Active History

Lessons Learned from the Ugandan Asian Refugees

September 14, 2015 5 Comments

Ugandan Asian refugees board a plane for Canada, 1972. NHQ/AC Roger St. Vincent Collection PH-437.

“Asian immigrants have already added to the cultural richness and variety of our country, and I am sure that those from Uganda will, by their abilities and industry make and equally important contribution to Canadian society” – Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, August 25, 1972.

By Shezan Muhammedi

This was Prime Minister Trudeau’s defence of the decision to deploy an immigration team to Uganda in August of 1972. Following the widely-publicized expulsion of Uganda’s South Asian population by President Idi Amin, the Canadian government admitted almost 8,000 Ugandan Asian refugees. This represented the largest resettlement of non-white, non-Christian refugees in Canada up to that date. As we contemplate the current government’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis, it is worth reminding ourselves of one of the earliest cases of non-European refugees being resettled in Canada. Continue reading →

Compassion or Exclusion: An Election Issue?

September 11, 2015 2 Comments

(this op-ed was originally published in The Record)

By Marlene Epp

Za’atri refugee camp in Jordan, 2014. Home to 83,000 Syrian refugees. Wikimedia Commons.

Right now, it would be judicious of the Conservative government to relax its tight restrictions on refugee sponsorship and annual quotas in order to gain favour during an election campaign. But what is really needed is an election campaign that puts forward an overall and ongoing framework of inclusion and compassion for refugees in addition to a politically-expedient and crisis-driven response.

The world’s attention is focused on the current crisis of human security in which thousands of Syrians and others from the Middle East and Africa are seeking asylum mainly in Europe. Many Canadians are demanding that our governments at all levels do more to open the nation’s gates to desperate people fleeing conflict in their homelands. Often, reference is made to Canada’s history of welcoming refugees, especially the more than 60,000 people who came to this country from Southeast Asia over a period of just two years in the late 1970s, or the 5,500 who were whisked to safety out of Kosovo in 1999. Continue reading →

On Migrants, Refugees and Language

September 10, 2015 No Comments

By Laura Madokoro

Amidst the evolving coverage about the refugees from Syria, there has been a lot of discussion about what term best describes the people who are leaving their homes, taking to boats, and attempting to make their way to Europe.

Editors at Al Jazeera sparked the discussion on 20 August 2015, when they announced that they would no longer use the term “migrant” to describe the departing Syrians. Barry Malone explained the term migrant had “evolved from its dictionary definitions into a tool that dehumanises and distances, a blunt pejorative.”[i] Taking issue with the “umbrella term” for allegedly “diminishing” and erasing the complexities of a very difficult situation, Al Jazeera posited that by using the term refugee, where appropriate, it could counter the conflation of “migrants” with “nuisance” and give “voice” back to the people making the headlines. Al Jazeera’s effort to humanize its coverage should be applauded but the network’s stand is not without complexities of its own.

My own research focuses work on the history of humanitarian assistance, migration and refugeehood. Scholars describe refugeehood as the act of becoming a refugee through various political processes, e.g. the labeling by media, or governmental policies.[ii] The thinking is that there is no essential quality that makes someone a refugee but rather they come to be identified as a refugee, largely through political circumstances (and I would add self-identification). In contrast to Al Jazeera’s strategy, my approach to studying the history of refugeehood has been to refer to people as migrants, not refugees. My reasons for doing so are rooted in efforts amongst scholars to correct the impression that migration is a one way, permanent phenomenon. It is also a response to the historiographical literature that privileges government narratives of welcome and assistance over personal stories of migration. And it is, ultimately, as an effort to shed light on the relatively recent development of migration categories, which often obscure the broader forces at play in the history of global migration.

Let me elaborate.

