Hearts of Freedom

Stories of Southeast Asian Refugees

Peter Duschinsky, Colleen Lundy, Michael Molloy, Allan Moscovitch, Stephanie Phetsamay Stobbe (Autoren)

Buch | Softcover

372 Seiten

2025
McGill-Queen's University Press (Verlag)
978-0-2280-2552-8 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

Between 1975 and 1997 some three million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians fled atrocities in their home countries, with over 210,000 resettling in Canada. Hearts of Freedom is an oral history based on interviews with 175 former refugees, documenting their moving accounts of oppression, perilous escapes, and evolving impressions of their new country.

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.

Peter Duschinsky (Author) Peter Duschinsky is Immigration Canada's former director of international liaison and the co-author of Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees, 1975–1980. Colleen Lundy (Author) Colleen Lundy is professor emeritus of social work at Carleton University. Michael J. Molloy (Author) Michael J. Molloy coordinated the resettlement of sixty thousand Indochinese refugees in 1979–80 and is the co-author of Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees, 1975–1980. He lives in Ottawa. Allan Moscovitch (Author) Allan Moscovitch is professor emeritus at Carleton University.

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

Erscheinungsdatum	04.10.2025
Reihe/Serie	McGill-Queen's Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
Zusatzinfo	16 tables, 4 maps, 13 photos
Verlagsort	Montreal
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	0-2280-2552-4 / 0228025524
ISBN-13	978-0-2280-2552-8 / 9780228025528
Zustand	Neuware