On April 27, 1999 the very first Kosovars of the 5000 Canada committed to shelter arrived, followed by the first major evacuation flight on May 4, 1999. This movement – temporary at first, then offering permanent resettlement, is recounted by Dr. Jan Raska of the Canadian Museum of Immigration History at Pier 21. There is also a…
The Society’s October AGM featured a presentation by Marie Chapman, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. Ms Chapman spoke about the forthcoming reopening of the Museum and about the partnership between the Museum and the Society. As well, Patti Harper, Head of Archives and Research Collections at Carleton University spoke…
In 1999, the Government of Canada announced it would take 5000 Kosovars, displaced by ethnic strife, into the country where they could stay temporarily or settle permanently. This documentary traces the Kosovars movement to Canada and presents the partnerships between employees of Citizenship and Immigration Canada with other federal departments, the Canadian Red Cross and other groups…
CIHS 2013 Gunn Prize winner Dara Marcus had her article on the Hai Hong published in ‘Bout de papier’ magazine (Vol. 28-1, published May 2014 by the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers). We post the article with the permission of Ms Marcus and with the collaboration of PAFSO.
CIHS facilitated the transfer to Carleton University of an important archive of 1972 Canadian, Ugandan and international newspaper clippings about the expulsion Uganda’s Asian community. 6,000 Ugandan Asians came to Canada with visas issued by the team sent to Kampala in the fall of 1972 and approximately 2,000 more came the following year. This resource and…
The people of Canada are the unique recipients of an award for their work on behalf of refugees.
The 2013 Gunn Prize is awarded to Ms Dara Marcus, a graduate student at the University of Ottawa in Public and International Affairs. Click here to read the essay. A jury consisting of CIHS members Dr. Gerry Van Kessel, Dr. Kurt Jensen and Rob Vineberg along with Drs. Abel Chikanda and Andrew Thompson of the Balsillie…
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…
(Disponible seulement en anglais) Canadian Immigration Historical Society President Mike Molloy will be giving a series of lectures on the 1972 Ugandan Asian refugee movement at universities in Ontario during the month of October 2012. The 1972 Uganda Asian Refugee movement was the first test of Canada’s “Universal” immigration policy as applied to refugees. The…
British Home Children Memorial at Pier 21, Halifax A Silent History: The British Home Children – Lynda Joyce I keep asking myself the same question: How is it that I worked for 30 years in immigration in Canada and overseas, with my first posting in London, England, and yet I never heard about the movement…
A regulatory device to target humanitarian resettlement programs. Those who were around at the time might argue that the government’s decision in November 1978, to enact 3 separate classes to facilitate the selection of immigrants in refugee-like situations from Eastern Europe, Latin America and Indo China respectively, was directly attributable to an attack of Delhi…