Continue reading →

Little Bear’s Cree and Canada’s Uncomfortable History of Refugee Creation

September 9, 2015 3 Comments

By Benjamin Hoy

Little Bear’s Band as they await deportation to Canada in 1896
“Little Bear, Cree, Rocky Boy Reservation, Montana,” Montana University State-Northern, FM-1-134, Indian Peoples of the Northern Great Plains Digital Collection

Refugees create complicated political and social climates. Federal decisions to admit or reject individuals, families, and communities fleeing from hardships intertwine humanitarian concerns, political profiteering, immigration policy, domestic security, and racial perceptions into an often-ugly mess. Refugees force countries to consider their moral obligations to those less fortunate and to examine the possibility of their own complicity in the international crisis that sparked movement. As Calgary’s mayor Naheed Nenshi’s recent comments regarding the Syrian refugee crisis suggest, Canada’s treatment of refugees is a matter of national pride and identity. A country’s failure to live up to domestic and international expectations opens it up to disdain and derision at home and abroad.

Although much of the recent media frenzy surrounding immigration and refugees has focused on Canada’s obligation to reacquire or defend its reputation as a sanctuary for those fleeing violence, Canada’s historical relationship to movement under stress is quite a bit more complicated. There is no simple binary between countries that produce refugees, and those that care for them. Most countries, considered historically, are involved on both sides of the equation. The exodus of the Cree after the 1885 Rebellion offers a Canadian example. The Cree’s experience serves not only as a reminder of our uncomfortable past, but also reveals some of the limitations in the model we continue to use to conceive of refugees and our obligations to them. Continue reading →

On Guard for Canadian Parochialism, Part One

September 8, 2015 1 Comment

By Gilberto Fernandes

Wikipedia Commons.

Since coming into power in 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has taken various steps to redefine Canadian citizenship and reassert its “value” under a territorial, militaristic, loyalist, conformist and Anglocentric interpretation. As numerous commentators have noted, these reforms have unfolded within Harper’s broader campaign to (re)define the meaning of being Canadian along conservative ideals and British traditions. Conservative officials deny the existence of such an underlying agenda, arguing their reforms simply addressed specific problems in the system, such as massive fraud and application backlogs. Recent citizenship debates in English Canada have dwelt mostly on the question of whether it is a right or a privilege; on issues of legality and process; and on measures of loyalty, attachment or worthiness. But there is more to it. In this three-part series of posts, I explore the historical narratives and political myths supporting the Conservative government’s parochial views on Canadian citizenship, and how they affect Canada and its expats’ places in the world. Part one will focus on the policies; part two on the historians; and part three on Canada’s diasporas.

It’s about history. But whose?

How can a country so proud of its well-documented immigration history be so uncaring and ignorant about its emigrants? Continue reading →

Canada’s Complicated History of Refugee Reception

September 4, 2015 4 Comments

Hungarian Refugees arrive in Canada, 1957. Archives of Ontario. F 1405-19-60, MSR.14500.

“Ever since the war, efforts have been made by groups and individuals to get refugees into Canada but we have fought all along to protect ourselves against the admission of such stateless persons without passports, for the reason that coming out of the maelstrom of war, some of them are liable to go on the rocks and when they become public charges, we have to keep them for the balance of their lives.” (F.C. Blair, Director, Immigration Branch, 1938)

“[A]s human beings we should do our best to provide as much sanctuary as we can for those people who can get away. I say we should do that because these people are human and deserve that consideration, and because we are human and ought to act in that way.” (Stanley Knowles, MP, House of Commons, 9 July 1943)

By Stephanie Bangarth

Separated by a mere five years, these two statements reveal much about the historic contradictions of the Canadian approach in dealing with refugee crises. In fact, remove the dates and these statements would not seem out of place in the current Canadian divide over the global refugee crisis in which there are more than 60 million people fleeing war, persecution, and danger. This is a number that surpasses the amount of displaced persons at the end of the Second World War, when my father and my grandparents fled Hungary by train and horse-led wagons to come to Canada in April of 1951, but not before spending six years stateless in Austria. They were among the 120,000+ refugees who made their way to Canada between 1947 and 1953 thanks to contract labour schemes or government, family or church group sponsorships. Make no mistake, the selection criteria were guided by racial and political bias, along with a heavy dose of economic self-interest.

