PEOPLE

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Canada. Since 1945 it ha6 wclcmed more than 350000 of the world's refugees: from Hungarians and Cztchoslov&ians to, mort recently, Ugmdans, Chileans and Lebanese, In character with thia tradition, the Canadian government announced in July 1979 that it would increase its quota of Indo-Chinese refugees to 50 000 by the end of 1980. This mant a trebling in the country's monthly intak, from 1OOO to 3000, Unfortunately, it has also meant the creation of a backlash which, by late August 1979, was taking the form of full-page newspap advertisements condemning the refugec program, fiery radio am& on 'degwdtrs' and isolated repons of active job and housing dhcrimination, But this reaction is mid not to Ix typieal, and judging by community response to the government's private sponsorship scheme and various fund-raising efforts (one ncwspaptr raised $60 000 within six weeks), there is certainly a public commitment to provide aid. Yet the backlmsh is undeniable, and divisive. During a coast-t+coast rdio 'phone-in' show run by the Canadian Broadcasting Companp for example, elwen people rang to express sup port for the high quota, while thifleen callers urged EI lower inflow, ot none at all. A Nova Scotia man objected that 'over the years, Canada has bef~mthe dumping ground for foreigners', and a Halifax woman suggest& that 50 000 rcfugecs would put Canada in the 'poorhouse' because 'they multiply'. It is he volume of refugees rather than their origin that seems to be the issue. Until January 1979, more than 9000 Indo-Chinex refugees had settled in Canada. Most arrived within a few monthg of the fall of Saigon. The bulk of them chose to live either in Frcnchspeaking Quebec (65 per cent went to Monmal) or in the province of Ontario. In November 1978 the Hai Hong incident in Malaysia was given dramatic coverage by the news media and Canada offered to take MK) of the 2500 refugees crammed on the rusting freighter, The quora ceiling was raised progrcssivcly in the following months, as reports of the intense suffering of the boat people driftad in. The public rallied, wrote letters and lobbied; the government final15 responded with a scheme whereby it would match, one for one, thr number of refugees sponsored privately, up to the 50 000 limit. To obtain permision for private sponsorship, Canadians mus form into p ups of at least five and sign an agreement with thd government to provide 'mattrial ussistance and morel support for an immigrant family for at least a year. rhis could cost up to 90000, the government estimates. It is also a considenblc penonal responsibiliry. The ids is to make the number of refugees entering thc counq conditional on public sentiment: if the current refugee frrvour fades, the upper limit will not h reached. The latest figures show that 7270 refugees arrived between January and mid-August 1979, bringing the Canadian total to roughly 15 000. Of the latest arrivals, abut ont-third have settled in Ontario, another third in Quebec, 12 per cent in British Columbia and 9 per cent in oil-rich Alkrta. The remainder are sprinkltd lightly around the other provinces, The new refugees represented 'the whole gamut of occupations, from pilots to factory workers', according to an official, but most were white-collar workers or had run some kind of small business, and were ethnic Chinese. The poor, thc illitcram and the peasant-far wac not rcachi$ Canada. "l3ere has been some sniping about Canadian officials ikirnminE thc cream from the refugee camps,' the official said. 'Bur the prime consideration, for us, is whether hey will fit into the life here, whether they can adjust. And obviously that's going to be easier for someone who's educated, who can speak English and has some son of training, than for an illiterate ricc-farmer! Just how well the Vietnamese have adjusted is a moot point. Some get jobs within two weeks of arrivs!; for others, it might take six months, Very few, however, spent any length of time on welfare. Sume of the more practical, less weighty problems, as described by John Chu of the Toronto Vietnarncse assxiation, were: learning to walk on ice, mastering elevators and escalators, learning wrisnvatchtype punctuality and understanding that it was not permissible to wander around hotels or the street in pyjamas, Another more scrious assessment came from Nguyen Van Khan, a 27-year-old former civil engineer from Vietnam. He arrived in Canada with his wife in April 1979. He had paid $2500 in gold for the boar trip, then spcnt five months moving between three Malaysian camps, Mr Nguycn's mother and three sistcrs are still in Vietnam. I came to Canada with no money. The government brought me and I was paid st first $49a wtck (unemployment bcnefit] . . . It was very hard, I found
my house by waking the streets and seeing a board 'For rent'. For months I mdicd Engli~h at night and lmkcd for a job, and now I work in : a mercantile re-inrmrance company. My pay is $8700 a year. I think this ia 1 enough for my family which is small now. The cold, he said, was bothersome, as was thr language Nnier But his main problem was his work: I am a builder, not an insurance worker. 