Gatineau, Quebec
April 30, 2015
As delivered
Thank you very much, Senator, Your Excellencies, members of the diplomatic corps, including the new Japanese Ambassador, parliamentary colleagues, including the Minister of State for Multiculturalism, the Honourable Tim Uppal, the Honourable Stéphane Dion and the other MPs and Senators that I have missed.
Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, [Text in other languages]. And so on. Good evening, everyone. It’s great to be here.
Every year, when I do that, someone comes up and he says you forgot my native tongue. So I apologize to in advance. But I want to welcome all of you here to Canada’s National History Museum for a wonderful celebration of an enormous part of the beautiful multicultural fabric that makes Canada one of the greatest countries in the world, this remarkable experiment of unity in diversity that is Canada’s pluralism. And one of the key strands in the fabric of that pluralism is of course the many Asian communities who have enriched our country with their dynamism, work ethic, entrepreneurship and beautiful and ancient cultures that, together, help make up part of Canada’s culture.
So I would like to thank the Ottawa Asian Heritage Month Society for helping us to organize tonight’s event and of course the museum for hosting us and all of the good people at Citizenship and Immigration Canada for their assistance as well.
Each year, Asian Heritage Month allows all Canadians to celebrate the contributions of Asian Canadians who have played such an important role in all aspects of Canadian life – from sports to culture, from business to science, amongst others.
With Canada hosting the Pan Am Games this year, the Governor General designated 2015 as the Year of Sport in Canada. With this in mind, this year’s Asian Heritage Month will pay a particular focus on the many achievements of Asian Canadian athletes on the national and international stage.
And so I would encourage all Canadians to learn about the inspirational accomplishments of these athletes, including, amongst others, Arjan Singh Bhullar, a wrestler who won gold for Canada at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. And we are fortunate to have him here this evening. Lori Fung, a rhythmic gymnast who won Canada’s first ever gold medal in that sport at the 1984 Olympic Games. Pamela Rai, the first Punjabi woman to win an Olympic medal when she won bronze in swimming in 1984. And Nam Nguyen, a figure skater who of course is the current Canadian champion and the 2014 World Junior Champion, and we all believe will be a future Olympic gold medallist.
I should also mention wrestler Carol Huynh, who has won an Olympic gold and Olympic bronze medal. Carol is the daughter of refugees who fled Vietnam in the exodus following the fall of Saigon 40 years ago.
Like 60,000 others who fled Vietnam in the late 1970s, the Huynh family found support and a new beginning here in this wonderful country of hospitality and opportunity.
This year, today in fact, marks 40 years since the fall of the Saigon on April 30, 1975, and the mass exodus of refugees that followed. Some 840,000 people left Vietnam in the years that followed, undertaking a perilous sea voyage that saw a quarter of a million people lose their lives due to illness, rough seas, and piracy.
Assisted by the efforts of Canadian families, Canadian charities, religious groups and non-governmental organizations, Canada accepted more than 60,000 Vietnamese “boat people,” as they were known, among whom approximately 34,000 were privately sponsored and 26,000 were assisted by the Government of Canada.
So assisted by the efforts of Canadian families, charities and religious groups, Canada accepted more than 60,000 Vietnamese boat people in those initial years, and that has helped to lead to over a quarter of a million Canadians of Vietnamese origin making an enormous contribution to this country. And today, April 30th, we celebrate the beginning of their voyage, all of that incarnated in the Journey to Freedom Day Act recently adopted by Parliament. And in fact, it was made law one week ago, when it would receive royal assent from His Excellency, the Governor General.
It’s an amazing story of overcoming great adversity, tragedy and loss. People who are willing to risk their lives to pursue freedom and who found it here in Canada, thanks to the generosity of the Canadian people.
And indeed, Canada’s response to the crisis led to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, whose representative is with us tonight, awarding the Nansen Medal to Canada in recognition of our major contribution made to the cause of refugees. It was the first time that the medal — which is on display here this evening — was awarded to an entire nation.
In acknowledgement of the sacrifices of those that set out on the dangerous voyage from Vietnam and the contributions of Canadians of Vietnamese origin, the government, as I said, was proud to support Senate Bill S-219, The Journey to Freedom Day Act.
