Tomiko Lillian Imakire

Tomiko Lillian Imakire moved to Mission in 1920 with her parents and siblings. During World War II, the family was forcibly uprooted and relocated to Alberta and later to Tashme, BC. After the war, Imakire returned to Mission, where she would go on to become one of the community’s most dedicated volunteers and civic contributors.

Imakire devoted many years to volunteer work across a wide range of local organizations, including the Red Cross, the Mission Hospice Society, the Mission Hospital Auxiliary, the United Church, and the Mission Community Archives. She remained active for years afterward with Lifetime Learning, the Old Age Pension’s Organization (OAP), the Hospital Auxiliary, and the United Church.

From 1992 to 1993, Imakire played a key role in organizing what was, at the time, the largest exhibition in Mission’s history, showcasing photographs, maps, and manuscript materials documenting 80 families from the community’s Japanese Canadian population. The project’s success led to the establishment of one of the largest community-based archival collections on Japanese Canadians in British Columbia.

In honour of her decades of service, Imakire received the Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award and was granted a life membership with the Old Age Pension’s Organization. On February 18, 1995, she was named Lifetime Achievement recipient at the silver anniversary of the Chamber of Commerce awards banquet, an event honouring Mission’s “top citizens”.