Canada and the Vietnam War
Encyclopedia
Canada
did not fight in the Vietnam War
and diplomatically it was "officially non-belligerent
". The country's troop deployments to Vietnam were limited to a small number of national forces in 1973 to help enforce the Paris Peace Accords
. Nevertheless, the war had considerable effects on Canada, while Canada and Canadians affected the war, in return.
, Canada was firmly allied with the mainstream Western powers. For instance, Canada was a founding member of NATO, and was instrumental in the forming of that military alliance against the Soviet Union and its satellites. Canada's foreign policy was also committed to multilateralism
and the United Nations
, perhaps most noticeably under Lester B. Pearson
from 1963 to 1968. Canada thus found itself in a difficult position, caught between these two foreign policy objectives. Canadians were hesitant to adopt the Truman
or Eisenhower Doctrine
s, which held that communism itself must be actively opposed through foreign intervention. Instead, Canada's policy was that illegal acts of international aggression must be opposed, as in the Korean War
, during which Canada was among the many countries that sent troops to fight in support of South Korea
, under a United Nations resolution.
During the First Indochina War
between France
and the Indo-Chinese nationalist and communist parties, Canada remained militarily uninvolved but provided modest diplomatic and economic support to the French. Canada was, however, part of the International Control Committee (along with Poland and India) that oversaw the 1954 Geneva Agreements
that divided Vietnam, provided for French withdrawal and would have instituted elections for reunification by 1956. Behind the scenes, Canadian diplomats tried to discourage both France and the United States from escalating the conflict in a part of the world Canadians had decided was not strategically vital.
Canada laid out six prerequisites to joining a war effort or Asian alliance like SEATO
:
These criteria effectively guaranteed Canada would not participate in the Vietnam War.
on behalf of the Americans, with the approval of the Canadian government. Canada also sent foreign aid to South Vietnam, which, while humanitarian, was directed by the Americans.
Canada tried to mediate between the warring countries, aiming for a conclusion that could allow the U.S. to leave the conflict honorably, but also publicly (if mildly) criticized American war methods.
Meanwhile, Canadian industry exported military supplies and raw materials useful in their manufacture, including ammunition, napalm
and Agent Orange
, to the United States, as trade between the two countries carried on unhindered by considerations of the purposes to which these exports were being put.
"500 firms sold $2.5 billion of war materiel (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, brass and oil for shell casings, wiring, plate armour and military transport. In Canada unemployment fell to record low levels of 3.9%"
Although these exports were sales by Canadian companies, not gifts from the Canadian government, they benefited the American war effort, nonetheless. The first official response to the economic support being given to the United States military from the government was by Lester B. Pearson
on march 10th, 1967 that the embargo of goods to their southern ally was "necessary and logical" due to the extreme integration of both economies and in doing so would also be a notice of withdrawal from North American defense arrangements.
As the war escalated, relations between Canada and the United States deteriorated. On April 2, 1965, Pearson gave a speech at Temple University
in the United States
which, in the context of firm support for U.S. policy, 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—in fact, they both had further contacts, including meeting together in Canada two times afterward.
War would ignite controversy among those seeking to immigrate to Canada, some of it provoked by the Canadian government’s initial
refusal to admit those who could not prove that they had been discharged from [American] military service.
This changed in 1968. On May 22, 1969, Ottawa announced that immigration officials would not and could not ask about immigration applicants’ military status if they showed up at the border seeking permanent residence in Canada. According to Valerie Knowles, draft dodgers were usually college-educated sons of the middle class who could no longer defer induction into the Selective Service System. Deserters, on the other hand, were predominantly sons of the lower-income and working classes who had been inducted into the armed services directly from high school or who had volunteered, hoping to obtain a skill and broaden their limited horizons.
Starting in 1965, Canada became a choice haven for American draft dodgers and deserters.
Because they were not formally classified as refugees but were admitted as immigrants, there is
no official estimate of how many draft dodgers and deserters were admitted to Canada during the
Vietnam War. One informed estimate puts their number between 30,000 and 40,000. Whether or
not this estimate is accurate, the fact remains that immigration from the United States was high as long as America was involved militarily in the war and maintained compulsory military service; in 1971 and 1972 Canada received more immigrants from the United States than from any other country.
