Honouring Vietnamese Canadians' journey to freedom: Senator Ngo
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Every year on April 30, Canadians mark the modern beginning of this country’s Vietnamese community. It is inspired by a journey to freedom that began 40 years ago, after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
It is a story of strength and survival, of resilience and renewal, of faith, family and freedom.
It is the story of the Vietnamese-Canadian community — and it is a story that more Canadians should know.
35 Vietnamese refugees wait to be taken aboard the amphibious command ship USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19). They are being rescued from a 35 foot fishing boat 350 miles northeast of Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, after spending eight days at sea.
On April 30, 1975, Saigon falls to Communist forces, setting the stage for what was then the largest mass migration in modern history. More than 2 million people fled their war-torn country in search of freedom.
The sea was their only escape; refugees took to the water by whatever means possible and thus became known to the world as the “Boat People.” Over 250,000 perished on the seas in search of a brighter future, while others wound up in refugee camps in South-East Asia.
Amid this chaos, Canada welcomed over 120,000 refugees with open arms — it remains the greatest influx of refugees Canada has ever welcomed. A private sponsorship program — with assistance from voluntary organizations, churches and groups of citizen — was matched 1-to-1 by government sponsored care. Canadians came together to help and to open the door to a future for a whole community.
Canada is now home to more than 300,000 Vietnamese-Canadians, three proud generations who celebrate an important heritage in a great nation and contribute to Canadian society’s growth and prosperity. Many of those who came as Boat People now sponsor refugees themselves.
A picture taken in the late 1970s shows a group refugees (162 persons) arrived on a small boat which sank a few meters from the shore in Malaysia. The flight of Vietnamese refugees began after the fall of Saigon in 1975. In spite of the dangers of unfriendly waters and piracy, tens of thousands took the South China Sea, and by 1978 the exodus had grown to dramatic proportions.
Now, as we celebrate our heritage and freedom, we are called upon to look to the Syrian refugees now arriving on our shores. Facing the tragic reality of the Syrian refugee crisis, we must remember that some of us were in those same shoes 40 years ago. The lessons learned from the Boat People exodus as the biggest refugee crisis of the 20th century must now be applied to the biggest refugee crisis of the 21st century.
It is in this spirit that I encourage all Canadians to reflect on the heartbreaking and inspiring voyage of the Vietnamese Boat People — but also on the place that the Vietnamese-Canadian community now has in our country, and what place today’s Syrian refugees might have in Canada’s future.
Note to readers: The Honourable Thanh Hai Ngo retired from the Senate of Canada in January 2022. Learn more about his work in Parliament.
Every year on April 30, Canadians mark the modern beginning of this country’s Vietnamese community. It is inspired by a journey to freedom that began 40 years ago, after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
It is a story of strength and survival, of resilience and renewal, of faith, family and freedom.
It is the story of the Vietnamese-Canadian community — and it is a story that more Canadians should know.
35 Vietnamese refugees wait to be taken aboard the amphibious command ship USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19). They are being rescued from a 35 foot fishing boat 350 miles northeast of Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, after spending eight days at sea.
On April 30, 1975, Saigon falls to Communist forces, setting the stage for what was then the largest mass migration in modern history. More than 2 million people fled their war-torn country in search of freedom.
The sea was their only escape; refugees took to the water by whatever means possible and thus became known to the world as the “Boat People.” Over 250,000 perished on the seas in search of a brighter future, while others wound up in refugee camps in South-East Asia.
Amid this chaos, Canada welcomed over 120,000 refugees with open arms — it remains the greatest influx of refugees Canada has ever welcomed. A private sponsorship program — with assistance from voluntary organizations, churches and groups of citizen — was matched 1-to-1 by government sponsored care. Canadians came together to help and to open the door to a future for a whole community.
Canada is now home to more than 300,000 Vietnamese-Canadians, three proud generations who celebrate an important heritage in a great nation and contribute to Canadian society’s growth and prosperity. Many of those who came as Boat People now sponsor refugees themselves.
A picture taken in the late 1970s shows a group refugees (162 persons) arrived on a small boat which sank a few meters from the shore in Malaysia. The flight of Vietnamese refugees began after the fall of Saigon in 1975. In spite of the dangers of unfriendly waters and piracy, tens of thousands took the South China Sea, and by 1978 the exodus had grown to dramatic proportions.
Now, as we celebrate our heritage and freedom, we are called upon to look to the Syrian refugees now arriving on our shores. Facing the tragic reality of the Syrian refugee crisis, we must remember that some of us were in those same shoes 40 years ago. The lessons learned from the Boat People exodus as the biggest refugee crisis of the 20th century must now be applied to the biggest refugee crisis of the 21st century.
It is in this spirit that I encourage all Canadians to reflect on the heartbreaking and inspiring voyage of the Vietnamese Boat People — but also on the place that the Vietnamese-Canadian community now has in our country, and what place today’s Syrian refugees might have in Canada’s future.
Note to readers: The Honourable Thanh Hai Ngo retired from the Senate of Canada in January 2022. Learn more about his work in Parliament.