George Pearson Centre renamed Oak Care Centre

The former George Pearson Centre, now Oak Care Centre, is a long-term care home in South Vancouver for residents with complex medical and physical conditions. The facility was named after George S. Pearson when it opened in 1952. 

In 2021, the Board of the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association (GVJCCA) wrote to VCH, objecting to the ongoing use of the name George Pearson Centre. As a B.C. politician in the 1940s, George S. Pearson successfully lobbied for the forced removal of Japanese Canadians from B.C., most of whom were born in Canada. By 1942, as an advisor to the BC Security Commission, Pearson also oversaw the Japanese Canadian uprooting, incarceration, dispossession and dispersal. Pearson supported the province's denial of human rights and enfranchisement of many racialized people, including Japanese Canadians. These beliefs and actions do not align with VCH’s values or pillars of Indigenous cultural safety, anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion.

“The caring process of renaming this facility Oak Care Centre has been deeply meaningful and aligns with our commitment to creating a welcoming and safe environment for all patients, clients and residents,” says Vivian Eliopoulos, VCH President and CEO. “We are so grateful to the community members who partnered with us to make this long-term care home more inclusive for residents, their families and our community at large.” 

VCH began a collaborative engagement process to help identify a new name for the centre. To promote an inclusive process, VCH partnered with the Musqueam Indian Band – as Oak Care Centre is located on traditional and unceded Musqueam territory – and engaged with residents of the care home as well as community organizations, including the GVJCCA, MOSAIC, Powell Street Festival Society, S.U.C.C.E.S.S., and Tonari Gumi. Through this process, partners identified Oak Care Centre as the preferred new name and a reflection of the oak tree as an Indigenous plant to the region. 

“The renaming process has been both positive and beneficial,” says Judy Hanazawa, head of the GVJCCA human rights committee. “It provided us the opportunity to work with others, whose paths we may not have otherwise crossed. The renaming is a step toward addressing the injustices experienced by racialized community members in British Columbia.”

To create culturally safe and welcoming spaces for all people seeking health care, VCH has renamed other health-care facilities to align with its organizational values and pillars, including renaming qathet General Hospital and ƛ̓uxválásu̓ilas Heiltsuk Hospital.

For more information about the Japanese-Canadian community during the Second World War, please see the Government of BC website.

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Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH)
Vancouver Coastal Health is committed to delivering exceptional care to 1.25 million people, including the First Nations, Métis and Inuit in our region, within the traditional territories of the Heiltsuk, Kitasoo-Xai'xais, Lil'wat, Musqueam, N'Quatqua, Nuxalk, Samahquam, shíshálh, Skatin, Squamish, Tla'amin, Tsleil-Waututh, Wuikinuxv, and Xa'xtsa. VCH is British Columbia’s hub of health-care innovation, research and academic excellence, providing specialized care to patients throughout the province. Learn more at vch.ca.

Vancouver Coastal Health 
media@vch.ca