," as opposed to desertion
, or other reasons. Canadian immigration statistics show that 20,000 to 30,000 draft-eligible American men came to Canada as immigrants during the Vietnam era. The BBC
stated that "as many as 60,000 young American men dodged the draft." Estimates of the total number of American citizens who moved to Canada due to their opposition to the war range from 50,000 to 125,000 This exodus was "the largest politically motivated migration from the United States since the United Empire Loyalists moved north to oppose the American Revolution
." Major communities of war resisters formed in Montreal, the Slocan Valley
, British Columbia
, and on Baldwin Street
in Toronto
, Ontario
.
They were at first assisted by the Student Union for Peace Action, a campus-based Canadian anti-war group with connections to Students for a Democratic Society
. This was led by campus chair Matthieu Charette in the United States. Canadian immigration policy at the time made it easy for immigrants from all countries to obtain legal status in Canada. By late 1967, draft dodgers were being assisted primarily by several locally based anti-draft groups (over twenty of them), such as the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme. As a counselor for the Programme, Mark Satin
wrote the Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada, in 1968. It sold over 100,000 copies in six editions.
The influx of these young men, who (as mentioned earlier) were often well educated and politically leftist, affected Canada's academic and cultural institutions, and Canadian society at large. These new arrivals tended to balance the "brain drain
" that Canada had experienced. While some draft dodgers returned to the United States after an amnesty
was declared in 1977 during the administration of Jimmy Carter
, roughly half of them stayed in Canada.
Prominent draft dodgers who stayed in Canada permanently, or for a significant amount of time include the below. (For a separate, distinct list of noteworthy deserters, see next section.)
The deserters have not been pardoned and may still face pro forma arrest, as the case of Allen Abney demonstrated in March 2006. Another similar case was that of Richard Allen Shields: He had deserted the U.S. Army in 1972 after serving a year in Vietnam. Twenty-eight years later, in 2000, when he traveled to the U.S. he was arrested and jailed in Washington State.
Other noteworthy deserters from that era include the following:
's] Citizenship and Immigration
[web]site."
Originally, the Government of Canada
website had contained the following statements:
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" It was originally posted on the Government of Canada
website in the year 2000, when the Liberal Party of Canada
, led by Jean Chrétien
, was in power and responsible for the content of that website. But "in 2009, the Harper
government
[took] a much dimmer view of dozens of U.S. soldiers who've come north after refusing to serve
in the invasion of Iraq
. Some had already been deported to face military jail terms ranging from about six to 15 months."
The removal from the Citizenship and Immigration
website occurred in the same month that its multi-party counterpart, the Standing Committee
on Citizenship and Immigration
was debating that issue: On Feb 12, 2009, that multi-party committee passed, for the second time, a non-binding motion reaffirming Parliament's earlier (June 2008) vote which recommended that the government let Iraq War resisters
stay in Canada. A month and a half later, on March 30, 2009, the House of Commons
again voted in a non-binding motion
129 to 125 in favour of the committee's recommendation.
, the anti-war movement was also strong, and even violent: The FLQ, a militant Quebec-separatist group, was also stridently anti-American and against the war.
from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. One-hundred and ten (110) Canadians died in Vietnam, and seven remain listed as Missing in Action
. Canadian Peter C. Lemon
was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor
for his valour in the conflict. (This cross-border enlistment was not unprecedented: Both the First
and the Second World War saw thousands of Americans join the Canadian Armed forces before the U.S officially declared war on Germany)
In Windsor, Ontario
, there is a privately funded monument to the Canadians killed in the Vietnam War. In Melocheville, Quebec, there is a monument site funded by the Association Québécoise des Vétérans du Vietnam. However, many Canadian veterans returned to a society that was strongly anti-war. Unlike the United States, there were no veterans organizations nor any help for them from the government, and many of them moved permanently to the United States. There has been ongoing pressure from Canadian Vietnam veterans to have their comrades' deaths formally acknowledged by the government, especially in times such as Remembrance Day
.
but to the United States. Sold goods included relatively benign items like boots, but also munitions, napalm
and commercial defoliant
s, the use of which was fiercely opposed by anti-war protesters at the time. In accordance with the 1958 Defence Production Sharing Agreement, Canadian industry sold $2.47 billion in materiel
to the United States between 1965 and 1973. Many of the companies were owned by US parent firms, but all export sales over $100,000 US (and thus, the majority of contracts) were arranged through the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a crown corporation which acted as an intermediary between the U.S. Department of Defence
and Canadian industry. Furthermore, the Canadian and American Defense departments worked together to test chemical defoliants for use in Vietnam. Canada also allowed their NATO ally to use Canadian facilities and bases for training exercises and weapons testing as per existing treaties.
Between 28 January 1973 and 31 July 1973, Canada provided 240 peacekeeping troops to Operation Gallant, the peace keeping operation associated with the International Commission of Control and Supervision
(ICCS) Vietnam, along with Hungary
, Indonesia
, and Poland
. Their role was to monitor the cease-fire in South Vietnam per the Paris Peace Accords
. After Canada’s departure from the Commission, it was replaced by Iran
.
, fled Vietnam for both political and economic reasons. Canada agreed to accept many of them, in one of the largest single influxes of immigrants in Canadian history. This created a substantial Vietnamese community in Canada, concentrated especially in Montreal
, Vancouver
, and Toronto
.
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.
In 1981, a government report revealed that Agent Orange
, the controversial defoliant, had been tested at CFB Gagetown
, New Brunswick
. 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; but, as of 2006, the Canadian government says it is planning to compensate some of those who were exposed.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
did not fight in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and diplomatically it was "officially non-belligerent
Non-belligerent
A non-belligerent is a person, a state, or other organization that does not fight in a given conflict. The term is often used to describe a country that does not take part militarily in a war...
". The country's troop deployments to Vietnam were limited to a small number of national forces in 1973 to help enforce the Paris Peace Accords
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam...
. Nevertheless, the war had considerable effects on Canada, while Canada and Canadians affected the war, in return.
Beginnings
During the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, Canada was firmly allied with the mainstream Western powers. For instance, Canada was a founding member of NATO, and was instrumental in the forming of that military alliance against the Soviet Union and its satellites. Canada's foreign policy was also committed to multilateralism
Multilateralism
Multilateralism is a term in international relations that refers to multiple countries working in concert on a given issue.International organizations, such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization are multilateral in nature...
and the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, perhaps most noticeably under Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
from 1963 to 1968. Canada thus found itself in a difficult position, caught between these two foreign policy objectives. Canadians were hesitant to adopt the Truman
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a policy set forth by U.S. President Harry S Truman in a speech on March 12, 1947 stating that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere...
or Eisenhower Doctrine
Eisenhower Doctrine
The term Eisenhower Doctrine refers to a speech by President Dwight David Eisenhower on 5 January 1957, within a "Special Message to the Congress on the Situation in the Middle East". Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military...
s, which held that communism itself must be actively opposed through foreign intervention. Instead, Canada's policy was that illegal acts of international aggression must be opposed, as in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, during which Canada was among the many countries that sent troops to fight in support of South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, under a United Nations resolution.
During the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the Indo-Chinese nationalist and communist parties, Canada remained militarily uninvolved but provided modest diplomatic and economic support to the French. Canada was, however, part of the International Control Committee (along with Poland and India) that oversaw the 1954 Geneva Agreements
Geneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...
that divided Vietnam, provided for French withdrawal and would have instituted elections for reunification by 1956. Behind the scenes, Canadian diplomats tried to discourage both France and the United States from escalating the conflict in a part of the world Canadians had decided was not strategically vital.
Canada laid out six prerequisites to joining a war effort or Asian alliance like SEATO
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, Philippines. The formal institution of SEATO was established on 19 February...
:
- It had to involve cultural and trade ties 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 United Nations.
- Any multilateral action must conform to the UN charterUnited Nations CharterThe Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries...
. - Any action had to be divorced from all elements of colonialismColonialismColonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
.
