Don’t Take the Boats
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).
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).
In July 1979, just before announcing Canada would accept 50,000 refugees, Immigration Minister Ron Atkey launched a newsletter to keep Canadian refugee sponsors informed of the latest developments. The newsletters have been skillfully summarized by Martha Nixon, a member of the Indochinese Refugee Task Force. The newsletters were preserved by Rene Pappone who headed the Task Force’s…
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…
Dr. Stephanie Stobbe provides an account of recent Hearts of Freedom promotion activites in Bangkok, Thailand.
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…
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.