the CanadaVisa Team - 21 July, 2015
Citizenship and Immigration Canada Minister Diane Finley has announced the arrival to Canada of the first of many Vietnamese who have been living in the Philippines without status since the 1970’s. Many Vietnamese fled to the Philippines in 1975 following the fall of the Saigon. Several hundred remained there without status; considered stateless, they were denied the right to work, own property, go to public school, or receive government health care.
In May 2007, the Government of Canada agreed to bring 160 of them to Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. It was the result of a six-year campaign by the Vietnamese Canadian Federation and refugee advocates. Vietnamese organizations have raised over $500,000 to help settle the new immigrants. Community groups across Canada have sponsored families, meaning they have committed to finding jobs and housing for them, as well as arranging schooling for their children.
Stella Nhung Davis, a volunteer at the Vancouver Buddhist temple that sponsored the first four Vietnamese to arrive in Canada stated, “All they dream of is to be able to get resettled to another country and be able to travel and be able to do all the things that citizens are allowed to.”
In order to keep families together, Davis said that community groups are offering to sponsor 200 more Vietnamese from the Philippines. Applications received before the end of 2007 are being considered on a priority basis by the Immigration and Refugee Board.