1 spcnt many yeam in univenity laming my business, but here I have not the qualifications. I would hrvc to take an examination in Toronto, but my English is not good enough and . it's not possible to learn quickly when I have ta work ewry day. Mr Nguycn said he was aware of some resentment towards the refugees, but ht had not encountered it personally. The people at work, they seem to like me very much; I have rcccivcd mcrcy from them. I think that I love the Canadians very much, Bur I am not happy, How can I he? I always miss my family, 1 think 111 the timc of Viemam, Canada is my country for a time. Rut I will go back immcdiatcly if Viemam has another revolution, I will not want to stay here then. It is still early duys for Canada. If the country ends up accepting the full 50 000 to which it is committed, this would represent the largest movement of refugecs to Canada since the cnd of the second world war. An opinion poll taken in July 1979, iust beforc the quom was boosted, showed that, n~tiondly, about 50 per cent of Canadian adults favoured the admission of more refugees from South-Ea* Asia, while 38 per cent disapproved. By cuntrast, a poll taken five months earlier had indicxted that 52 per cent of adults felt that too many refugcr~ wcre bcing admitted - and the figure at char timc was a meagre 5000 a year. Which is thc real opinion? Lrn ited Kingdorn Although - -- --. w Britain was co-chairman with thc Soviet Union of the Geneva agreements and, before that, played a role in occupying st~uthern Vstnam aftcr the second world war, it was not directly involved thcre as a colonial power and was not a military ally of rht United States during the Vietnam war. The sense of guilt and rcsponsibility that Rritain feels about many of in former colonies therefore does not extend to Vietnam. The relief, now that Vietnam has become an international issue again, is shared by politicians from all parties and tht British people in general. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stlid what many voters wanted to hear before the elections in May 1979: her government would introduce strict controls on immigration because many Britons felt they were being swamped by 'alien culture'. She drew loud protests from human rights and race relatiuns organizations, but observers believe her stance contributed to her election victory. Mrs Thatcher was later asked if she had modified her attitude: she was adamant that she had not. Some people have felt swamped by immigrants. They've acen rht whole character of heir ncighbollihd change. I st& by tha ntutcmcnt 100 p r ccnt and continue to stand by it. Of course . . . wme minorities can be absorkd - they can bc assem to the majority of the community - bur once a minority in a ncighbwrhd gets very large, people do feel swamptd. They feel their whole way of life has been changed, Against this background, the Indo-Chinese refugee crisis reached its climax, Mrs Thatcher at first stuck firmly to her election strategy of restricting 'black' immigration. (All Asians, Afro-Caribbtans and other non-whites are officially 'black' in British statistics.) She relented only after the foreign secretary, Lord Carrington, toured the refugee centres of Hong Kong and South-East Asia and exprcsscd his concern at the tragedy of thc boat people. Urged by him and the UN secretary-general, Kurt Waldheim, Mrs Thatcher moved from opposing any significant intake of refugees to a commitment to resettle 10 000 - all from the British territory of Hong Kong. Refore hat commitment, the I.ahur government had agreed to settle 1500 from South-East Asian camps. Another 1033 have ken accepted on humanitarian grounds, many of hem rescued by British ships. The British press has been more enthusiastic about accepting refugees than have the British politicians or the British people. hspite opposition to entry of Indo-Chinese refugees expressed in the letters columns of the daily newspapers, editorialists and columnists responded positively, arguing that the boat people especially should be allowed in to Britain. The Guardian said: 'Mrs Thatcher's
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Grant, Bruce book Penguin Y w JI Pe
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Tk Boat People among the Swth Vietn
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into the South China Sea, That nigh
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TAb Bwt People family were among th
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TAe Boat Pbople Vietnam - lived bey
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The Boat People transport war arran
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The Boat Bople consider and with em
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The Boat People against Ho Chi Minh
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April cadres' because of the suspic
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The Borai fiople was avoided becaus
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drowned abut ten kilomctres from th
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The Boat Psople esc, Shc left Haiph
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The Boat Bople 700 people. Most of
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Thr Boat People Malaysian authoriti
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Page 47 and 48: Chapter 4 Exodus Why in 1978 and 19
Page 49 and 50: The Borrt hople the refugee exodus.
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Page 63 and 64: 7'hs Boat Wloplt mmmt at the NEZ, t
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Page 81 and 82: Ths Bwt Psople commerce, which had
Page 83 and 84: Tkb Boat People Vietnamese authorit
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Page 89 and 90: Stability ling hundrcd~ of thousand
Page 91 and 92: The Bout Peopk after the ww, claime
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Page 95 and 96: I Tb Bwt People Meanwhile, Chinn's
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Page 105 and 106: I their way uninvited to Jqan, Of t
Page 107 and 108: Tks Boat People uncertain and that
Page 109 and 110: Tk Bont People then, finally, invad
Page 111 and 112: The Boat EQlopk deceit. Let the con
Page 113 and 114: Th? Bmt W l e politicians in the wa
Page 115 and 116: The Boat Aople analogy did not fit.
Page 117 and 118: Maps
Page 119 and 120: July August October Dccemkr Januaiy
Page 121 and 122: Cater, Sir Jack 157 Cntholics, 28,
Page 123 and 124: Seng Cheong, I29 ships refugee trad
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PEOPLE

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