Canada and the Vietnam War
Canada did not officially participate in the Vietnam War. However, it contributed to peacekeeping forces in 1973 to help enforce the Paris Peace Accords.[1]
Privately, some Canadians contributed to the war effort. Canadian corporations sold war material to the U.S. government. In addition, at least 30,000 Canadians volunteered to serve in the U.S. armed forces during the war. At least 134 Canadians died or were reported missing in Vietnam.[2]
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of U.S. Vietnam War resisters emigrated to Canada to avoid the draft. Largely middle class and educated, they had a significant impact on Canadian life.[3] After the war, tens of thousands of Vietnamese boat people were also admitted and became a unique part of Canadian life.[4]
Beginnings
During the
Canada laid out six prerequisites to joining a war effort or Asian alliance like SEATO:
- It had to involve cultural and trade connections in addition to a military alliance.
- It had to demonstrably meet the will of the people in the countries involved.
- Other free Asian states had to support it directly or in principle.
- France had to refer the conflict to the United Nations organization.
- Any multilateral action must conform to the UN charter.
- Any action had to be divorced from all elements of colonialism.[citation needed]
These criteria effectively guaranteed Canada would not participate in the Vietnam War.
Canadian involvement in the war
At the start of the Vietnam War, Canada was a member of the International Control Commission (ICC) overseeing the implementation of the Geneva Agreements, and thus attempted to maintain an air of neutrality. However, the Canadian negotiators were strongly on the side of the U.S. One representative (J. Blair Seaborn, younger brother of Robert Seaborn) was even involved in secretly exchanging messages between the U.S. and North Vietnam on behalf of the U.S., with the approval of the Canadian government. Canada also sent foreign aid to South Vietnam, which, while humanitarian, was directed by the U.S.[6] Canada tried to mediate between the warring countries, aiming for a conclusion that could allow the U.S. to leave the conflict honourably. It has also been commonly believed, as reported at the time, that the Canadian government of Prime Minister
Meanwhile, Canadian industry exported military supplies and raw materials useful in their manufacture, including ammunition, napalm and Agent Orange,[10] to the United States, as trade between the two countries continued without interruption or hindrance.
"500 firms sold $2.5 billion of war materials (ammunition, napalm, aircraft engines and explosives) to the Pentagon. Another $10 billion in food, beverages, berets and boots for the troops was exported to the U.S., as well as nickel, copper, lead, oil, brass for shell casings, wiring, plate armour and military transport. In Canada unemployment fell to record low levels of 3.9%".[6]
Although these exports were sales by Canadian firms, not gifts from the Canadian government, they nonetheless benefited the U.S. war effort. The first official statement about the Canadian economic support given to the United States armed forces was by Lester Pearson on March 10, 1967, when he stated that the export of goods to Canada's southern ally was "necessary and logical" due to the extreme integration of both economies, and that an embargo would be a notice of withdrawal from North American defense arrangements. [11]
As the war escalated, however, relations between Canada and the United States gradually deteriorated. In his Temple University speech, while stating firm support for U.S. policy, Pearson also called for a pause in the bombing of North Vietnam. In a perhaps apocryphal story, when a furious President Lyndon B. Johnson met with Pearson the next day, he grabbed the much smaller Canadian by his lapels and talked angrily with him for an hour. After this incident, the two men somehow found ways to resolve their differences over the war and had further contacts, including later twice meeting in Canada.[12] With the federal elections of 1968, which brought Pierre Trudeau to the prime ministry, Canadian policy changed radically to one of unrelenting criticism of U.S. policy in Vietnam. Trudeau called for immediate negotiations between the U.S. and North Vietnam and offered on at least one occasion to serve as mediator in the negotiations, annoying President Richard Nixon, who succeeded Lyndon Johnson after his own election to the U.S. presidency in 1968.
Assistance to the U.S. war effort
Canada's official diplomatic position in relation to the Vietnam War was that of a non-belligerent, which imposed a ban on the export of war-related items to the combat areas.[citation needed] Nonetheless, Canadian industry was also a major supplier of equipment and supplies to the U.S. forces, not sending these directly to South Vietnam but to the United States. The goods included relatively benign items like boots, but also aircraft, munitions, napalm, and commercial defoliants, the use of which was fiercely opposed by anti-war protesters at the time.
