The Izumis & Osmonds: Friendship & Resilience in the Canadian Psychedelic Community

Erika Dyck and Letitia Johnson

Kiyoshi Izumi was born in 1921 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a vital figure in the history of psychedelics as an influential and decorated architect who courageously took on governments and hospital superintendents arguing that institutional spaces aggravated mental illnesses rather than helping to soothe them. He arrived at these conclusions in part due to his own experiences taking LSD and observing hospital conditions. He fundamentally believed that by taking LSD he could generate meaningful insights into the design of institutional spaces. But in many ways his legacy is a testament to the Japanese Canadian community’s resilience in the face of racist policies and the equally persistent support from his wife, Amy (Nomura) Izumi... continue reading.