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Photo Albums:

The Indochinese refugee movement

In 1975, Canada’s largest reception and resettlement of refugees began. From then through to 1999, close to 130,000 Indochinese refugees, including some 60,000 in 1979-80 alone, came to Canada from Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos. We offer a range of information about that significant movement.

 

ALBUM: Murray Oppertshauser Album
Indo Indian Town Gap
Indo Eglin Air force Base

All photographs are copyrighted.

 
ALBUM: Murray Mosher
Photographs taken in early August 1979 at Griesbach Military Base in Edmonton. This was one arrival point for Indochinese. Used with permission from Mr. Mosher who owns the copyright.

All photographs are copyrighted.

 
ALBUM: Don Cameron
D. Cameron served in the region as a visa officer. Used with permission from Mr. Cameron who owns the copyright.

Anambas Islands, Indonesia.
Malaysian fishing boats used initially to ferry visa officers, their files and overnight luggage on the four hour trip to the refugee camp on Pilau Bidong.
Last Canadian Hercules flight from Saigon Ton Son Nhut airport on 24 April, 1975.
Loading last Herc from Saigon Ton Son Nhut airport on 24 April 1975.
Landing dock at the Air Raya refugee camp, Anambas Islands, Indonesia. 'Air' means water in the Malay language.
Canada-bound refugees leave Kuala Lumpur airport sometime in 1979 or 1980. Boarding was effectively managed by the ICM.

All photographs are copyrighted.

 
ALBUM: Scott Heatherington
S. Heatherington served in the region as a visa officer. Used with permission from Mr. Heatherington who owns the copyright.

Scott Heatherington in Kamput in 1982
There is no one picture of the entire team. We were too busy. I literally snapped these pictures on the run, which is why the picture quality is so poor.
Guam team: Rebecca Wong, Scott Heatherington, Vietnamese interpreters and our Marine Guard.
Rebecca Wong, Scott Heatherington and Dr. Kyriakidis.
Guam – red building.
Guam - in front of bus.
Charter, Guam May 1975.
Charles Rogers, Rebecca Wong and Dr. Kyriakidis.
Guam group of 4.

All photographs are copyrighted.

 
ALBUM: John McEachern
John McEachern served in the refugee camps and provides this example of a camp souvenir. He owns the photo copyright.

Pulau Bidong Singapore

All photographs are copyrighted.

 
ALBUM: Margaret Tebbutt
Ms. Tebbutt served in the region as a visa officer. Used with permission from Ms. Tebbutt who owns the copyright.

Three Canadians in Galang.
Canadian and Malaysians on boat to Bidong.
Don Cameron in Bidong.
Interview office in Bidong.
Margaret Tebbutt in Bidong.
Waiting for interviews.
Vietnamese interpreter, Bidong.
Toddlers in Bidong.
Kuala Trengganu
Housing on Bidong.
Baby and family leaving Bidong camp on boat, Oct 1979.
Bidong from sea, Oct 1979.
Bill Lake (RCMP) and Florent Fortin (Quebec Immigration) officers, leaving for Bidong camp, Oct 1979.
Children in camp.
Waiting outside interview area, Bidong, Nov 1979.
Interview office Bidong.

All photographs are copyrighted.

 
ALBUM: Mr. Duong Xuan Phong
Mr. Phong drew the following images that were used by the UNHCR on a 1981 calendar. These show sea conditions the refugees faced along with images Camp Kuku in the Anambas Islands and Galang in Indonesia. Posted with the permission of the artist and the UNHCR.