In accordance with the 1956
Between January 28, 1973 and July 31, 1973, Canada provided 240 peacekeeping troops to Operation Gallant, the peacekeeping operation associated with the International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS) Vietnam, along with Hungary, Indonesia, and Poland.[15] Their role was to monitor the cease-fire in South Vietnam per the Paris Peace Accords.[16] After Canada's departure from the Commission, it was replaced by Iran.
Canadians in the U.S. armed forces
In a counter-current to the movement of U.S. draft evaders and deserters to Canada, about 30,000 Canadians volunteered to fight for the U.S. in Southeast Asia.
In 2015, the
The 2015 CBC story paid special attention to Rob McSorley, a teen-age Army Ranger from Vancouver who was shot dead by North Vietnamese soldiers.[2] Other Canadians who gave their lives and were recognized in the story include:
- Thomas Edwin Fraser of the Six Nations Reserve in Ohsweken, Ontario
- Randolph Hatton from Toronto
- Robert Wilson Holditch from Port Robinson, Ontario
- Bruce Thomas Kennedy from Espanola, Ontario
- Jonathan Peter Kmetyk from St. Catharines, Ontario
- John J. Roden from Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Larry Semeniuk from Windsor, Ontario
- Murray Dean Vidler from Kerrobert, Saskatchewan.[2]
In Windsor, Ontario, there is a privately funded monument to the Canadians killed in the Vietnam War.
U.S. war resisters in Canada
U.S.
Starting in 1965, Canada became a choice haven for U.S. draft evaders and deserters. Because they were not formally classified as refugees but admitted as immigrants, there is no official estimate of how many draft evaders and deserters entered Canada during the Vietnam War. One informed estimate puts their number between 30,000 and 40,000. [22] Whether or not this estimate is accurate, the fact remains that emigration from the United States was high as long as the U.S. was participating in the war militarily and maintained compulsory military service. In 1971-72, Canada received more immigrants from the United States than from any other country. [22]
Draft evaders
Estimates vary greatly as to how many males from the U.S. settled in Canada for the specific reason of dodging the draft or "evading conscription," as opposed to desertion, or other reasons. Canadian immigration statistics show that 20,000 to 30,000 draft-eligible males from the U.S. came to Canada as immigrants during the Vietnam era. The BBC has reported that "as many as 60,000 young American men dodged the draft."[24] Estimates of the total number of U.S. citizens who moved to Canada due to their opposition to the war range from 50,000 to 125,000[25] This exodus was "the largest politically motivated migration from the United States since the United Empire Loyalists moved north to oppose the American Revolution."[26] Major communities of war resisters formed in Montreal, the Slocan Valley, British Columbia, and on Baldwin Street in Toronto, Ontario.[citation needed]
They were at first assisted by the Student Union for Peace Action, a campus-based Canadian anti-war organization with connections to
The influx of these young men, who, as mentioned earlier, were often well educated
Prominent draft evaders who stayed in Canada permanently, or for a significant amount of time, have included:
- Mike Fisher – founding member of Heart, notable rock/pop band[40]
- William Gibson – science fiction writer, winner of a Nebula Award
- Jim Green– Vancouver city councillor and mayoral candidate
- Michael Hendricks – gay rights advocate[38]
- Jeffry House – lawyer, clients include many activists
- Bill King – musician and organizer of Toronto's Beaches Jazz Festival[41]
- Michael Klein – activist physician, spouse of Bonnie Sherr Klein, father of Naomi Klein[23][38]
- Keith Maillard – professor of creative writing, University of British Columbia
- Eric Nagler – children's entertainer on The Elephant Show
- Wayne Robinson – father of Svend Robinson, former Member of Parliament
- Jay Scott – film critic, The Globe and Mail
- Jesse Winchester – singer-songwriter
- Michael Wolfson – assistant chief statistician at Statistics Canada[23]
- Harry Yates – human resources manager at the Ministry of the Attorney General of British Columbia
Deserters
Distinct from draft resisters, there were also deserters from the U.S. armed forces who also made their way to Canada. There was pressure from both the United States and Canada for the deserters to be arrested, or at least stopped at the border.[citation needed]
The deserters have not been pardoned and may still face pro forma arrest, as the case of Allen Abney demonstrated in March 2006.[42][43] Another similar case was that of Richard Allen Shields: He had deserted the U.S. Army in Alaska in 1972 after serving a year in Vietnam. Twenty-eight years later, on March 22, 2000, while he attempted to drive a lumber truck across the US-Canada border (in Metaline Falls, Washington) he was arrested by U.S. Customs agents and jailed at Fort Sill. He was discharged from the Army with an Other Than Honorable discharge in April 2000.[citation needed] Other noteworthy deserters from that era include the following:
- Andy Barrie- former host of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio's Metro Morning in Toronto[23][38] (He later received a General discharge from the United States Army, became a Canadian citizen, and is free to travel to the U.S.)
