Hector Cowan – Chernobyl
Canadian diplomats carry out many different duties when serving abroad. CIHS member, Hector Cowan, was tasked with helping a group of Canadian students leave the disaster zone of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear plant explosion.
See also
Designated Classes
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…
Ne prenez pas les bateaux
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).
A significant fiftieth anniversary
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….
Officer recruitment in the 1950s
In 1957, the Government launched a recruitment program to bring university students into the Foreign Service as immigration officers. A CIHS member who was recruited through the program has provided us with a copy of the recruitment brochure which outlines recruitment standards, the career path and working/living conditions. The brochure was printed by the Queen’s…
Elvire Westley donation of photographs
Elvire Westley donated these photographs in November 2017 that she had gathered during her career with the Canadian immigration office in Paris. Mme Westley contributed an article about her career to the latest Bulletin.
The ‘Canadian Caper’, with apologies to Ben Affleck
Our late colleague, John Sheardown, and his wife, Zena, are featured in a column from the ‘Ottawa Citizen’ of January 19. Their role in sheltering US diplomats in Tehran is recounted in a story about the transfer of archival holdings to the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa.