1988 REDRESS FOR JAPANESE CANADIANS

Ohama’s artwork ‘Watari Dori’ (A Bird of Passage) raised funds to support the national campaign of the Redress Movement for Japanese Canadians.
By January 1986 the ‘Watari Dori’ fundraiser was selling out across the country to aid the Redress Committee’s fight, which eventually led to redress and a formal Government of Canada apology in 1988 (Prime Minister Brian Mulroney).
"Ohama's work captured the vision of redress as a vehicle for healing the trauma of the past for all Japanese Canadians. ‘Watari Dori’ was printed in an edition of some 5,000 copies that sold for $30 each, not only in Vancouver but in all of Canada." Roy Miki, Redress:Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice, Published by Raincoast Books 2004
"The proceeds from the sale of this work provided 90% of the funds we raised to allow us to obtain the formal apology by an Act of Parliament in 1988." Charles Kadota, Redress Committee