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 UN truce commissions overseeing the implementation of the Geneva Agreements, and thus was obliged to stay officially neutral. The Canadian negotiators were strongly on the side of the Americans, however. Some delegates even engaged in espionageEspionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
on behalf of the Americans, with the approval of the Canadian government. Canada also sent foreign aid to South Vietnam, which, while humanitarian, was directed by the Americans.
Canada tried to mediate between the warring countries, aiming for a conclusion that could allow the U.S. to leave the conflict honorably, but also publicly (if mildly) criticized American war methods.
Meanwhile, Canadian industry exported military supplies and raw materials useful in their manufacture, including ammunition, napalm
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
and Agent Orange
Agent Orange
Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
, to the United States, as trade between the two countries carried on unhindered by considerations of the purposes to which these exports were being put.
"500 firms sold $2.5 billion of war materiel (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, brass and oil for shell casings, wiring, plate armour and military transport. In Canada unemployment fell to record low levels of 3.9%"
Although these exports were sales by Canadian companies, not gifts from the Canadian government, they benefited the American war effort, nonetheless. The first official response to the economic support being given to the United States military from the government was by Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
on march 10th, 1967 that the embargo of goods to their southern ally was "necessary and logical" due to the extreme integration of both economies and in doing so would also be a notice of withdrawal from North American defense arrangements.
As the war escalated, relations between Canada and the United States deteriorated. On April 2, 1965, Pearson gave a speech at Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
which, in the context of firm support for U.S. policy, called for a pause in the bombing of North Vietnam. In a perhaps apocryphal story, when a furious President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
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—in fact, they both had further contacts, including meeting together in Canada two times afterward.
American draft dodgers and military deserters
American draft dodgers and military deserters who sought refuge in Canada during the VietnamWar would ignite controversy among those seeking to immigrate to Canada, some of it provoked by the Canadian government’s initial
refusal to admit those who could not prove that they had been discharged from [American] military service.
This changed in 1968. On May 22, 1969, Ottawa announced that immigration officials would not and could not ask about immigration applicants’ military status if they showed up at the border seeking permanent residence in Canada. According to Valerie Knowles, draft dodgers were usually college-educated sons of the middle class who could no longer defer induction into the Selective Service System. Deserters, on the other hand, were predominantly sons of the lower-income and working classes who had been inducted into the armed services directly from high school or who had volunteered, hoping to obtain a skill and broaden their limited horizons.
Starting in 1965, Canada became a choice haven for American draft dodgers and deserters.
Because they were not formally classified as refugees but were admitted as immigrants, there is
no official estimate of how many draft dodgers and deserters were admitted to Canada during the
Vietnam War. One informed estimate puts their number between 30,000 and 40,000. Whether or
not this estimate is accurate, the fact remains that immigration from the United States was high as long as America was involved militarily in the war and maintained compulsory military service; in 1971 and 1972 Canada received more immigrants from the United States than from any other country.
Draft dodgers
Estimates vary greatly as to how many Americans settled in Canada for the specific reason of dodging the draft or "evading conscriptionConscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
," as opposed to desertion
Desertion
In military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning...
, or other reasons. Canadian immigration statistics show that 20,000 to 30,000 draft-eligible American men came to Canada as immigrants during the Vietnam era. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
stated that "as many as 60,000 young American men dodged the draft." Estimates of the total number of American citizens who moved to Canada due to their opposition to the war range from 50,000 to 125,000 This exodus was "the largest politically motivated migration from the United States since the United Empire Loyalists moved north to oppose the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
." Major communities of war resisters formed in Montreal, the Slocan Valley
Slocan Valley
The Slocan Valley is a valley in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada.The valley is home to the villages of Slocan City, New Denver, Silverton, as well as the unincorporated communities of Crescent Valley, Slocan Park, Passmore, Vallican, Winlaw, Appledale, Perry Siding, Lemon...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, and on Baldwin Street
Baldwin Village
Baldwin Village is a commercial enclave in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the west of downtown Toronto, within the Grange Park neighbourhood, one block north of Dundas Street West, between Beverley and McCaul Streets...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
They were at first assisted by the Student Union for Peace Action, a campus-based Canadian anti-war group with connections to Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
. This was led by campus chair Matthieu Charette in the United States. Canadian immigration policy at the time made it easy for immigrants from all countries to obtain legal status in Canada. By late 1967, draft dodgers were being assisted primarily by several locally based anti-draft groups (over twenty of them), such as the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme. As a counselor for the Programme, Mark Satin
Mark Satin
Mark Ivor Satin is an American political theorist, author, and newsletter publisher. Although often referred to as a "draft dodger" or "draft resister", he is better known for contributing to the development and dissemination of three political perspectives – neopacifism in the 1960s, New...
wrote the Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada, in 1968. It sold over 100,000 copies in six editions.
