Canadian Lawyer

24 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m T he decision to forgive can often be a turning point. While it can sometimes be intensely personal, it can also have dramatic effects on an entire nation. For Mark Sakamoto, forgiveness has had life-altering effects many times over. His best-selling memoir, Forgiveness, recounts how his maternal grandfather Ralph MacLean was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese in Hong Kong in the Second World War, while his paternal grandmother Mitsue Sakamoto was forced to leave Vancouver and work in rural Alberta simply because of her Japanese heritage. Mark Sakamoto's memoir, which will soon be a television series, illustrates how forgiveness can build a nation By Tim Wilbur FORGIVING A NATION C R O S S E X A M I N E D While the title of the book comes in part from the very personal forgiveness that took place when Sakamoto's grandparents eventually met, the book itself came about through forgiveness that played out on a much larger scale. In 2011, the Japanese government officially apologized to Canada for its treatment of prison- ers held during the Second World War, essentially asking former prisoners like Sakamoto's grandfa- ther for forgiveness. Erin O'Toole, a friend who Sakamoto met as a fellow law student at Dalhou- sie, knew Sakamoto's family history. O'Toole, who went on to become a Conservative Member of Parliament, suggested to John Stackhouse, then- editor of The Globe and Mail, that Sakamoto write an essay tying his family history to the Japanese government's apology. The essay, published under Mark and his brother Daniel's name, explains that, without for- giveness, he and his brother would never have been born. After the essay was published, Sakamoto received a book deal from Harper Collins, which eventually turned into his memoir. "That put me on a journey," Sakamoto recounts from his office in downtown Toronto. It was a "professional journey that was incredibly personal." It "really pushed me in ways that I've never been pushed before," he says. While writing his memoir, Sakamoto retained his job as a senior vice president at Think Research, a health-tech company in Toronto where he still works, but his personal story has made him a household name. Most recently, the book was the winner of CBC's popular Canada Reads competition in 2018 and has now been optioned to be made into a television series. Although Sakamoto's personal history has been thrust into the public sphere, he has always been interested politics and nation building. "For some reason, my mom let me watch The National as a really young kid. I think it was prob- ably on at 10 o'clock at night," he says. "I had no business being up that late, but she let me watch Knowlton Nash and The National and that was really my insight into the world. And I got really, really interested in politics and foreign affairs and global affairs and domestic Canadian politics." That interest in Canadian politics led him to leave his hometown of Medicine Hat, Alta. and study political science at the University of Cal- gary, where his tendency to bridge divides — a quality in short supply in contemporary politics — began. ALEXIA KAPRALOS To see a video interview with Mark Sakamoto go to canadianlawyermag.com/videos

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