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Full Description
Between 1975 and 1997 some three million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians fled atrocities in their home countries, with over 210,000 resettling in Canada. While this history is partly known to some Canadians, little has been written about it, especially from the perspectives of the refugees themselves.
Hearts of Freedom is a rich oral history based on interviews with 145 former refugees, sharing deeply moving accounts of oppression, concentration camps, genocide, and perilous escapes over land and sea. Survivors reflect on their first impressions of Canada - the unfamiliar snow and cold, the unexpected kindness of neighbours, and occasional encounters with racism. Through their experiences, we come to understand the strengths and weaknesses of Canada's refugee programs. These stories reveal how refugees' attachment to Canada grew over the years and how multiculturalism policies facilitated that.
Ordinary Canadians played a decisive role in the first mass refugee movement through newly created private sponsorship programs - a role for which the United Nations awarded the Nansen Medal to the Canadian people in 1986. Coming at a time when we are assessing the benefits of immigration and refugee policies and programs, Hearts of Freedom documents the lives and contributions of people who have suffered the worst excesses of war to rebuild their lives in Canada.
Contents
Foreword • ix
The Rt Hon. Joe Clark
Preface and Methodology • xiii
Acknowledgments • xix
The Hearts of Freedom Project • xxiii
Maps follow page • xxix
Introduction • 3
Timeline • 15
Part One
Southeast Asia: Wars, Oppression, and Refugees
1 The Southeast Asian Refugee Movement: Its Root Causes and History • 23
Part Two
Vietnamese War Refugees
2 Escaping Vietnam: The War Refugees of 1975 • 39
3 The Vietnamese War Refugees' Lives in Canada • 50
4 The War Refugees: Three Stories • 59
Part Three
Vietnamese Boat People
5 The Boat People: Escape from Vietnam • 79
6 Boat People Escapes: Four Stories • 99
7 Resettling the Boat People in Canada • 111
8 Boat People's Lives in Canada: Seven Stories • 130
Part Four
Cambodian Refugees
9 Surviving War and Genocide, Escaping from Cambodia • 169
10 Cambodian Resettlement in Canada: Perseverance, Courage, and Hope • 193
11 Against the Odds: Three Cambodian Refugee Stories of Survival • 202
Part Five
Laotian Refugees
12 Laos: The Secret War, Escape, and Refugee Camps • 219
13 Resettlement of Laotian Refugees in Canada: Struggles and Successes • 236
14 Constantly Adapting: Stories of Three Laotian Refugees • 248
Conclusions and Reflections • 267
Appendices
1 Statistical Analysis of the Refugee Movement from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos to Canada, 1975-97 • 285
2 Statistical Analysis of the Hearts of Freedom Project Interviews • 296
3 Canadian Government and Civil Society Interviews • 299
4 Hearts of Freedom Project Management and Teams • 304
References • 309
Contributors • 321
Index • 325



