Uganda Refugee Movement 40th Anniversary
Forty years ago this August the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin announced the expulsion of most of Uganda’s Asian population. Canada responded by sending a team to Kampala under the leadership of Roger St. Vincent and setting up a special reception facility at Canadian Forces Longue Pointe. Between 6 September and 6 November 1972 the Kampala team selected and transported over 6000 people to Canada.
CIHS is working with Carleton University, Ottawa to preserve and make publicly available an important collection of historical materials on this refugee movement. Included in this collection will be Roger St. Vincent’s account of the Uganda Operation “Seven Crested Cranes”, a unique collection of Ugandan press clippings covering 1970-72, and a comprehensive collection Canadian, British and US press clippings covering the events in Uganda and their repercussions in Canada between August to December 1972. These will be supplemented by electronic collections of Canadian and UK official documents and media coverage collected by three University of Ottawa graduate students, including a compilation of coverage in the Quebec media. Patti Harper of Carleton University’s Archives and Research Collections will oversee the conservation of the original materials and the creation of an internet accessible electronic archive.
As well, CIHS reprinted a special 40th anniversary edition of Roger Saint Vincent’s “Seven Crested Cranes”, his day by day account of the Uganda operation in the fall of 1972. The anniversary edition includes a new introduction as well as a series of never before seen photographs of Ugandan refugees arriving in Canada at Canadian Forces Base Longue Pointe, Montreal. This is a unique historical document detailing the challenges and pressures that characterize the management of urgent resettlement operations. Copies are available for $25.00 (Canadian) from the Society.
