A cherry tree that inspired award-winning Canadian author Joy Kogawa has been damaged in a fierce windstorm that swept across southern British Columbia.

Ann-Marie Metten, executive director of Historic Joy Kogawa House in Vancouver, says a huge limb of the aging cherry tree was torn off during the storm on Tuesday night.

The backyard tree is the focus of KogawaB次元官网网址檚 childrenB次元官网网址檚 book B次元官网网址淣aomiB次元官网网址檚 TreeB次元官网网址� which became a symbol of her desire to return home after she and thousands of other Japanese Canadians were interned during the Second World War.

Her acclaimed novel B次元官网网址淥basanB次元官网网址� prompted Canada to confront the legacy of persecution suffered by Japanese Canadians and although Kogawa could not return to her first home, supporters saved it from demolition in 2006, turning it into a literary landmark.

Metten says the old cherry tree is diseased and canB次元官网网址檛 be saved, but that there are already plans to plant a new tree in almost the same location, using a cutting from the original.

She says artists, from carvers to papermakers, are being urged to use the wood to create items suitable for auction to support programs at Kogawa House.

Although the remains of the tree are B次元官网网址渟omewhat hazardous,B次元官网网址� Metten says the city is giving her organization time to decide how to salvage whatB次元官网网址檚 left.

B次元官网网址淧eople care about this tree and they are aware that itB次元官网网址檚 not going to be easy to take it down,B次元官网网址� Metten says in an interview.

The loss of the tree wonB次元官网网址檛 be the end of it, though, she says.

B次元官网网址淚n 2004, we had taken some grafts from this tree and one was planted at Vancouver City Hall, there is one at a community garden at the local elementary school, IB次元官网网址檝e got one on my front boulevard thatB次元官网网址檚 now 15 years old and massive.B次元官网网址�

Grafts were also taken from downed branches after the storm, says Metten.

B次元官网网址淲e canB次元官网网址檛 have this as a sad story or tragedy, because there have been enough of those,B次元官网网址� she says.

B次元官网网址淲e want to make something out of this.B次元官网网址�

Kogawa was six when she and her family were interned and forced to relocate in southern Alberta, where they worked on sugar beet farms.

Her memory of those times inspired B次元官网网址淥basanB次元官网网址� in 1981 and the poet and author has since published two other novels, two childrenB次元官网网址檚 books and numerous works of poetry and non-fiction.

Kogawa is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia and was honoured by the Japanese government in 2010 with the Order of the Rising Sun, marking her contribution toward understanding and preserving Japanese Canadian history.

Metten says the 85-year-old currently lives in Toronto.

The Canadian Press

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