The influx of these young men, who (as mentioned earlier) were often well educated and politically leftist, affected Canada's academic and cultural institutions, and Canadian society at large. These new arrivals tended to balance the "brain drain
Brain drain
Human capital flight, more commonly referred to as "brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from countries and individuals...
" that Canada had experienced. While some draft dodgers returned to the United States after an amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
was declared in 1977 during the administration of Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, roughly half of them stayed in Canada.
Prominent draft dodgers who stayed in Canada permanently, or for a significant amount of time include the below. (For a separate, distinct list of noteworthy deserters, see next section.)
- Jim Green - VancouverVancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
city councillor and mayoral candidate - Michael Wolfson - former assistant chief statistician at Statistics CanadaStatistics CanadaStatistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....
- Dan Murphy - political cartoonist
- Wayne Robinson - the father of Svend RobinsonSvend RobinsonSvend Robinson is a former Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 2004, representing the suburban Vancouver-area constituency of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party...
, former Member of Parliament - Eric NaglerEric NaglerEric Nagler is an American-born musician and television personality known primarily for his work on Canadian children's television series such as The Elephant Show.- Biography :...
- Children's entertainer on The Elephant ShowThe Elephant ShowThe Elephant Show is a Canadian children's television show from 1984 until 1988.-Summary and Highlights:...
. - Mike Fisher - A founding member of HeartHeart (band)Heart is an American rock band who first found success in Canada. Throughout several lineup changes, the only two members remaining constant are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. The group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music...
- a popular rock/pop band - Jesse WinchesterJesse WinchesterJesse Winchester is a musician and songwriter who was born and raised in the southern United States. To avoid the Vietnam War draft he moved to Canada in 1967, which is where and when he began his career as a solo artist. His highest charting recordings were of his own tunes, "Yankee Lady" in 1970...
Singer-songwriter. - Jeffry HouseJeffry HouseJeffry A. House is a lawyer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is best-known for his efforts on behalf and representation of fugitive American soldiers and Native Canadian protesters.-American soldiers:...
- Lawyer - Morgan Davis- blues musician
- Bill King - musician and organizer of TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's Beaches Jazz Festival - Michael Klein - physician, member of Physicians for Social ResponsibilityPhysicians for Social ResponsibilityPhysicians for Social Responsibility is the largest physician-led organization in the USA working to protect the public from the what they consider threats of nuclear proliferation, climate change, and environmental toxins...
, spouse of Bonnie Sherr KleinBonnie Sherr KleinBonnie Sherr Klein is a feminist filmmaker, author, and disability rights activist.-Film-making career:Klein worked for the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal as a director and producer in the late 1960s. Between that time and the late 1980s, she made dozens of films there...
, father of Naomi KleinNaomi KleinNaomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...
and Seth Klein - Don Pease - lawyer
- Charlie Diamond
- David Rapaport
- Tim Maloney
- Michael Hendricks
- Tony McQuail
- Tom Riley
- Juergen Dankwort
- Harry Yates - Regional Personnel Officer, Ministry of Attorney General, Government of the Province of British Columbia
Deserters
Distinct from draft resisters, there were also deserters of the American forces who also made their way to Canada. There was pressure from the United States and Canada to have them arrested, or at least stopped at the border.The deserters have not been pardoned and may still face pro forma arrest, as the case of Allen Abney demonstrated in March 2006. Another similar case was that of Richard Allen Shields: He had deserted the U.S. Army in 1972 after serving a year in Vietnam. Twenty-eight years later, in 2000, when he traveled to the U.S. he was arrested and jailed in Washington State.
