The Japanese martial art and combat sport judo has been practised in Canada for over a century. The first long-term judo dojo in Canada, Tai Iku Dojo, was established by a Japanese immigrant named Shigetaka "Steve" Sasaki in Vancouver in 1924. Sasaki and his students opened several branch schools in British Columbia and even trained RCMP officers until 1942, when Japanese Canadians were expelled from the Pacific coast and either interned or forced to move elsewhere in Canada due to fears that they were a threat to the country after Japan entered the Second World War. When the war was over, the government gave interned Japanese Canadians two options: resettle in Canada outside of the 'Japanese exclusion zone' (within 100 miles of the Pacific coast) or emigrate to Japan.
The majority moved to other provinces, and Japanese Canadian resettlement is the main way that judo was introduced to the Prairies, Ontario, and Quebec. The pattern is different in Atlantic Canada and Northern Canada, where judo was typically introduced 5–10 years later and migrants from Europe played a more significant role. The Canadian Kodokan Black Belt Association, now known as Judo Canada, was established in Toronto in 1956 and recognized by the International Judo Federation as Canada's official governing body in 1958, and by 1960 there were more than 4,000 judoka in Canada, most of whom were not Japanese Canadian. Interest in judo also grew among the general public after Doug Rogers unexpectedly won silver at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's practice of judo became a prominent part of his public persona in the late 1960s. Today there are about 400 judo clubs and approximately 25,000 judoka in Canada, and it is most popular in Quebec where there are around 120 clubs and 10,000 judoka.
While most Canadian judo clubs focus on physical education and recreation, Canada has fielded competitors in international competition since the 1950s, and its athletes have won seven medals at the Summer Olympics and twelve at the World Judo Championships. Canada's most successful competitor is Nicolas Gill, who won medals at two Olympic Games and three World Championships, and is now the CEO of Judo Canada after coaching the national team from 2009 to 2016. Antoine Valois-Fortier's bronze at the 2012 London Olympics—Canada's first Olympic medal since Gill's silver in 2000—led to increased federal funding that significantly improved Judo Canada's training capacity, including a new training centre in Montreal where the organization is now based. Since then Christa Deguchi and Jessica Klimkait have won the World Judo Championships, Klimkait and Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard became the first Canadian women in history to win Olympic medals in judo at the 2020 Olympics, and Priscilla Gagné became both the first Canadian woman in history to win a medal and the first Canadian to win silver in Paralympic judo at the 2020 Paralympics.
History
Judo is a Japanese martial art and combat sport founded by Jigoro Kano (1860 – 1938) in 1882. It was introduced to Canada by Japanese migrants in the early twentieth century, first in British Columbia and then in the Prairies, Ontario, and Quebec as Japanese Canadians who had been expelled from the Pacific coast during the Second World War resettled in other provinces. The pattern is different in Atlantic Canada and Northern Canada, where judo was typically introduced 5–10 years later and migrants from Europe played a more significant role.
Beginnings in British Columbia
Before World War II (1939 – 1945) most people from Japan or of Japanese ancestry in Canada (23,149 according to the 1941 census) lived in British Columbia. About a quarter of that population lived in Vancouver, and the majority of the Vancouver residents lived in the neighbourhood known as 'Japantown' or 'Little Tokyo', which was made up of about six blocks centred on Powell Street and bordered by Alexander, Jackson, Cordova, and Main. It was a distinct Japanese area with its own stores, banks, and theatres until all people of Japanese ancestry living within 100 miles (161 km) of the Pacific coast were expelled, their property was confiscated, and the majority were interned in 1942 (see 'World War II and Japanese internment' below). The area is now part of the Downtown Eastside.