Opening 2022
WongAvery
ASIA PACIFIC
PEACE MUSEUM
Situated in Toronto, the WongAvery Asia-Pacific Peace Museum will be the first in the world to be dedicated to educating and commemorating the entirety of the history of World War II in Asia. With humanity and peace as its theme, it is a historical milestone. It will be a place to witness and remember a forgotten and ignored history, and a space to provoke research and actions for peace and reconciliation.
Opening 2022
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About
This museum is dedicated to peace.
But there can be no peace without an acknowledgement of historical facts.
This museum is dedicated to the struggle for a world without war.
But there can be no absence of war without our knowing the suffering of the other.
This museum is dedicated to a better future for our children.
But this future cannot arrive without the dream and the labour of forgiveness.
This museum exists because of the joy that underlies the trust that goodness is inextinguishable and will triumph.
- Joy Kogawa
Mandate
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Mandate
ALPHA Education's two-decade-long education work has improved people's knowledge of WWII in Asia and increased youth participation in the pioneering of a peace and reconciliation movement. Many who have resigned to eighty years of historical silence begin to see hope. As such, ALPHA Education strove to build a museum in Toronto in order to further promote the education of WWII in Asia and the message of peace in the Western world and other areas of the world.
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A NEED?
Need
After the war, Holocaust museums and education centres were erected all over the world to educate people about the history of the German Nazi Holocaust and provide them with a space to reflect upon the atrocities committed in Europe during WWII. The Asia-Pacific Peace Museum will provide a similar platform for humanity education in the context of the history of WWII in Asia.
Although there are institutions dedicated to revealing individual atrocities during WWII in Asia, such as the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, the Unit 731 Museum in Harbin dedicated to studying Japanese biological weapons, the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in Seoul dedicated to documenting the Japanese military sexual slavery system, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, there are currently no museums that exhibit and explore the history of WWII in Asia in its entirety.
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VALUES
Value and Functions
Remember the victims of war and give voice to the voiceless
The Asia-Pacific Peace Museum is a people’s museum with humanity and peace as its core theme
Exhibit contents and designs are founded on the principles of authenticity, equity, justice, compassion, respect, and are based on the premise of education
As a museum wholly funded by private donors, businesses and foundations, all contents and curation of the exhibits is independent from influences of any stakeholders or governments
FUNCTIONS
To host permanent and feature exhibitions that provide critical understanding of the causes, atrocities and consequences of the Asia-Pacific War
To serve as a hub for research for academics and students to engage in academic inquiry related to various aspects of WWII in Asia
To host educational programs, lectures, workshops, film screenings for youths, educators, and the community
To serve as a centre for commemorative events