In 1976 after what the Vietnamese refer to as the American War I sponsored my then wife’s 4 sisters 2 brothers and her mother to leave Saigon for Vancouver. The Canadian immigration authorities refused my request.
One brother, seated third from the left on the couch had earlier escaped by boat with a sister not in the photo and with good luck escaped the Thai pirates waiting to rob, rape and frequently kill the boat people. They along with many other boats washed up on the coast of Malaysia. Many did not succeed and while it is impossible to accurately calculate the UN estimates somewhere between 200,00 and 400,000 of 2 million boat people drowned or were murdered.
I was very angry that the Canadian immigration procedures allowed me to sponsor these two from Malaysia but did not allow me sponsor the rest directly from Vietnam.
I launched a campaign on CBC radio, local newspapers, involved local politicians, repeatedly phoned Ottawa and the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok (I worked at the phone company so I considered the calls part of my benefits) pointing out the utter illogic that if you risked your life escaping from Vietnam in a leaky boat, were not drowned or killed by pirates you could as a refugee then be sponsored to come to Canada. After a few months the Canadian authorities changed the law and mine were the first family to be allowed to leave directly for Canada from Vietnam.
I am visiting Vancouver and in the photos are two of the brothers, one sister, their spouses and children. They are all hardworking beautiful people and Canada came out way ahead on the arrangement. The rest of the sisters and their families live variously in San Diego, Calgary and Toronto.
The irony, and I appreciate irony is many years ago their sister and my ex-wife moved back to and lives in Saigon.
Go figure, nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
John
