The Indochinese Refugee Movement and the Launch of Canada's Private Sponsorship Program
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Refuge Canada’s journal on Refugees Vol 32 • No 2 revue canadienne sur les réfugiés The Indochinese Refugee Movement and the Launch of Canada’s Private Sponsorship Program Introduction The Indochinese Refugee Movement and Michael J. Molloy and James C. Simeon the Subsequent Evolution of UNHCR and The Stories They Carried: Canadian Resettlement Selection Policies Reflections of Vietnamese-Canadians and Practices Michael Casasola 40 Years after ThatWar priscilla Koh Inside/Outside the Circle: A Case Study of the Vietnamese in From the Indochinese Designated Class to Toronto: Contesting Representations of Contemporary Group Processing Robert C. Batarseh the Vietnamese in Canadian Social Work Literature Private Sponsorship: Complementary or Anh Ngo Conflicting Interests? Shauna Labman The Vietnamese Refugee Crisis of the 1970s and 1980s: A Retrospective View from NGO The Indochinese Refugee Movement: Resettlement Workers An Exploratory Case Study of the Windsor Anna n. Vu and Vic Satzewich Experience Giovanna Roma Refuge Canada’s Journal on Refugees Revue canadienne sur les réfugiés Vol. 32, No. 2 Centre for Refugee Studies, Room 844, Kaneff Tower, York University 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.yorku.ca/refuge Editor-in-Chief Christina Clark-Kazak Guest Editors Michael J. Molloy and James C. Simeon Managing Editor Johanna Reynolds Book Review Editor Dianna Shandy Editorial Advisory Board Sharryn Aiken, Queen’s University Laura Bisaillon, University of Toronto Scarborough Megan Bradley, McGill University François Crépeau, McGill University Jeff Crisp, Refugees International Judith Kumin, University of New Hampshire, Manchester Susan McGrath, York University Volker Türk, UNHCR Madine Vanderplaat, Saint Mary's University Founded in 1981, Refuge is an interdisciplinary journal published by the Centre for Refugee Studies, York University. The journal aims to provide a forum for discussion and critical reflection on refugee and forced migration issues. Refuge invites contributions from researchers, practitioners, and policy makers with national, international, or comparative perspec- tives. Special, thematic issues address the broad scope of the journal’s mandate, featuring articles and reports, shorter commentaries, and book reviews. All submissions to Refuge are subject to double-blinded peer review. Articles are accepted in either English or French. Refuge is a non-profit, independent periodical funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and supported by the membership of the Canadian Association for Refugee Studies (CARFMS). The views expressed in Refuge do not necessarily reflect those of its funders or editors. Refuge is indexed and abstracted in the Index to Canadian Legal Literature, Pais International, Sociological Abstracts, the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, and Canadian Business and Current Affairs. In accordance with the journal's open access policy, the full text of articles published in Refuge is also available online through our website, www.yorku.ca/refuge. ISSN (online): 1920-7336 Volume 32 Refuge Number 2 Contents introduction book reviews The Indochinese Refugee Movement and the From the Land of Shadows: War, Revolution and the Launch of Canada’s Private Sponsorship Program Making of the Cambodian Diaspora Michael J. Molloy and James C. Simeon ..............3 by Khatharya Um Southeast Asian Migration: People on the Move articles in Search of Work, Refuge and Belonging edited by Khatharya Um and Sofia Gaspar The Stories They Carried: Reflections of Vietnamese- vincent k. her . 90 Canadians 40 Years after That War Migration by Boat: Discourses of Trauma, Exclusion Priscilla koh ..................................... 9 and Survival A Case Study of the Vietnamese in Toronto: edited by Lynda Mannik Contesting Representations of the Vietnamese in diana m. dean.................................... 92 Canadian Social Work Literature Unsettled: Cambodian Refugees in the New York City Anh ngo ......................................... 20 Hyperghetto The Vietnamese Refugee Crisis of the 1970s and 1980s: by Eric Tang A Retrospective View from NGO Resettlement Workers judy ledgerwood .................................93 anna n. vu and vic satzewich .....................30 Across the Seas: Australia’s Response to Refugees— The Indochinese Refugee Movement and the Subsequent A History Evolution of UNHCR and Canadian Resettlement by Klaus Neumann Selection Policies and Practices Antje Missbach....................................95 michael casasola.................................41 Real Queer? Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Inside/Outside the Circle: From the Indochinese Refugees in the Canadian Refugee Apparatus Designated Class to Contemporary Group Processing by David A. B. Murray Robert c. Batarseh ............................... 54 Amar wahab ......................................97 Private Sponsorship: Complementary or Conflicting Navigating a River by Its Bends: A Comparison of Interests? Cambodian Remigration shauna Labman ...................................67 by Gea Wijers Alexandra kent ................................. 98 The Indochinese Refugee Movement: An Exploratory Case Study of the Windsor Experience giovanna roma ...................................81 1 Volume 32 Refuge Number 2 Introduction The Indochinese Refugee Movement and the Launch of Canada’s Private Sponsorship Program Michael J. Molloy and James C. Simeon his special issue of Refuge comes as Canada is receiv- of two acclaimed novels, Vincent Lam’s The Headmasters ing a second tranche of Syrian refugees processed in Wager and Kim Thuy’s Ru brought the Indochinese refugee Beirut in May 2016. They are admitted as government- movement into sharp focus for the first time in decades.4 Tassisted refugees (GARs), privately sponsored refugees (PSRs), The guest editors of this special issue met for the first and Blended Visa Officer-ReferredBVOR ( ), a category where time in 2012. Mike Molloy was giving a series of lectures at the UNHCR selects the refugees for resettlement and the Ontario universities on the occasion of the 40th anniver- Canadian government and private sponsors share the costs sary of the Ugandan Asian refugee movement of 1972. His and commitment for settlement of the refugees in Canada.1 host at York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies was the The historical precedent for Canada’s Syrian program took acting director, James C. Simeon. When Simeon learned place forty years ago when 60,000 refugees from Vietnam, that Molloy and a group of colleagues from the Canadian Cambodia, and Laos were admitted. These included 25,978 Immigration Historical Society (CIHS)5 were working on GARs, and 32,281 under the newly launched private spon- a book—Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese sorship program. An additional 1,790 were sponsored by Refugee Movement 1975–1980 (McGill-Queen’s University relatives in Canada.2 Press, Spring 2017)—he suggested that CRS and CIHS host It is not entirely serendipitous that, as shocking images a conference on the refugees from former Indochina. The from the Mediterranean motivated Canadians to press their conference took place in November 2013 at York University government to react to the needs of the Syrians in 2015 and and heard the testimonies of Vietnamese, Sino-Vietnamese, 2016, Canada’s response to the Indochinese refugees in 1979 Cambodian, and Laotian refugees. Individually and collec- and 1980 was cited as a model to emulate.3 In the past three tively, these speakers reflected on the processes of becoming years, a series of academic and public events have focused on refugees, their arrivals in Canada, their first encounters the movement of refugees from former Indochina, includ- with sponsors, and their long-term adaptation to life in ing events across the country in 2015 that commemorated Canada. The conference also included panels of former visa the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the start of the officers, media representatives, political leaders, community movement of Indochinese refugees to Canada. In addition, activists, and coordinators as well as academics. Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian groups organized an Preparation for the 2013 conference revealed a surpris- event in Ottawa recognizing the anniversary of the award- ing lack of academic attention to Canada’s Indochinese ing of the Nansen Medal to the people of Canada. The release refugee movement, given its magnitude, its impact,6 and 3 Volume 32 Refuge Number 2 the enormous barriers that confronted refugees in adapting University, the Canadian Museum of History, the Canadian to and integrating into Canada. W. Courtland Robinson’s Museum Association, Pier 21, and CIHS, among others, on Terms of Refuge7 provides a thorough examination of the an ambitious project called “Hearts of Freedom” to collect refugee crisis and the international response but touches artifacts and 200 oral histories and produce a documen- on the Canadian effort only briefly. Howard Adelman’s tary and public history book. Involvement of the Canadian Canada and the Indochinese Refugees8 remains a relevant Museum of History has positioned community leaders to examination of the policy choices of the government and argue successfully that, when the Canadian History Gal- how Canadian civil society responded but contains little lery is opened next year, the arrival of the “boat people” on the overseas operation. Having been published in 1982,