Yoshiko Gloria Uyenaka

Divisions Served: Security Service

Story: 

Yoshiko (Gloria) Uyenaka (née Nakauchi) joined the RCMP as a civilian member on December 4, 1975, working in Division “O”, Security Service. Born in the mining community of Cumberland, B.C. on June 9, 1931, as a nisei (or second generation Japanese Canadian) she spent her childhood and adolescence incarcerated in Lemon Creek internment camp in the B.C. interior with more than 22,000 other Japanese Canadians. It should be noted that it was the RCMP which openly opposed the incarceration of Japanese Canadians in 1942. During her tenure at the former Jarvis Street headquarters in Toronto, she worked on international events including the 1976 Montreal Olympics. She retired on October 11, 1985 due to a lifelong disability resulting from her childhood as an internee and she is buried in Etobicoke, Ontario. Her family has donated to the Pillars of the Force to thank the RCMP for their care.