- Dick Cotterill[38]
- Michael Shaffer: "After six months in the Army, my application for CO status was denied and I was told that I would be going to Vietnam. I refused to draw my weapon and was ordered court-martialed. On Labour Day 1970 I was able to escape and cross into Canada ... During President Ford's Clemency Program in 1975, I went to Fort Dix seeking the "Undesirable Discharge" offered to deserters who turned themselves in. The Army decided that I wasn't eligible and court-martial proceedings were resumed. With help from the ACLU, I was released and two years later a Federal Court ordered the Army to discharge me Honourably as a Conscientious Objector ... I remained in Vancouver"[38]
- Montreal Gazette
- Mike Tulley - Edmonton, Alberta area sound engineer and social activist[44]
Missing-text controversy
In February 2009, text on how both draft evaders and resisters of the Vietnam War were ultimately allowed to stay in Canada suddenly vanished from the website of the
Originally, the Government of Canada website had contained the following statements:
... Starting in 1965, Canada became a choice haven for American draft resisters and deserters, ... Although some of these transplanted Americans returned home after the Vietnam War, most of them put down roots in Canada, making up the largest, best-educated group this country had ever received.[37]
The above statement (now gone from the website) was part of an extensive online chapter on draft resisters and deserters from the Vietnam war, which was found in the larger online document,"Forging Our Legacy: Canadian Citizenship and Immigration, 1900–1977"
The removal from the
After the war
The Vietnam War continued to resonate in Canada long after the war was over.
Vietnamese boat people
After the fall of South Vietnam in April 1975, hundreds of thousands of refugees, called boat people, fled Vietnam and adjacent nations. According to Canadian immigration historian Valerie Knowles, from 1979 to 1980 Canada admitted an estimated 60,000 of these refugees, "most of whom had endured several days in small, leaky boats, prey to vicious pirate attacks, before ending up in squalid camps".[4] Knowles says it was the highest number of boat people accepted by any nation, including the United States, during that period.[4] The boat people constituted 25% of all newcomers admitted to Canada from 1978 to 1981.[4] This created a substantial Vietnamese community in Canada, concentrated especially in Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto.[citation needed]
Cultural and political shifts
The Vietnam War was an important cultural turning point in Canada. Coupled with Canada's centenary in 1967 and the success of Expo 67, Canada became far more independent and nationalistic. The public, if not their representatives in parliament, became more willing to oppose the United States and to move in a different direction socially and politically.[49]
Agent Orange in New Brunswick
In 1981, a government report revealed that Agent Orange, the controversial defoliant, had been tested at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick.[50][51] In June 1966, the chemical was sprayed over nearly 600 acres (2.4 km2) of forest inside the base. There are differing opinions about the level of toxicity of the site;[52] but, in 2006, the Canadian government said it planned to compensate some of those who were exposed. As of 2011, some claims have been paid but the administration of the compensation program has been criticized.[53][54]
See also
- Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War
- Baldwin Village – a neighbourhood and commercial street in Toronto that became the centre of the American exile community
- Canada and Iraq War resisters
- Canada–Vietnam relations
- Military history of Australia during the Vietnam War
- New Zealand in the Vietnam War
References
- ^ Park, Thomas (March 21, 2007). "Why Canada Must Go To Iraq". The Citizen – Newspaper of the Harvard Kennedy School. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Corday, Chris (10 November 2015). "Lost to History: The Canadians Who Fought in Vietnam". CBC News British Columbia. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ a b Fulford, Robert (6 September 2017). "How Vietnam War Draft Dodgers Became a Lively and Memorable Part of Canadian History". National Post (Canada), national edition, p. B5. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4597-3285-8.
