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Archives télé et radio de Radio-Canada

Home > Life and Society > Boat People: A Refugee Crisis


Boat People: A Refugee Crisis

They were prepared to risk everything. In the years following the Vietnam War, over one million refugees fled the war-ravaged countries of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Those Vietnamese who took to the ocean in tiny overcrowded ships were dubbed the "boat people." The survivors sometimes languished for years in refugee camps. The luckier ones were taken in by countries like Canada.


Educational
Educational activities about
Boat People: A Refugee Crisis

 
Why they fled: The fall of Saigon

 
Re-education camps…or death camps?

 
Pirates and sinking ships: One refugee's story

 Why they fled: The fall of Saigon

Refugee Francis Win remembers the arrival of the North Vietnamese communists in Saigon. (TV; runs 2:38)

 Re-education camps…or death camps?

Human Rights Committee president Joan Baez speaks out against Vietnam's re-education camps. (Radio; runs 4:57)

 Pirates and sinking ships: One refugee's story

Dr. Tuan Tran describes his escape from Vietnam to a refugee camp in Malaysia. (Radio; runs 7:00)

 
Refuge for the unwanted

 
The one-man board of immigration

 
Sponsoring refugees: Canadians reach out

 Refuge for the unwanted

A CBC Television crew visits the refugee camps in Hong Kong and Malaysia. (TV; runs 19:12)

 The one-man board of immigration

Twenty-two-year-old Canadian Immigration Officer Scott Mullin decides who does and who doesn't get into Canada. (TV; runs 2:55)

 Sponsoring refugees: Canadians reach out

Canadians like Stephen Tomosvary volunteer in droves to sponsor refugee families. (TV; runs 4:52)

 
Welcome to Canada

 
…But some say 'Go home.'

 
'They take the jobs Canadians don't want...'

 Welcome to Canada

The first flight of Vietnamese refugees arrives at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. (Radio; runs 7:10)

 …But some say 'Go home.'

Phone-in show callers give their opinions about the new wave of immigrants. Columnist Doug Collins and Operation Lifeline Chair Howard Adelman debate. (Note: explicit language.) (Radio; runs 8:34)

 'They take the jobs Canadians don't want...'

In Vegreville, Alta., Vietnamese refugees work at a farm equipment factory. Former employees cry, "Exploitation!" (TV; runs 7:28)

 
Adjusting to Canada: From ABCs to –40 degrees

 
Looking back, 25 years later

 
 Adjusting to Canada: From ABCs to –40 degrees

Refugee Peter Tran talks about his flight from Vietnam in 1975 and his experiences adapting to life in Canada. (Radio; runs 9:05)

 Looking back, 25 years later

In the year 2000, a reunion in Ottawa between refugees and their sponsors. And Peter Tran looks back at 25 years in Canada. (TV; runs 2:38)

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