Other noteworthy deserters from that era include the following:
- Andy BarrieAndy BarrieAndy Barrie is a Toronto-based radio personality, most known for his work at CFRB and later on CBC Radio as host of Metro Morning. Retired from the work of hosting a radio program, he remains active with the CBC.-Early life:...
- former host of Canadian Broadcasting CorporationCanadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
Radio's Metro MorningMetro MorningMetro Morning is CBC Radio One's local morning program in Toronto, airing on CBLA-FM and is hosted by Matt Galloway. The program airs from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m...
in Canada's largest city, TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
(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
- 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"
- Jack ToddJack ToddJack Todd is a sports columnist for the Montreal Gazette since 1986. Todd was an American citizen who deserted from the U.S. Army to avoid being sent to fight during the Vietnam War...
- award-winning sports columnist for the Montreal Gazette - Tobey C. Anderson - award winning visual artist deserted U.S. Army in 1969 and became Canadian citizen in 1975.
Related Controversy
In February 2009, "text on how both draft dodgers and resisters of the Vietnam War were ultimately allowed to stay in Canada suddenly vanished from the [ Government of CanadaGovernment of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
's] Citizenship and Immigration
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Citizenship and Immigration Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for issues dealing with immigration and citizenship...
[web]site."
Originally, the Government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
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."
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" It was originally posted on the Government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
website in the year 2000, when the Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
, led by Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
, was in power and responsible for the content of that website. But "in 2009, the Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
government
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
[took] a much dimmer view of dozens of U.S. soldiers who've come north after refusing to serve
Canada and Iraq War resisters
During the Iraq War, which began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there were United States military personnel who refused to participate, or continue to participate, in that specific war. Their refusal meant that they faced the possibility of punishment in the United States according to Article 85...
in the invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
. Some had already been deported to face military jail terms ranging from about six to 15 months."
The removal from the Citizenship and Immigration
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Citizenship and Immigration Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for issues dealing with immigration and citizenship...
website occurred in the same month that its multi-party counterpart, the Standing Committee
Standing committee (Canada)
In Canada, a standing committee is a permanent committee established by Standing Orders of the House of Commons. It may study matters referred to it by special order or, within its area of responsibility in the Standing Orders, may undertake studies on its own initiative...
on Citizenship and Immigration
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Citizenship and Immigration Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for issues dealing with immigration and citizenship...
was debating that issue: On Feb 12, 2009, that multi-party committee passed, for the second time, a non-binding motion reaffirming Parliament's earlier (June 2008) vote which recommended that the government let Iraq War resisters
Canada and Iraq War resisters
During the Iraq War, which began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there were United States military personnel who refused to participate, or continue to participate, in that specific war. Their refusal meant that they faced the possibility of punishment in the United States according to Article 85...
stay in Canada. A month and a half later, on March 30, 2009, the House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
again voted in a non-binding motion
Motion (parliamentary procedure)
In parliamentary procedure, a motion is a formal proposal by a member of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action. In a parliament, this is also called a parliamentary motion and includes legislative motions, budgetary motions, supplementary budgetary motions, and petitionary...
129 to 125 in favour of the committee's recommendation.
Anti-war activism
Anti-War activities were nearly as widespread in Canada as they were in the United States, with demonstrations on most Canadian college and university campuses. In English Canada, the movement was fuelled by the draft dodgers. In QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, the anti-war movement was also strong, and even violent: The FLQ, a militant Quebec-separatist group, was also stridently anti-American and against the war.
Canadians in the U.S. military
In counter-current to the movement American draft-dodgers and deserters to Canada, about 30,000 Canadians volunteered to fight in southeast Asia. Among the volunteers were fifty MohawksMohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. One-hundred and ten (110) Canadians died in Vietnam, and seven remain listed as Missing in Action
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...
