Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees, 1975-1980

Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees, 1975-1980

Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees, 1975-1980

Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees, 1975-1980

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Overview

The fall of Saigon in April 1975 resulted in the largest and most ambitious refugee resettlement effort in Canada’s history. Running on Empty presents the challenges and successes of this bold refugee resettlement program. It traces the actions of a few dozen men and women who travelled to seventy remote refugee camps, worked long days in humid conditions, subsisted on dried noodles and green tea, and sometimes slept on their worktables while rats scurried around them – all in order to resettle thousands of people displaced by war and oppression. After initially accepting 7,000 refugees from camps in Guam, Hong Kong, and military bases in the US in 1975, Canada passed the 1976 Immigration Act to establish new refugee procedures and introduce private refugee sponsorship. In July of 1979, the federal government under Prime Minister Joe Clark announced that Canada would accept an unprecedented 50,000 refugees – later increased to 60,000 – more than half of whom would be sponsored by ordinary Canadians. Running on Empty presents gripping first-hand accounts of the government officials tasked with selecting refugees from eight different countries, receiving and matching them with sponsors, and helping churches, civic organizations, and groups of neighbours to receive and integrate the newcomers in cities, towns, and rural communities across Canada. Timely and inspiring, Running on Empty offers essential lessons for governments, organizations, and individuals trying to come to grips with refugee crises in the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780773548817
Publisher: McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date: 04/14/2017
Series: McGill-Queen's Studies in Ethnic History , #2
Pages: 612
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Michael J. Molloy is an honorary senior fellow at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, and was senior coordinator of the Indochinese Refugee Task Force from 1979 to 1980. Peter Duschinsky is a retired immigration foreign service officer and Immigration Canada’s former director of international liaison. Kurt F. Jensen is a retired foreign service officer and adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University. Robert J. Shalka, a retired immigration foreign service officer was one of two officers sent to Thailand to establish a new program for refugees from Thailand and Laos.

Table of Contents

Foreword Ronald Atkey xi

Preface and Acknowledgments xiii

Abbreviations and Terminology xix

Maps xxv

Introduction 3

Part I A History of Canada's Involvement with the Indochinese Refugees, 1975-1980

1 The Historical Evolution of Canada's Refugee Policy between World War II and the Immigration Act, 1976 17

2 The fall of Saigon and Canada's Response 22

3 The First Wave, 1975-1977 43

4 The Immigration Act, 1976: New Provisions for Refugees 61

5 Ramping Up for Crisis, 1978 82

6 Canada Engages: Critical Decisions, 1978-1979 104

7 Innovation on the Run 122

8 Mr Atkey's Fifty Thousand 138

9 To Match or Not to Match: It's All about the Numbers 153

10 Mr Axworthy Sees It Through 167

Part II Resettlement Operations in Southeast Asia

11 Singapore: The Early Years 189

12 The Canadian Refugee Program in Singapore, 1975-1980 208

13 Singapore: Visas, Mounties, and Medicals 230

14 Singapore: One Man's Refugee Movement 254

15 Bangkok, 1978-1979: Operational Beginnings 276

16 Bangkok, 1979-1980: Crises and Growth 293

17 Bangkok: Working in the Camps 309

18 Hong Kong, Macau, Manila 328

19 Quebec Operations in Southeast Asia 347

20 Rescue at Sea 369

Part III Welcoming the Refugees

21 Receiving the Refugees: The Staging Areas 389

22 Community Coordination 407

23 The Refugee Liaison Officers 427

24 Adapting to Canada: The Long Struggle 442

Conclusion 449

Chronology 461

Notes 479

Contributors 545

Index 561

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