All images are copyrighted.
ALBUM: Mr. Huan To
photographs taken by Huan To who assisted in the documentation of Indochinese refugees upon arrival in Canada at the Griesbach CFB Reception Centre, 1979-80

griesbach-1980-1.gifA team of Interpreters & Immigration Officers at Griechbach Reception Centre at one of the flights from the Southeast Asian Refugee Camps in 1979-1980
Huan To worked with Immigrational Officers on Canadian Landing documents at Griechbach Reception Centre in Edmonton 1979-1980
Dr. Nguyen D Huan & Huan To in the office of Griechbach Reception Centre 1979-1980
Refugee as new comers to Canada in Edmonton Griechbach Reception Centre 1979-1980
A team of Interpreters & Immigration Officers at Griechbach Reception Centre on one of the flights from the Southeast Asian Refugee Camps in 1979-1980

All images are copyrighted.
ALBUM: Mr. Leo Verboven
These were taken in the late 1970s at the refugee camps of Chiang Kham, Ban Nam Yao, Sobtuang , Nong Khai – all in northeast Thailand. The three pictures on the right were taken at the Bangkok transit centre.

All images are copyrighted.

All images are copyrighted.
ALBUM: Paul Bennett
The Family Reunification team in HoChiMinh City, 1985. The Canadians are, from left to right, Kurt Egloff, Bill Hawke, Simon Forest (Quebec) and Paul Bennett. The Vietnamese interpreter (Luu Phuong Trinh) on the front row, far right eventually resettled in Ottawa having gone first by boat to Malaysia.
The Ubon Laotian camp in Thailand (August, 1984) where the population was not eligible for resettlement to discourage more arrivals in Thailand. Visa officer Paul Bennett is looking at a chart of how many Laotians had indicated they would be willing to consider Voluntary Repatriation.
Sikhiu Vietnamese refugee camp in the Thai interior, where Canadian officials interviewed those Vietnamese who landed in Songkhla (southern Thailand) by boat. Canadian Visa Officers are John Baker and Paul Bennett (second row, left to right).

All images are copyrighted.
ALBUM: Philippe Girard
Meal at Sikhiu Vietnamese Camp with camp representatives, Thailand, December 1985 left to right Tony Milic, Philippe Girard, and Bill Hawke
With interpreters at Khao-I-Dang Cambodian camp 1985 left to right Philippe Girard and David Hardinge
Locally engaged staff at Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand 1986, without whom Canada's efforts would not have been as productive.

All images are copyrighted.
Album of Katrin (Geiges) Farkas, United Nations Border Relief Organization (UNBRO)’
Prison for refugees in camp along Thai Cambodian border
Prison for refugees in camp along Thai Cambodian border
The refugees were from many different Cambodian ethnic groups.
Cambodian refugee women along the Thai border tending to washing
Refugees along the Thai Cambodian border lived a life defined by barriers.

All images are copyrighted.
ALBUM: Ian Hamilton
Immigration officer Ian Hamilton strides down the gangplank of a Malaysian vessel with a Vietnamese child who was among the many refugees rescued in late 1978 from the SS Hai Hong. The people disembarked at Port Klang, Malaysia to start their thirty-hour journey to Montreal in a Royal Canadian Air Force jet.

All images are copyrighted.
Henry Neufeld
The Hearts of Freedom project has posted an extensive collection of photos taken by Henry Neufeld, a representative of the Mennonite Central Committee, during his mid 1980s visits to refugee camps in Thailand. We thank the Hearts of Freedom and Henry Neufeld for permission to post these.

All images are copyrighted.

 

Bulletin 111 December 2024

Bulletin 111 December 2024

We end 2024 with Bulletin 111 which reports on CIHS activities this year:

  • The October 2024 CIHS Annual General Meeting, which highlighted Canada’s Operation Parasol, the evacuation of Kosovars to Canada;
  • CIHS participation in “Memory, Politics and Precedent”, a November 2024 conference in Toronto that commemorated the Kosovar evacuation;
  • A brief mention of a November book launch event held in Ottawa and attended by CIHS members;
  • It announces this year’s recipient of the CIHS Molloy Bursary; and
  • The 2024 CIHS website usage report.

We also share two accounts of Canada’s immigration history:

  • Two articles from the 1929 Windsor Star newspaper about staffing at the new Ambassador Bridge; and
  • A report on a junior visa officer’s area trip from Beirut in 1972 to conduct interviews in many countries in and adjacent to Africa.

Finally, we take note of the recent passing of former immigration foreign service program manager Jean-François Hubert-Rouleau.

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