Of all the elements of Canada’s immigration policy, those relating to the admission of refugees have been the most controversial and the most criticized. Continue reading →

Podcast: Trouble on Main Street: William Lyon Mackenzie King, Reason, Race, and the 1907 Vancouver Riots

September 4, 2015 No Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

On March 10, 2015, Julie Gilmour delivered an address as part of the Ottawa Historical Association Lecture Series. Entitled William Lyon Mackenzie King, Reason, Race, and the 1907 Vancouver Riots, the talk examined the Prime Minister’s policies and response to racial tensions. Activehistory.ca is pleased to present a recording of the talk.
Continue reading →

History for Children? Watching “Once Upon a Time… Man” as an Adult in the 21st Century

September 3, 2015 No Comments

By Alban Bargain-Villéger

Gulli.fr

On a hot July night, while in the throes of insomnia, I found myself waxing nostalgic and decided to revisit my favourite childhood animated series. After watching a few episodes of Cobra and The Mysterious Cities of Gold (also fascinating animation series in their own right) I realized that Once Upon a Time… Man (Il était une fois… L’Homme) was available online. Over the next two weeks, as I kept working my way through the remaining episodes, I realized that not only was the series a product of its time (it was first released in 1978), but also not exclusively designed for children. Indeed, the analysis of the subjects covered and the narrative style might seem pedagogically incorrect in our day and age.

In twenty-six episodes, this French series covers world history from the prehistory to the 1970s and beyond, as the final installment ventures into predictions on the near and distant future (to 2150). Continue reading →

“Tomorrow: Sunny”: The Rise and Fall of Solar Heating in 1970s Canada

September 2, 2015 3 Comments

By Henry (Hank) Trim

Solar energy seems poised to become a major player in the world of energy. Years of investment have brought down the price of photovoltaics and innovative financing methods have generated unprecedented growth in the industry. According to the Canadian Solar Industries Association solar electric is the fastest growing source of energy in the world.[1]The future of solar is bright! No pun intended.

This is not the first time solar technology has seemed poised for success. In the late 1970s solar heating appeared ready to sweep across Canada. In fact, the federal government launched a multibillion dollar commercialization program and Alistair Gillespie, then the Minister of Energy, Mines, and Resources, promised that a solar industry would provide jobs for thousands of Canadians.[2]

World Oil Prices since 1861. The orange line is adjusted for inflation.
Tom The Hand – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oil_Prices_Since_1861.svg#/media/File:Oil_Prices_Since_1861.svg

In a series of posts over the next four months, I will explore the meteoric rise of solar heating in the 1970s and its fall in the 1980s. Continue reading →

New Directions in Active History: Update #2

August 29, 2015 No Comments

Conference planning for October’s event is going well and we have a handful of updates for you.

First and most importantly, if you have not yet registered, the rate is going up on 1 September (Tuesday). You can access the registration form here: https://activehistory.ca/conf/registration/

Also, our preferred rate at the Delta ends on 4 September. The Delta is in downtown London, just blocks from major London Transit hubs and the VIA rail station. The college can be easily accessed on London Transit. To book one of these rooms call 519-640-5004 or 1-800-236-2427 and quote “New Directions in Active History – Public.” Grad student accommodation will remain available until full.

If you are presenting at the conference, we have posted abstracts here: www.activehistory.ca/conf/abstracts. Please review them for accuracy and let Daniel Ross <dgrdgr@yorku.ca> know ASAP if there needs to be any modifications.

If you are on Twitter, we will be using the hashtag: #ActiveHist2015 for all conference events. Feel free to use it to promote the conference, your session or poster.

Finally, for those of you coming from out of town (and of course locals who want a night out!), we have been able to arrange history-based walking tours of downtown London. Both tours will begin at 7:30 p.m. downtown (about 10 minutes on the bus from Huron). One tour will be led by Kym Wolfe, author of Barhopping into History and Hopping into History, and will focus on London’s oldest surviving taverns and bars in heritage buildings (as well as local brewing etc…). The other tour will be led by the London branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and will focus on the history and architecture of downtown London. Both tours will cost $15 and include a complementary drink at the end. If you have already registered, please contact me in order to be added to the list. You can pay when you arrive at the conference. If you have not registered, we have modified the registration form in order for you to pay for the tours with your registration fee. Spaces are limited.

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