Happy World Refugee Day
There are now more refugees than at any time since WWII. I'm not sure whether that includes all the internally displaced people. Amid all that, I want to follow up on a conversation I had with spikesgirl58 last night about weird names. It struck me that my radio station is fairly representative of my Canada, full of immigrants and refugees who are proud of their heritage. We have a Wabkeshig (Algonkian, so not an immigrant as he is First Nations), Omar (Middle Eastern but I don't remember the country), Ali (Pakistani, I think), Piya (Indian), Ify (Nigerian, I think), and the best last name ever: VanOuldenbaerneveld (Dutch). Then there is Judy (Trinh - Vietnamese). She came as a four-year-old refugee after escaping Vietnam during the boat people crisis in 1979 and is now an independent journalist who often reports for CBC. She settled into a smaller city in Alberta, one of four refugee families there. The Vietnamese boat people crisis was a big deal in Canada, and was the first time to my knowledge that Canada used a model of community sponsorships to bring in thousands of people with no ties to Canada, or education/business prospects, to increase their chances of success. I remember the pride in my Grandmother's small town when they collectively sponsored a Vietnamese family who lived there for many years.
It was only later that I discovered the history of the Vietnamese in Ottawa. Our mayor at the time, Marion Dewar, who led the push to sponsor refugees; the federal government yielded to the pressure and opened up the doors, allowing 4,000 Vietnamese to settle here. This commemorative statue was erected in Chinatown, where many of them originally settled, in 1995.
Judy Trinh wrote an essay about her experiences that was the inspiration for a Heritage Minute. You can read more about it, and watch the clip, here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/trinh-family-boat-people-inspires-heritage-minute-1.4167835.
Since then, the sponsorship model was used far less, and I think it is reflected in who succeeds. Our Somali and Ethiopian communities, for example, have had taken much longer to thrive. The Syrian refugees sponsored by communities have five times the support of government-sponsored by refugees, tend to learn English or French much more readily, and are finding work. One of my friends spends hours every day tracking down furniture, bicycles, and even clothing for some 150 government-sponsored families who are really struggling, so that they can afford to continue in language lessons or job certification courses, and find decent work.
It was only later that I discovered the history of the Vietnamese in Ottawa. Our mayor at the time, Marion Dewar, who led the push to sponsor refugees; the federal government yielded to the pressure and opened up the doors, allowing 4,000 Vietnamese to settle here. This commemorative statue was erected in Chinatown, where many of them originally settled, in 1995.
Judy Trinh wrote an essay about her experiences that was the inspiration for a Heritage Minute. You can read more about it, and watch the clip, here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/trinh-family-boat-people-inspires-heritage-minute-1.4167835.
Since then, the sponsorship model was used far less, and I think it is reflected in who succeeds. Our Somali and Ethiopian communities, for example, have had taken much longer to thrive. The Syrian refugees sponsored by communities have five times the support of government-sponsored by refugees, tend to learn English or French much more readily, and are finding work. One of my friends spends hours every day tracking down furniture, bicycles, and even clothing for some 150 government-sponsored families who are really struggling, so that they can afford to continue in language lessons or job certification courses, and find decent work.