. Canadian Peter C. Lemon
Peter C. Lemon
Peter Charles Lemon is a former United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor. He received the award for his actions on April 1, 1970 while serving in Tay Ninh province during the Vietnam War. Lemon is the only Canadian born U.S....
was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
for his valour in the conflict. (This cross-border enlistment was not unprecedented: Both the First
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Second World War saw thousands of Americans join the Canadian Armed forces before the U.S officially declared war on Germany)
In Windsor, Ontario
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
, there is a privately funded monument to the Canadians killed in the Vietnam War. In Melocheville, Quebec, there is a monument site funded by the Association Québécoise des Vétérans du Vietnam. However, many Canadian veterans returned to a society that was strongly anti-war. Unlike the United States, there were no veterans organizations nor any help for them from the government, and many of them moved permanently to the United States. There has been ongoing pressure from Canadian Vietnam veterans to have their comrades' deaths formally acknowledged by the government, especially in times such as Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. This day, or alternative dates, are also recognized as special days for war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth...
.
Assistance to the Americans
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. Nonetheless, Canadian industry was also a major supplier of equipment and supplies to the American forces, not sending these directly to South VietnamSouth Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
but to the United States. Sold goods included relatively benign items like boots, but also munitions, napalm
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
and commercial defoliant
Defoliant
A defoliant is any chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause its leaves to fall off. A classic example of a highly toxic defoliant is Agent Orange, which the United States armed forces used abundantly to defoliate regions of Vietnam during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1970.Defoliants differ...
s, the use of which was fiercely opposed by anti-war protesters at the time. In accordance with the 1958 Defence Production Sharing Agreement, Canadian industry sold $2.47 billion in materiel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
to the United States between 1965 and 1973. Many of the companies were owned by US parent firms, but all export sales over $100,000 US (and thus, the majority of contracts) were arranged through the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a crown corporation which acted as an intermediary between the U.S. Department of Defence
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
and Canadian industry. Furthermore, the Canadian and American Defense departments worked together to test chemical defoliants for use in Vietnam. Canada also allowed their NATO ally to use Canadian facilities and bases for training exercises and weapons testing as per existing treaties.
Between 28 January 1973 and 31 July 1973, Canada provided 240 peacekeeping troops to Operation Gallant, the peace keeping operation associated with the International Commission of Control and Supervision
International Commission of Control and Supervision
During the Vietnam War, the International Commission of Control and Supervision was created to replace the International Control Commission following the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on 27 January 1973.The Protocol...
(ICCS) Vietnam, along with Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Their role was to monitor the cease-fire in South Vietnam per the Paris Peace Accords
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam...
. After Canada’s departure from the Commission, it was replaced by Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
.
After the war
After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, thousands of refugees, called boat peopleBoat people
Boat people is a term that usually refers to refugees, illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who emigrate in numbers in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made...
, fled Vietnam for both political and economic reasons. Canada agreed to accept many of them, in one of the largest single influxes of immigrants in Canadian history. This created a substantial Vietnamese community in Canada, concentrated especially in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
The Vietnam War was an important cultural turning point in Canada. Coupled with Canada's centenary
Canadian Centennial
The Canadian Centennial was a year long celebration held in 1967 when Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. Celebrations occurred throughout the year but culminated on Dominion Day, July 1. 1967 coins were different from previous years' issues, with animals on each...
in 1967 and the success of Expo 67
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
, 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.
In 1981, a government report revealed that Agent Orange
Agent Orange
Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
, the controversial defoliant, had been tested at CFB Gagetown
CFB Gagetown
Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, referred to as CFB Gagetown is a large Canadian Forces Base located in southwestern New Brunswick.- Construction of the base :...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
. 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; but, as of 2006, the Canadian government says it is planning to compensate some of those who were exposed.
See also
- Canada and Iraq War ResistersCanada and Iraq War resistersDuring the Iraq War, which began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there were United States military personnel who refused to participate, or continue to participate, in that specific war. Their refusal meant that they faced the possibility of punishment in the United States according to Article 85...
- Opposition to the US involvement in the Vietnam War
- War resisterWar resisterA war resister is a person who resists war. The term can mean several things: resisting participation in all war, or a specific war, either before or after enlisting in, being inducted into, or being conscripted into a military force....
Further reading
- Snow Job: Canada, the United States, and Vietnam (1954–1973), by Charles Taylor, Toronto, Anansi, 1975.
- In the Interests of Peace: Canada and Vietnam, 1954-73. Douglas A. Ross. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984,
- Quiet Complicity, Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War, by Victor Levant, Forward by Gwynne Dyer, Between the Lines.