In this video, CIHS member and former president Mike Molloy provides a short summary of the inspiration behind the Hearts of Freedom project and the subsequent book, Hearts of Freedom: Stories of Southeast Asian Refugees.
Ottawa artist An Nguyen has created an artwork entitled “Hearts of Freedom – A Tribute to Ottawa’s Project 4000″
Dr. Stephanie Stobbe provides an account of recent Hearts of Freedom promotion activites in Bangkok, Thailand.
In 1956, James “Joe” Bissett was one of the first recipients of a Master of Arts in Public Administration from Carleton University. CIHS member Doug Dunnington recently located this video of Carleton University’s 2024 interview with Joe, who is a CIHS member emeritus. Carleton has established the Bissett Alumni Award for Distinctive Contributions to the…
The Vietnamese Boat People Museum, a project aimed at commemorating the experiences of over 1.5 million refugees who fled Vietnam following the fall of Saigon in 1975, is holding a gala fundraising banquet on Saturday, March 28, 2026. The invitation is extended to all and there is a particular hope that former immigration officers who…
We have posted a revised and more complete chronology of developments leading up to and following the start of the movement of Southeast Asian refugees to Canada.
We have updated the page containing photo albums from the southeast Asian refugee resettlement program of the late 1970s and early 1980s to make them easier to view. Anyone who has photos that they feel will be of interest to CIHS members, from any period of Canada’s immigration history, is encouraged to let us know. We will…
In 1986, the people of Canada were the recipients of a prestigious award for their work on behalf of refugees. The Nansen Refugee Award, first presented in 1954, is named after Fridtjof Nansen, who was the first High Commissioner for Refugees at the League of Nations. He led the development of a travel document for…
Our partner, The Canadian Museum of Immigration History at Pier 21, has graciously allowed us to link to their integrated timeline of Indigenous and immigration history in Canada. The timeline provides an interactive journey through Canada’s rich immigration history, beginning with the first arrival of humans on the North American continent some 40,000 years ago, through to…
Interview with Brian Bell, Chief of Policy, Settlement Services, EIC (1979-1981) “[I]t was the people from top to bottom, and it was the times. The department had gone from … between the 60s to the 90s … from Manpower and Immigration with a very strong employment orientation, to the 80s where there was a real…
Photo album page has been updated! We have updated the page containing photo albums from the southeast Asian refugee resettlement program of the late 1970s and early 1980s to make them easier to view. Anyone who has photos that they feel will be of interest to CIHS members, from any period of Canada’s immigration history, is encouraged…
L’ancien agent du service exterieur d’immigration, René Bersma, propose ses souvenirs détaillés du début de sa carrière, en mettant particulièrement l’accent sur ses expériences en Asie du Sud-Est (1978-1982).
Former immigration foreign service officer René Bersma offers his comprehensive recollections of the early part of his career, with particular emphasis on his experiences in south-east Asia (1978-1982).
CIHS offers its heartiest congratulations to the Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian communities in Canada on this important anniversary of the 1975 fall of Saigon. Since they first started to come to Canada and especially through Canada’s southeast Asian refugee program, they and their Canadian offspring have contributed to the fabric and success of this country….
Marking the 50th anniversary of the 1972 arrival in Canada of Ugandan Asian refugees, Jody Bucholtz, head of the Renfrew-Lanark County Local Immigration Partnership, organized a podcast with Ms Noreen Nasim and Ms Bharti Dhir, whose families had been resettled in Britain, and Mike Molloy, who played a key role in the processing of the…
Extracts from a speech delivered by Mr. Raph Girard At the conference of the Association of Canadian Studies Gatineau, Quebec October 2, 2023 Canada has a well-established record of aid and advocacy internationally on behalf of refugees but the activities most visible to the public are those related to immigration. In my remarks, I will…
Entre le 6 septembre et le 8 novembre 1972, le Canada contribua au rétablissement de plus de 6000 ougandais d’origine asiatique expulsés de leur pays. Afin de commémorer le cinquantième anniversaire de cette initiative, la SHIC présente Les documents reliés à cet événement sont rédigés uniquement en anglais.
Between September 6 and November 8, 1972, Canada resettled over 6000 Ugandan Asians expelledfrom their country. To mark this fiftieth anniversary, CIHS presents: