Preserving our immigration history.

40th Anniversary Lecture: Ugandan Asian Refugee Movement 1972

Canadian Immigration Historical Society President Mike Molloy will be giving a series of lectures on the 1972Ugandan Asian refugee movement at universities in Ontario during the month of October 2012.

The 1972 Uganda Asian Refugee movement was the first test of Canada’s “Universal” immigration policy as applied to refugees. The talk will examine the reasons behind General Idi Amin’s decision to expel Uganda’s small but dynamic Asian community and the Trudeau government’s reaction to the expulsion within a new Immigration and refugee policy framework. It will describe how a small, hastily assembled team went to Kampala in September 1972 and moved over 6000 refugees to Canada by the 8 November deadline imposed by the Ugandan government. Finally it will examine the impact of the Ugandan experience on the refugee resettlement provisions of the 1976 Immigration Act and on the subsequent Indochinese refugee program of 1979-80.

Upcoming Dates

Monday, 22nd of October
6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Noor Cultural Centre (123 Wynford, Don Mills.
Tel: 416-444-7148)
Tuesday, 23rd of October
12:30pm to 2:00pm at Ryerson University, Boardroom in the Community Services Dean’s area, SHE 686 (The SHE building is on Gerrard Street East, on the south side, at Mutual Street between Church and Jarvis.
Wednesday, 24th of October
12:30pm to 2:00pm at York Research Tower, Refugee Studies Centre (York University)
Thursday, 25th of October
4:00pm to 6:00pm at University of Toronto, Sidney Smith Hall, Room 3130
(100 George Street)