Bản điều trần của TS Lê Duy Cấn trước Ủy Ban Nhân Quyền của Thượng Nghị Viện Canada

[Sydney]

Bản điều trần của TS Lê Duy Cấn trước Ủy Ban Nhân Quyền của Thượng Nghị Viện Canada ngày 20-11-2014 về dự án luật S-219. Đây là một dự án luật do Thượng Nghị Sĩ Ngô Thanh Hải đệ trình, nhằm mục đích tưởng niệm cuộc di cư tìm tự do của người Việt tị nạn sau khi Cộng Sản cưỡng chiếm Việt Nam Cộng Hòa ngày 30-4-1975.

[Sydney]

Bill S-219: proposal for a national day of commemoration of the exodus of Vietnamese refugees, their acceptance in Canada after the fall of Saigon, and the end of the Vietnam War on April 30, 1975.
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Bill S-219 – Testimony to the Human Rights Committee, Senate of Canada
by Can D. Le, former Secretary General of the Vietnamese Canadian Federation

November 20, 2014

Good morning, Madam Deputy Chair,

Members of the Senate Human Rights Committee,

Ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to come here and express my view regarding Bill S-219 concerning the proposal for a national day of commemoration of the exodus of Vietnamese refugees, their acceptance in Canada after the fall of Saigon, and the end of the Vietnam War on April 30, 1975.

I believe that a national day of commemoration in Canada on April 30th each year for the exodus of close to a million Vietnamese refugees after the end of the Vietnam War, and for Canada’s acceptance of more than 60,000 of these refugees, will enshrine an important event in Canadian history and will enrich the cultural and social mosaic of this country.

The Vietnamese Canadian Federation, of which I am one of the co-founders and a former Secretary General, is an umbrella organization founded in 1980 to represent Vietnamese community organizations from coast to coast. At present, the Federation includes organizations in the Vietnamese community in Halifax, Sherbrooke, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. Its national office is located in Ottawa.

Throughout its 34-year history, the Federation has helped thousands of Vietnamese refugees resettle in Canada, in addition to promoting cultural mutual understanding and advocating for democracy, freedom, and human rights in Vietnam.

I would like to share with you my observations with regard to the background of the exodus of refugees from Vietnam in the late 70s and early 80s, which led me to support this bill.

Following the invasion of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Communists in 1975, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese -- members of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam, government officials or supporters, religious leaders, intellectuals -- were put in hard-labour concentration camps (officially called Re-Education Camps) where thousands would eventually die due to executions, diseases or malnutrition. Many others were exiled to the so-called New Economic Zones in remote regions of Vietnam. In addition, ethnic Chinese Vietnamese were forced to relocate or expelled from the country due to the political conflict between China and Vietnam in 1979. Under these circumstances, people rushed to flee the country by the thousands. There was a famous saying in Vietnam at the time: “If lamp posts could walk, they would flee too”.

The flow of refugees from Vietnam reached a critical phase in late 1978 due to the refusal of some neighbouring Asian countries to admit the “Boat People” who were so called because most fled in small, leaky boats in the perilous Eastern Sea (formerly called the South China Sea). Hundreds of thousands of these refugees perished at sea by drowning or starvation, or were raped or killed by pirates.

Dennis McDermott, President of the Canadian Labour Congress at the time, summarized this situation as follows: “It is crystal clear to us that the Vietnamese refugee problem has ballooned into a humanitarian crisis of global proportion and the only human way to react to such a situation is through decisive and immediate action.”

In response to the plight of these refugees, in 1979 Mayor Marion Dewar of the City of Ottawa called a meeting of community organizations, church groups, and social service agencies in the city in her office to discuss the ways to help them. As a result, Project 4000 was formed with the objective of campaigning for the admission of up to 4,000 Indochinese refugees, the majority of whom came from Vietnam, to the City of Ottawa through the Private Sponsorship Program of the federal government. Similar community initiatives were undertaken elsewhere in Canada, most notably the Operation Lifeline spearheaded by Professor Howard Adelman in Toronto.

Little more than two weeks elapsed from the initial meeting of church leaders, ethnic community representatives and immigration officials in Mayor Dewar's office on June 27, 1979 until the rally at the Ottawa Civic Centre on July 12, and yet it was in this short period that the structure of one of the largest grassroots social movements in Canada's history was formed.

Within a month of that rally, which attracted close to 3,000 people – many more than originally expected -- most of the 347 sponsor groups had been formed and registered at the local Immigration office.

Subsequently, the federal government under Prime Minister Joe Clark decided to accept 50,000 refugees, mostly Vietnamese, but also including Cambodians and Laotians who fled the newly established Communist regimes in their countries.

Project 4000 was Ottawa's response to the Boat People crisis of 1979. Canadians from across the country were quick to offer help, involving thousands of volunteers from all walks of life.

I had the honour and the privilege to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of this project from 1979 to 1983. I learned a lot by working with hundreds of volunteers in the project. I also came to understand the plight of the refugees, those who left everything in Vietnam and risked their lives and the lives of their loved ones in search of freedom.

In the words of two former volunteers of Project 4000, Eleanor Ryan and Sue Pike, Project 4000 was a huge risk, for both refugees and sponsors. It required a leap of faith on both parties but, in the end, Ottawa emerged greatly enriched from the experience.

I think that the same thing can be said of the work done by hundreds of sponsor groups set up elsewhere in Canada to help Vietnamese refugees rebuild their lives in freedom.

The story of this outstanding project was well documented in the book entitled Gift of Freedom written by Brian Buckley and disseminated in 2008 by the Vietnamese Canadian Federation.

Since their arrival in Canada, all of these refugees have, over the years, rapidly integrated themselves into Canadian society and made important contributions to the prosperity of this country. As well, they helped in the preservation of its great values. There are now thousands of Canadians of Vietnamese origin – who are the children and grandchildren of the refugees –working as professionals in various fields such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, law, economics, education, information technology, accounting, and so on. Hundreds of Vietnamese businesses are blooming across the country. As well, the community has started to become involved in politics, with representatives at both provincial and federal levels.

By approving this bill, Parliament will assure newcomers and their future generations of their place in this country and will prove that Canada’s inclusiveness is the foundation of its strength and prosperity.

The resettlement of thousands of refugees in the aftermath of the Vietnam War is yet another shining chapter in the history of Canada. It once again showed the compassion and generosity of the Canadian people in response to the sufferings of people around the world, including those who fled tyrannical regimes in search of freedom.

This shining chapter should be honoured and enshrined in Canadian history. This, I believe, is the main reason for Bill S-219.

Madam Deputy Chair, members of the Committee, ladies and gentlemen, I have the honour to support this bill.

Thank you.

* Source: http://www.lyhuong.net/uc/index.php/shcd/3892-3892

[Viet xưa]

Bill pass hay khg thì do lưỡng viện quyết định .Nhưng ít ra CD V tại Canada cũng cất lên tiếng nói cho con cháu về sau biết tại sao đa số người Canada gốc Việt ho có chân trên lảnh thổ Canada .