Now some of the extraordinary individuals who came to Canada during this exodus include humanitarian Kim Phuc, whose work with child victims of war has been internationally recognized.
And Kim Thúy, winner of the Governor General’s Award for her book Ru, which described the experiences of the Vietnamese boat people. And I believe that Kim participated in one of our Asian Heritage Month commemorations a few years ago. If you have not read her book, which was originally written in French but was recently translated into English, I recommend that you read the book Ru, a tragic story about Vietnamese refugees, as soon as possible.
Dear friends, Asian Heritage Month is a wonderful opportunity for Canadians to celebrate the many achievements of Asian Canadians. I encourage everyone to take part in the many events planned across the country and also cheer on our Canadian athletes at the Pan Am Games this summer.
These events would not be possible without the hard work of many volunteers and community associations, and I’d like to thank all of them for their work and dedication.
Finally, before I introduce a video about the Vietnamese boat people that I know will move and inspire us all, I’m proud to make an important announcement on behalf of the Government of Canada.
As many of you know, since its founding in 1993 by Rana and Minto Vig, Mehfil Magazine has been one of the important voices in highlighting the stories of the South Asian community here in Canada. Rana, who happens to be with us here tonight, has compiled many of these great stories into a book called The 100 Year Journey, and I was honoured to attend the launch of that book last year in Vancouver. It’s an amazing story about the original Punjabi pioneers.
Just last week, I accompanied Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the first Indian head of government to visit Canada on a dedicated visit in 42 years. I accompanied him to the Khalsa Diwan Society’s Ross Street Temple in south Vancouver, which is the successor of the first Sikh Gurdwara built in Canada way back in 1906. This is important for us to recognize that Asian history in Canada isn’t entirely a new history, but is bound up with the Canadian story for over a century. For example, Punjabi and Chinese migrants have been present in Canada’s west coast for over 125 years.
And so the visit of Prime Minister Modi to the Khalsa Diwan Gurdwara was a sign of respect of the Indian people, the world’s largest democracy, for the Canadian Indian community and its 100-year presence.
So just as tonight we celebrate 40 years of the journey to freedom of the Canadians of Vietnamese origin which began exactly four decades ago today, so too, we celebrate the 100-year journey of Punjabi Canadians who have done so much to build this country, which is why I am honoured today to announce that the Government of Canada will contribute almost $200,000 to help bring these stories of the Canadian Punjabi pioneers to a larger audience in many different formats.
Later this evening, my colleague Tim Uppal will be providing you with all of the details of this fantastic project. So congratulations, Rana, and thanks for your patience.
Now as promised – give him a hand for his good work, please.
And so I’m delighted now to introduce Remembering the Journey to Canada of Vietnamese, which the Government of Canada has produced to mark this year’s commemoration. It will help to bring the inspiring and extraordinary story of these Canadians to the minds and imaginations of all of our fellow citizens.
Enjoy the video. Enjoy the evening. Thank you for your participation. Thank you to all of the communities for your contributions. God bless Canada.
[video plays]
One thing I wanted to add, I just realized I neglected to, this beautiful story about the Vietnamese boat people and their journey to freedom, their welcome in Canada has a beautiful ending. Some of the Vietnamese boat people were stranded in parts of Southeast Asia when the UNHCR program for resettlement closed in 1983, and they were stateless in various Southeast Asian countries.
Starting a few years ago, about a decade ago, the Vietnamese community in Canada, Australia, the United States came together to advocate for those who were left behind and really had no future as stateless people in those countries.
And so the Government of Canada worked – responded positively. One of my great – it was my great honour as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in fact to authorize two programs, one that has helped to bring hundreds of these stranded, stateless Vietnamese boat people from the Philippines to Canada, and more recently upwards of 200 stranded stateless Vietnamese boat people who were left behind in Thailand. And now several hundred have joined us. And do you know who raised the money to sponsor them to this country, who advocated for them, who did not forget about them and who have now welcomed them and helped them with their integration in Canada are the very same refugees who came here in 1979 and 1980.
That is the wonder of this country. People struggling, overcoming adversity, succeeding and then passing on their blessings to others. That’s the story of Canada’s Vietnamese community.
Thank you.
