Goichi Nakayama was born in the village of Kurakawa,
Ozu-shi,
Ehime-ken, Japan in 1900 and immigrated to Canada in 1919. Nakayama settled in
Vancouver and was ordained as a priest in 1934 under the
Anglican Diocese of New Westminster. Nakayama helped to build two stone churches and one addition in Vancouver, and in 1941 all three were seized by the City of Vancouver as part of the
World War II seizure of Japanese property enacted by the
Federal Government. Nakayama, his family, and all 22,000 Japanese Canadians living in British Columbia were expelled in 1942 from the coast following an Order-In-Council from the Prime Minister's cabinet mandating a
100-mile (160 Km) exclusion zone from the Pacific Coast.
Internment camps were scattered, remote communities isolated from one another. Mobility rights were controlled. Nakayama, as an ordained priest and community leader, was permitted to travel between the camps. It is known that on Nakayama's visits to communities he would often be invited to stay in different homes. This right continued after the end of WWII in 1945 and Japanese Canadians were dispersed across Canada as the Japanese were
prevented from living in British Columbia until 1949. After the war ended the Nakayama family settled in
Alberta, along with 4000 other Japanese Canadians. Nakayama traveled extensively in his ministry and preached on all six inhabited
continents visiting over twenty countries. He was in
Okinawa, Japan when he was caught by two priests molesting a child. Sent home in disgrace in 1952, Nakayama continued his ministry under the
Diocese of Calgary. He and his family resided in
Coaldale where he established the Anglican Church of the Ascension and served as minister until 1978. Following his retirement in Alberta Nakayama moved to Vancouver, BC, where he presided over Holy Cross Japanese Anglican Church until his second retirement. ==Controversy==