This project presents a series of interviews conducted with professionals who helped transform the delivery of settlement services to newly arrived immigrants to Canada. They have worked in various facets of Canada’s immigration system and, in many instances, had to fill a policy void with practical measures to ensure the effective integration of newcomers into…
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.
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…
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….
An exhibit recently opened at the Canadian Museum of History about this significant movement of refugees to Canada. The exhibit was mounted by the Hearts of Freedom project in which CIHS members Michael Molloy and Peter Dschinsky, have been deeply involved. Visit the Hearts of Freedom site for exhibit information and the dates the exhibit will be…
The Settlement of Indochinese Refugees: A Preliminary Analysis based on Interviews with Officials of the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission This 1981 report by Meyer Burstein, led the late Kirk Bell, then Immigration Director General of Policy at Employment and Immigration Canada, to call Meyer in for a chat. This work was Meyer’s introduction to immigration matters….
A collection of papers from 1987, in English and French, on the adjustinent processes and problems of Southeast Asian refugees in Quebec.
The Settlement of Indochinese Refugees: A Preliminary Analysis based on Interviews with Officials of the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission This 1981 report by Meyer Burstein, led the late Kirk Bell, then Immigration Director General of Policy at Employment and Immigration Canada, to call Meyer in for a chat. This work was Meyer’s introduction to immigration matters….
A UNHCR ID card issued to a refugee who spent some time in the Pulau Bidong refugee camp in Malaysia before coming to Canada.
This article, by W.C. Robinson, explores the ‘Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indochinese Refugees, 1989-1997’. It (CPA) has been hailed as a model of international solidarity and burden-sharing, and criticized as an example of international buck-passing and questionable compromises. In the early years of the Indochinese movement there was an understanding that the reign of…