Grace Eiko Thomson

Grace Eiko Thomson (born Eiko Nishikihama; October 15, 1933 – July 11, 2024) was a Japanese-Canadian World War II internee. She was the founder of the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre in British Columbia and a memoirist.

Early life Eiko Nishikihama was born at the Japanese Fishermen's Hospital in the Steveston neighbourhood of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, on October 15, 1933. Her father, Taguchi Torasaburo, and mother, Sawae, were both naturalized Canadian citizens, having emigrated from Japan, and she was one of five children the couple raised in Vancouver's Japantown, or Paueru-gai. In 1942, the family was upended when they were forcibly relocated to an internment site in Minto City, in accordance with the War Measures Act. In 1959, she married Alistair MacDonald Thomson, and the couple would have two children of their own. She has worked as a curator at art galleries in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, and as an advisor to the Sanavik Inuit Cooperative in Nunavut.

Chiru Sakura was shortlisted for the 2022 City of Vancouver Book Award.

Death Thomson died at her Winnipeg home on July 11, 2024, at the age of 90.