The JIA Foundation

2024 Governors’ Awards

The National Trust for Canada’s Board of Governors is pleased to recognize the JIA Foundation for the Chinatown Reimagined initiative.

The JIA Foundation, founded in 2022, works to protect and promote the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Montréal’s Chinatown through education, space activation, and community-driven approaches to real estate.   

Last year, the foundation hosted the Chinatown Reimagined Forum, bringing together community members, urban planners, policymakers, and activists to envision an inclusive future for Chinatowns across North America. Marking the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Forum acknowledged the history of anti-Asian racism that shaped Chinatowns and the ongoing challenges they face, including gentrification, displacement, and cultural erasure.  

Key takeaways included the importance of coalition-building across generations, the role of cultural erasure as a form of anti-Asian violence, and the power of community land trusts. The Forum also emphasized the need for storytelling to reclaim narratives and leverage media for change.   

The Governors chose to highlight this project as demonstrating how heritage conservation can promote inclusion.