1

FLIGHT AND FREEDOM: STORIES OF ESCAPE TO CANADA

Introduction
Alan Broadbent
IN THE ENTRANCE OF ISTANBULS Rahmi M. Ko Museum is a large
ceramic wall map of the region. My colleague Ratna Omidvar and I
were visiting in 2008 as part of a meeting of the European foundation
community where we were presenting our fedgling Cities of Migration
program. As we passed the map, Ratna paused and began to show me the
route she and her husband Mehren followed as they fed Iran. She traced
their path through the north of Iran into Eastern Turkey recounting the
danger and diffculty.
As she talked a small group of people stopped to listen to her story, and
then began to ask her questions and engage with her in her journey. It was
then I realized the power of these stories of migration, their fascinating
mix of personality, character, politics and geography. Ratna and I spoke
about it after, and I think of that as the genesis of this book.
Canadian governments have always been perplexed by refugees. In the
1920s, Frederick Blair, assistant deputy minister in the federal Depart-
ment of Immigration and Colonization, said about Armenian refugees,
A refugee coming to our shores naturally would have to be housed,
fed and found employment or become permanently a public charge.
1

And he went on to note that refugees would likely become a permanent
problem to Canada.
1 Isabel Kaprielian-Churchill, Armenian Refugees and Their Entry into Canada, 1919-30, Canadian
Historical Review, Vol. 71, Issue 1 (1990): 85.
2
RATNA OMIDVAR AND DANA WAGNER
Later an unnamed immigration offcial was asked how many Jewish
refugees feeing from the Nazis would be accepted by Canada, and re-
sponded, None is too many. The federal government was slow to act
on Hungarian refugees feeing the repression of the 1956 Revolution be-
fore bowing to public pressure to remove health inspections and security
checks to speed up intake. And the same reluctance to facilitate process-
ing of refugees occurred following the 1973 military coup in Chile which
overthrew a democratically elected government. And even today govern-
ment ministers seem suspicious of refugees, characterizing them as bo-
gus and phony while withdrawing services in spite of a long history of
provision that, in the case of legal aid, stems from Supreme Court rules.
The Supreme Court may again be called upon to step in to decide the
fate of federal cuts to health care for refugees.
But many Canadians have always been ahead of their governments in
their acceptance and embrace of refugees and other migrants, and have
eventually forced government to catch up. My own family in the 1950s
took in Estonians feeing from the Soviet Union oppression of their coun-
try. Many Canadians have done the same over the years, often through
church groups or other neighbourhood associations. At our best, Cana-
dians privately sponsored 34,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and
Laos in just two years between 1979 and 1980.
2

Maytrees frst experience with refugees began in the late 1970s and
early 1980s when our attention was brought to the people feeing the
Pinochet regime in Chile. We looked at some data which showed that
the arriving Chileans had much higher education attainments than the
Canadian average, and that they had signifcant work experience in the
professions, academia, and commerce. It was also clear from anecdotal
evidence that they were highly motivated, energetic, and engaged in so-
ciety.
2 Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Summative Evaluation of the Private Sponsorship of Refugees
Program: Final Report, April 2007, accessed July 10, 2014.
3
FLIGHT AND FREEDOM: STORIES OF ESCAPE TO CANADA
We began to learn more about refugees generally and were struck with
several things:
Refugees are a threat to tyrants because they have economic, intel-
lectual, or social power;
Refugees have drive and an ambition for a better life for themselves
and their families;
Refugees also desire a better society, and are prepared to work for it;
and
Refugees will fnd their way to a place with better prospects.
It struck us that those were exactly the qualities we valued in our fellow
Canadian citizens who were the leaders in our communities across the
country. Canada has been built by people who had developed economic,
intellectual and social power, who had the drive and ambition to build
a better country as they helped their own family prosper, and who were
practical enough to create success. The evidence is certainly clear that
refugees have been an enormous beneft to Canada over time. In fact it
is as close to a sure bet as you can fnd, the kind of investment that the
commercial world would call a home run.
We also discovered that each refugee had a story to tell that was inspir-
ing and instructive. Those stories validated that the great efforts required
to move to a safer place indeed produce the ability to make a better life.
And each story has the power to teach us a lesson of how we can help
make these transitions better. They tell us that when we try to make things
diffcult for refugees, nobody wins. Of course Canada needs to be alert to
security and safety issues, so visible in the post 9/11 world, but our laws
and security agencies are well equipped to manage these. We cannot let
fear mongering and scape-goating put barriers in front of the many to nab
the few who would have been caught anyway.
Again this is where Canadians have been far ahead of their govern-
ments: church groups or families taking in refugees; communities crafting
welcoming environments; municipalities establishing effective settlement
4
RATNA OMIDVAR AND DANA WAGNER
programs; small businesses fnding jobs; or schools helping kids fnd new
friends. Often this welcoming work has had to face down government
process and regulation, and from time to time it has forced government
to change. At Maytree we feel that the present is a time for Canadians to
help governments catch up, to match the humanitarianism, compassion,
and pragmatism of Canadians. It is time to close the gap.
At Maytree we believe in the power of stories to shape our thinking and
move our hearts. We know there is a limited audience for charts and data
sets, important as they are to our understanding of complex issues. We
also know there is a limited use for stories that are merely sentimental. I
know the stories in this volume will inform and inspire. I hope they will
lead you to believe as I do, that embracing refugees is a huge favour our
country can do for itself. Moreover it will usher in a new group of citi-
zens who can stand shoulder to shoulder with us to build an even greater
country.