- ^ Bardua, Rob (April 9, 2008). "Canadian Colonel to Speak About His Experiences in Hanoi During the Vietnam War Archived November 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine". National Museum of the US Air Force website. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
- ^ a b ""Vietnam War". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
- ISBN 9781136955679. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ "Why does mainstream media keep repeating lies about Lester Pearson? - Yves Engler". March 15, 2016.
- ISBN 9780385672979. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ a b c Supplying the war machine – CBC Archives
- ISBN 0-88864-037-4.
- ISBN 9780385179812.
- ^ Full text Archived August 7, 2018, at the Wayback Machine (pdf)
- ^ "History of the Canadian Peoples, 1867–Present," Alvin Finkel & Margaret Conrad, 1998
- ^ Vietnam War Bibliography: The International Commissions: ICC (ICSC) and ICCS Edwin Moise.
- ^ Control and Supervision Vietnam 1973 – ICCS Archived March 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Veterans Affairs Canada, March 26, 2001
- ^ "Canada's Secret War: Vietnam". CBC. Retrieved April 7, 2007.
- ISBN 1-55571-612-1.
- ISBN 978-0-275-99651-2. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
- ^ "Canadian Vietnam Memorial – "The North Wall"". Edna Barney (self published). Retrieved April 7, 2007.
- ^ "Canadian Vietnam Veterans Monument". Association Québécoise des Vétérans du Vietnam.
- ^ ISBN 0662289838.
- ^ a b c d Nicholas Keung (August 20, 2010). "Iraq war resisters meet cool reception in Canada". Toronto Star. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
- ^ Gray, Jeff (July 6, 2004). "US deserter's Canadian campaign". BBC. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
- ^ draft dodgers memorial to be built in B.C., CBC News, 09/08/2004
- ^ "On Strawberry Hill" by Chris Turner in The Walrus, September 2007.
- ^ Clausen, Oliver (May 21, 1967). "Boys Without a Country". The New York Times Magazine, p. 25.
- ISBN 978-0-87140-533-3.
- ^ Schreiber, Jan (January 1968). "Canada's Haven for Draft Dodgers". The Progressive, p. 34.
- ISBN 978-0-385-25662-9.
- ^ Williams, Roger N. (1971), cited above, pp. 56–58.
- ^ Cowan, Edward (February 11, 1968). "Expatriate Draft Evaders Prepare Manual on How to Immigrate to Canada". The New York Times, p. 7.
- ISBN 978-0-674-00471-9.
- ^ Jones, Joseph (spring–summer 2002). "The House of Anansi's Singular Bestseller". Canadian Notes & Queries, issue no 61, p. 19.
- ^ MacSkimming, Roy (26 August 2017). "Review: Mark Satin's Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada Is Just as Timely as Ever". The Globe and Mail (Toronto), p. R12. Online dated one day earlier. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ Adams, James (October 20, 2007). "'The Big Guys Keep Being Surprised By Us'". The Globe and Mail (Toronto), p. R6. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Bailey, Sue (July 5, 2009). "Iraq war resisters decry Tories' website editing". The Toronto Star. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f "Vietnam War Resisters, Then and Now". Archived from the original on November 9, 2014. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
- ^ Hagan, John (2001), cited above, pp. 167 and 242.
