Vietnamese refugees in Canada : a case study in integration

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dc.contributor.authorAndressen, Curtis A.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-12T19:30:47Z
dc.date.available2024-08-12T19:30:47Z
dc.date.copyright1986en_US
dc.date.issued1986
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Geography
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractThis study is an analysis of the integration of a Sino-Vietnamese refugee fam­ily into Canadian society. It examines, in turn, the exodus of the "boat people", their resettlement around the world with particular emphasis on the U.S.A. and Canada, the history of the refugee family in question, and their adaptation to life in Canada. Finally, an analysis is made of those factors which were important to the integration of this refugee family. There were a number of reasons for the exodus of the boat people. In the aft­ermath of the Vietnam war there was a steady decline in the standard of living in the country. Deteriorating economic conditions also influenced the decision of the Vietnamese government to formulate repressive policies against the Chinese minority in Vietnam. The Sino- Vietnamese, or Hoa, controlled much of the com­mercial activity in South Vietnam. By closing Hoa businesses and encouraging the departure of their owners, the government was able to expropriate a significant amount of money from this group. Deprived of their livelihood and faced with possible deportation to primitive agricultural communes, the willingness of the Hoa to leave Vietnam is understandable. Moreover, relations between Vietnam and China had deteriorated steadily since the end of the Vietnam war. In 1978, Vietnam invaded Kampuchea, whose Khmer Rouge regime was backed by China. Fearing that the Hoa could become a fifth column, the Vietnamese government essentially expelled more than a million ethnic Chinese. The boat people had difficulties in finding acceptance in Southeast Asia. A fear of communist infiltration and the cost of maintaining refugee camps were reasons for this situation. However, the primary consideration was that govern­ments in Southeast Asia did not want to upset the delicate racial balance in their respective countries. This would likely have occurred had large numbers of ethnic Chinese been allowed to permanently resettle there. Therefore, it was left to China and the developed countries of the world to provide the refugees with new homelands. The refugee family interviewed in this study, the Trans, were relatively wealthy Sino-Vietnamese from Cholon. In 1979 they decided to leave the country because of the government's repressive policies. Their journey by boat took them eventually to Hong Kong, and in late 1979 they were resettled in western Canada. The Tran family adapted quickly to life in Canada, although there were sig­nificant variations with regard to this among family members. A number of factors contributed to their relative ease of integration. These included, briefly, recognition as bonifide refugees by the government of Canada, the type of their sponsoring group and the help accorded them by members of this group, their good fortune in finding ready employment and the ability of nearly all of the family members to acquire a good level of proficiency in English. The locale in which they were resettled proved conducive to their ease of adaptation, and associated with this was the fact that they were able to formulate linkages with nearby Viet­namese associations. Finally, the socio-economic background of the family played a major role in facilitating their integration into Canadian society. In retrospect it is obvious that the Trans enjoyed more favorable circumstances than did many other refugee families who came to Canada.
dc.format.extent259 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/16966
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleVietnamese refugees in Canada : a case study in integrationen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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