The SEDAI Project was founded in 2004 by a dedicated team of extraordinary volunteers from diverse backgrounds and experience. The Project operates as a committee under the auspices of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) and reports directly to the Board of the JCCC. The core members of the SEDAI Project Committee are described below.

Ann Ashley

Ann has a B.A., B.Ed and taught high school English, in Ghana, West Africa with CUSO for 2 years after graduating from university. On her return to Canada, she became a Specialist Teacher of the Deaf and taught for the Toronto District School Board for over 33 years. She was also involved in the writing of curriculum on teaching English to the Deaf for the Toronto Board. Retired from the public school system, Ann now teaches English in a private girl's school.

Ann is active in the Japanese Canadian community and has been a member of the SEDAI Project Committee since its inception. She currently sits on the JCCC Board of Directors as Vice President of Management. Some of the committees she is involved in include the Executive, Sedai, Heritage, and Membership & Marketing committees. Ann sits on the Board of Directors of Momiji Health Care Society as Past Chair, after spending 5 years as Chair of the Board. At Momiji, Ann is involved in the Executive, P.R.& Marketing, Nominating, Board Development and Bazaar committees. Ann also sits on the Board of Directors of Nikkei Voice.

Neil Henderson

Neil is a partner with the Canadian law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP where he practices out of the firm's Waterloo region office. Neil earned a B.A.Sc. in engineering science from the University of Toronto in 1986 and obtained a law degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1990. Neil is a registered Canadian and United States patent agent and a Canadian trade mark agent. Neil's practice focuses on strategic IP portfolio creation and management Neil also advises clients on IT/copyright law, including software licensing, distribution and outsourcing.

Prior to practising law, he spent four years in Japan where he worked as a technical consultant at a patent firm and as a patent and legal advisor to a private company. As such, Neil has a depth of experience in Canadian, U.S. and international IP practice from both the Canadian and Japanese perspectives.

Neil is a director of the Toronto Intellectual Property Group, the Toronto Japanese Language School and the Waterloo Law Association. He has been a member of the SEDAI Project Committee since its inception.

George Hewson

George has a B.A., M.A., B. Ed. and taught History, Civics, French, and Economics for thirty years in various Canadian secondary schools. Recently, he has written the "World Religions" and "Native Studies" curricula for the Ontario Ministry of Education. Now a member of both the Education and Programs Departments at the Royal Ontario Museum, he teaches a wide range of courses including "The World of the Samurai". A member of the JCCC for over twenty years, he served a term on the Board of Directors. The New Canadian and Nikkei Voice have published his articles on teaching about the Japanese Canadian internment, Japanese sword-smithing and kamikaze pilots.

His interest in things Japanese began in 1975 when he started his budo training. He spent a year in Japan to deepen his study. Now he is one of only three non-Japanese members of the Canadian Aikido Federation to hold the senior rank of rokudan (sixth-degree black belt). At present, he is past-president of the Ontario Aikido Federation and vice-president of the Canadian Aikido Federation. He and his wife, Gerry (nee Nishimura), own and operate Aikido Seishinkai. Gerry is the highest ranked Canadian Nisei Aikidoist at yodan (fourth-degree black belt).

Andrew Kirby

After living and working in Osaka, Japan for five years, during which time he became reasonably fluent in Japanese, Andrew's mother asked him to come home to Canada. Andrew completed his MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, with a semester at Keio University in Tokyo. He is now a Project Director with Blast Radius, a leading interactive agency that helps businesses deliver innovative and profitable customer experiences by combining business strategy, experience design, and industry-leading technologies.

Andrew has been a member of the SEDAI Project Committee since its inception where he has lent his considerable skills in web design and project management to the project. Andrew can trace his interest in things Japanese to his mother (nee Shigeta ) and to kendo.

Tracy Matsuo

Tracy is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. She has been involved with the SEDAI Project since its inception. She is excited to be affiliated with a project that will make the experiences of Japanese Canadians more accessible not only to people around the globe but also to current and future generations of Canadians.

Tracy is also a board member of the Greater Toronto Chapter of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC), where she is a past President. She is also on the organizing committee of Kosaten, a group which provides information and activities for people from Japan to help them adjust to life in Toronto.

Lorene Nagata

Lorene has B.A. and an LL.B from the University of Western Ontario. She practiced commercial litigation for almost 5 years before changing career paths. Since 1997, she has been a legal recruiter and now places lawyers into law firms and corporations through her own company, NagataConnex Executive Legal Search. Through her work, Lorene has gained extensive experience interviewing candidates and her interview skills as well as her management experience are great assets to the SEDAI Project.

