
history books.
Declaration:
Japan, as a leading economy in the Asian Pacific area, could have a
beneficial influence over the peoples of Asia if she could have a
relationship of mutual respect and lasting peace with her neighboring
countries. Unfortunately, during the Second World War, the Japanese
military regime invaded Asian countries and raided Pearl Harbor while
German Nazis overran Europe. This brought about profound tragedies and
brutal war crimes so numerous as to take a long time to relate.
With the War behind us for over 50 years, Germany had long admitted
to committing atrocities and made compensations for her victims. Japan,
on the other hand, has so far dodged the issues of formal apology and
compensation for her war crimes. Instead, in recent years, some influential
Japanese politicians tried to whitewash the invasion as the protection of
Asia from Western imperialism, and the Education Ministry altered history
textbooks to cover up the truth. Such short-sighted measures will only be
an insult to Asian nations and arouse racial hostilities and hatred.
In line with Canada’s national policy of multiculturalism and racial
harmony, we want to maintain harmonious relations with the ethnic Japanese
community. But we deplore the unrelenting Japanese militarism.
To bring justice to the sufferings of the Asian people during WWII, Japan
must formally admit her mistakes, sincerely apologize for her crimes and
offer reasonable compensation for damages incurred. Only then will the
future generations come to see the militarist warmongers for what they
were, and not repeat their mistakes. Only then will truth be restored to
history.
The way to peace is to respect and learn from history. This is the goal of
our association.