Calgary’s monument honors Vietnamese rafters who died in the post-war exodus

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A new park and memorial in Calgary honors the journey of those who lost their lives escaping Vietnam after the fall of Saigon and those who successfully rebuilt their lives in Canada.

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Hundreds of Vietnamese Calgarians, as well as community and government representatives, attended a ceremony that officially opened Journey to Freedom Park at the end of International Avenue in Forest Lawn on Friday. The monument is intended as a thank you to the Canadians and Calgarians who opened their doors to Vietnamese refugees during the migration crisis that followed the end of the Vietnam War.

Often referred to as the “Vietnamese ships,” an estimated 840,000 people fled the country in the years after North Vietnamese forces captured the South Vietnamese capital Saigon in 1975, an event that marked the end of the war. of Vietnam and the reunification of the country as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. According to United Nations estimates, some 250,000 people died during the crisis, which peaked in the late 1970s and continued into the early 1990s.

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“Thousands and thousands of them died at sea; (they) were either kidnapped or killed,” said Anne-Marie Pham, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Vietnamese Association of Calgary. “Many ended up in refugee camps in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong and waited there for years before a country took them in.”

Countries around the world took in Vietnamese refugees, some 60,000 of whom arrived in Canada. According to the 2016 census, Canada had more than 240,000 citizens of Vietnamese descent, more than 20,000 in Calgary.

“The vast majority of Canadians of Vietnamese descent are actually boat people or children of boat people,” Pham said. “That is why I think there is so much energy, drive and gratitude in the Vietnamese community in Canada for the new opportunities to make a living and make a new life in Canada.”

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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recognized Canadians in 1986 for their efforts to help refugees, honoring the “people of Canada” as a whole with the Nansen Refugee Award, marking the first time the award it is given to an entire nation. The monument also honors that designation.

Prime Minister Jason Kenney was present at the park’s opening ceremony on Friday. He said it was a “touching” moment for him, as he has previously worked to pass legislation at both the provincial and federal levels to uphold Freedom Ride Day, which is celebrated annually on April 30.

“Those who fled communist oppression have made a huge contribution to Canada,” Kenney tweeted.

The Canadian Vietnamese Association of Calgary raised $1.2 million to build the park, slightly short of its $1.5 million goal due to fundraising complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Pham said at Friday’s event that Kenney promised the government would put up $300,000 to make up the difference.

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Twitter: @miguelrdrguez