- ^ JAM! Music[usurped] – Pop Encyclopedia
- ^ Roman Goergen (February 23, 2011). "Sanctuary Denied". In These Times. Archived from the original on March 11, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
- ^ Tremonti, Anna Maria (March 14, 2006). "CBC Radio | The Current | Whole Show Blow-by-Blow". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio, The Current. Archived from the original on November 19, 2007. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ "Deserter says he was treated well by U.S. military". March 20, 2006. Archived from the original on August 22, 2009. Retrieved January 27, 2017., CBC News
- ^ (January 8, 2006) "Soundman quietly supports his causes Archived October 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine", Edmonton Journal, Retrieved December 12, 2012
- ^ Bailey, Sue (July 5, 2009). "Federal website changes undermine Iraq resisters: critics". The Canadian Press. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
- ^ "Minutes of the meeting of The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, February 12, 2009". .parl.gc.ca. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ Cooper, Alex (April 21, 2009). "Federal court to hear American war resister's appeal". Toronto Star. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
- ^ "40th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION, EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 036, CONTENTS, Monday, March 30, 2009". .parl.gc.ca. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ Young, Joe (1969). U.S. Aggression in Vietnam & Canada's Complicity (PDF). Toronto: Canada Vietnam Newsletter. pp. 11–13. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ CBC Archives—A 1981 news broadcast on Vietnam era "Agent Orange" testing in Base Gagetown, New Brunswick
- ^ Agent Orange and Agent Purple. CBC. Published 2007-08-21. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
- ^ No evidence to link cancer rates to Agent Orange: report. CBC. Published 2007-08-21. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
- ^ The Use of Herbicides at CFB Gagetown from 1952 to Present Day Archived December 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Department of National Defence. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
- ^ Dying woman denied Agent Orange payout. CBC. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
Further reading
- McGill, Robert. War Is Here: The Vietnam War and Canadian Literature (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017) online book review
- Ross, Douglas A. In the Interests of Peace: Canada and Vietnam, 1954–1973, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984. ISBN 978-0-8020-5632-0.
- Squires, Jessica. Building Sanctuary: The Movement to Support Vietnam War Resisters in Canada, 1965–1973, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7748-2524-5.
- Forging Our Legacy: Canadian Citizenship and Immigration, 1900–1977, by Valerie Knowles. Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2000. ISBN 978-0-662-28983-8.
- I Volunteered: Canadian Vietnam Vets Remember, by Tracey Arial. Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer Publishing, 1998. ISBN 978-1-896239-14-9.
- Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada, by Mark Satin. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, "A List" reprint edition, 2017, orig. 1968. New introduction by Canadian historian ISBN 978-1-4870-0289-3.
- The New Exiles: American War Resisters in Canada, by Roger Neville Williams. New York: Liveright Publishers, 1970. Includes transcripts of interviews with resisters. ISBN 978-0-87140-533-3.
- Northern Passage: American Vietnam War Resisters in Canada, by John Hagan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-674-00471-9.
- Quiet Complicity: Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War, by Victor Levant. Foreword by Gwynne Dyer. Toronto: Between the Lines Books, 1987. ISBN 978-0-919946-72-9.
- Snow Job: Canada, the United States, and Vietnam (1954–1973), by Charles Taylor. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 1974. ISBN 978-0-88784-619-9.
- Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540-2015, by Valerie Knowles. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 4th ed., 2016, p. 214 ("Draft-Age Americans in Canada" section). Incorporates and updates parts of the Knowles booklet cited in this article. ISBN 978-1-4597-3285-8.
- Unknown Warriors: Canadians in the Vietnam War, by Fred Gaffen. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1990. ISBN 978-1-55002-073-1.
- "Vietnam War", by Victor Levant. On the Canadian Encyclopedia website. Accessed 14 December 2012.
- War Is Here: The Vietnam War and Canadian Literature, by Robert McGill. Kingston, Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017. ISBN 978-0-7735-5159-6.
External links
The war
- Canada's Secret War: Vietnam. Digital archives, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Canadian Vietnam Veterans Association
- Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial Association Archived May 18, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
- North Wall, Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial Archived April 4, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
- Vietnam Veterans With a Mission Archived December 18, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. Information and pictures.
- Vietnam War Bibliography: Canada. Compiled by scholar Edwin L. Morse.
- The Vietnam War: Canada's Role, Part One. Transcript of a CBC Radio broadcast.
War immigrants
- Jack Pocock Memorial Collection, in the Discover Archives Archived June 29, 2020, at the Wayback Machine at the University of Toronto. Material from the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme and similar organizations, mostly from 1969–1975.
- Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada. Narrative and excerpt.
- Seeking Sanctuary: Draft Dodgers. Digital archives, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Toronto Anti-Draft Programme. Self-description from 1968.
- The Vietnam War: Canada's Role, Part Two: The Boat People. Transcript of a CBC Radio broadcast.
- Vietnam War Resisters in Canada Archived August 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, hosted by Vancouver Community Network. Annotated guide to texts and websites from the 1960s to the present. Compiled by scholar Joseph Jones.
- Vietnamese Community in Canada. Overview by Statistics Canada.