Ted Itani, Internee (Hastings Park, East Lillooet and Greenwood, British Columbia), retired military officer and humanitarian
Tetsuo Theodore (Ted) Itani, CM, OMM, CD, is a third-generation Japanese Canadian. In 1942, he and his family were forcibly removed from their home in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island and relocated, first to the Livestock Building in Hastings Park, Vancouver, and then to East Lillooet in the B.C. interior.
After the war, Ted joined the cadets and was later commissioned into the Canadian Army. During his 37-year military career, he was involved in peacekeeping, humanitarian and refugee-assistance missions spanning the globe. He provided expert testimony to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and was on the International Committee of the Red Cross landmine study team that contributed to the Ottawa Treaty of 1997.
Following his retirement from the military, he worked on disaster relief and recovery operations in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, while serving concurrently as faculty with the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. He continues to volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, NGOs, and academia.