Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada

by Mark Satin

Overview

In print for the first time since 1971, Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada has once again become relevant in a time of major political upheaval in the United States of America.

First published in 1968 by House of Anansi Press, the Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada was a handbook for Americans who refused to serve as draftees in the Vietnam War and were considering immigrating to Canada. Conceived as a practical guide with information on the process, the Manual also features information on aspects of Canadian society, touching on topics like history, politics, culture, geography and climate, jobs, housing, and universities.

The Manual went through several editions from 1968–71. Today, as Americans are taking up the discussion of immigration to Canada once again, it is an invaluable record of a moment in our recent history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487002893
Publisher:	House of Anansi Press
Publication date:	09/05/2017
Edition description:	A List Edition
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

MARK SATIN is an American political theorist, author, and newsletter publisher. After emigrating to Canada in 1967, at the age of twenty, Satin co-founded the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme, which helped bring American Vietnam War resisters to Canada. He wrote the Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada in 1968, which had an estimated print run of 100,000 copies. Satin is also the author of New Age Politics: Healing Self and Society, and the political newsletters New Options and Radical Middle. His most recent book is New Age Politics: Our Only Real Alternative (40th Anniversary Edition).

Read an Excerpt

From the Fifth Edition, Summer 1970:

The Toronto Anti-Draft Programme is the largest group in Canada helping young American immigrants who refuse to fight against Vietnam. The Programme provides legal research and information to the other Canadian aid groups and is in contact with some 2,000 draft counsellors in the U.S., providing background information, reporting changes in immigration practice, and verifying or denying the ever-present rumours.

Full-time trained counsellors are available to advise people planning to immigrate; the Programme also helps immigrants once they arrive in Canada. Nearly 200 Torontonians have offered to house new arrivals temporarily. Its Employment Service has a full-time counsellor to help find job offers for applications and job leads for landed immigrants. Several Toronto lawyers advise immigrants who have special legal problems, and a number of physicians help with medical problems.

The Programme is assisted by dozens of volunteers, both new immigrants and Canadians. Church groups and faculty members from the University of Toronto and York Universityhave been especially valuable sources of assistance and support. Contributions are welcome and needed.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Coverage for Mark Satin and Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada:

“[A] major bid to encourage Americans to evade military conscription . . . [Contains] detailed advice about how to qualify as a Canadian immigrant, and information about Canadian jobs and school opportunities, housing, politics, culture, and climate.” — Edward Cowan, New York Times, February 11, 1968

“[Supplies] would-be immigrants from the south with information on everything from peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie costs to . . . the cold facts about immigration.” — Gary Dunford, Toronto Star, February 14, 1968

“The [Manual] does not play a siren song to Canada. In fact, one chapter warns: ‘It is foolish for draft-delinquent Americans to expect that they will ever be able to return to the U.S. legally.’” — Harry Rosenthal, Los Angeles Times, June 2, 1968

“[Contains] useful information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain.” — Paul Lauter and Florence Howe, New York Review of Books, June 20, 1968

Editorial Reviews

It’s in the new afterword by Mark Satin, the Manual’s creator, where we can taste the grit, guts, and adrenalin fuelling the sixties anti-war movement. . . . why read the Manual today? Simply put, for its compelling documentary value as an artifact of a dangerous time

Globe and Mail