Lorene is a founding member of the SEDAI Project Committee and is currently a member of its executive. Lorene is also a Board Member of the JCCC and a member of the JCCC Marketing Committee. By being involved in the project, Lorene's goals are to preserve the rich cultural history of the Japanese Canadian community, to learn more about Nikkei history and to get more involved/connected with the JC community in Toronto, the rest of Canada - and the US.

Russell Onizuka

Russell has a BSc. from the University of Toronto, is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, a Microsoft Small Business Specialist, Certified Technical Trainer and Certified Document Imaging Architect. He runs his own consulting business helping companies implement software solutions using technology as a tool and streamlining their processes. Among his specialities are Event Management Software, Small Business Solutions, Preventative Maintenance Software and Building Control Systems.

Russell has lent his technical expertise to the SEDAI Project since inception and along with Peter Wakayama, has organized, catalogued and digitized portions of the JCCC photo archives. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the JCCC and is also an active member of the JCCC Heritage Committee.

Connie Sugiyama

Connie has a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Toronto. She is a senior partner of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Canada's largest law firm, where she practices corporate, securities and mergers and acquisitions law from their Toronto office. Connie has served on Gowlings' National Executive Committee and led the firm's 115 member National Corporate Finance, Securities and Public M&A Practice Group from 2002-2007.

Connie is the founding Chair of the SEDAI Project and is also an advisor to the JCCC. She has served on the board of the JCCC, where she was also the founding Chair of the "Building Together" Capital Campaign, and on the board of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation, the body charged with allocating the $12 million community redevelopment fund awarded as part of the federal government's 1988 redress settlement.

Connie is an experienced director, having served on many community and private sector boards over the years. She is currently Vice Chair and Chair Designate of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and is also on the boards of The Toronto International Film Festival Group, Canada Health Infoways and LuminaTO, the Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity.

Dan Toguri

Dan completed a bachelor's and a master's degrees in Chemical Engineering at Queen's University and the University of Toronto, respectively. Currently, Dan is a student in the Doctor of Medicine program at the University of Western Ontario.

Dan's participation at the JCCC began in the early stages of what would become the SEDAI Project. His interest in preserving the stories of Japanese Canadian seniors developed during work at Momiji Health Care Society. As a Sedai volunteer, Dan has been involved in conducting background research, interviewing and establishing the mandate and image of the project.

Bob Tanaka

Bob Tanaka was born in Montreal in 1950. He is a Professional Engineer and is currently engaged in this field. Bob jointed the SEDAI Project Committee primarily to help with research and documentation for the oral histories being captured by Sedai. This gave him an opportunity to learn first hand, the stories of the Japanese Canadians and those connected with them during the internment period. Bob has also served as the SEDAI Project's Treasurer.

Having lived in many parts of Canada Bob has learned to appreciate the richness, vastness and commonality of Japanese Canadian food tastes. Bob volunteers his time on various activities especially those connected with Japanese Canadian food.

Peter Wakayama

Peter was born in 1936 at Port Hammond, British Columbia and with his family, was interned in Hasting Park, Tashme, and New Denver, British Columbia during World War II. After the war, his family moved east to Chatham, Ontario.

Peter graduated from the School of Architecture, University of Toronto with a B. Arch. He joined the firm of Craig, Zeidler and Strong, Architects, (now Zeidler Partnership, Architects) and after 36 years, retired as a senior partner in 2001.

Active in the Japanese Canadian community, Peter volunteers on several committees at the JCCC, including the Heritage Steering Committee and has been a member of the SEDAI Project Committee since its inception. He is a past chair of Central Region, Community Living Toronto and served on the Board of Directors of CLT.

As a Nisei with first hand experience of the internment, Peter joined the SEDAI Project because of his interest in preserving and sharing the stories of the Japanese Canadian experience, especially in the digital archival format of the SEDAI Project.

Tak Yano

Tak Yano, a.k.a. "Soba Boy", has been a member of the SEDAI Project Committee since its inception. He has contributed his broad ranging skills as a technology expert, videographer and sound technician and has been a key resource in building Sedai's archive of oral histories.

Among other things, Tak built an intranet for the SEDAI Project that in the early days, allowed our volunteers to communicate with each other and to track the progress of the project. Tak is also a member of the JCCC's Heritage Committee and a dedicated volunteer in and around the JCCC.