Amazing the difference an idea can make.
Twenty-five years ago, as a humanitarian disaster was unfolding on the other side of the planet, Ottawa Mayor Marion Dewar launched Project 4000, a plan to find sponsors among Ottawa’s many families for 4,000 Vietnamese boat people.
These were desperate people fleeing horrific repression, whose fates were in the hands of the seas and unsympathetic neighbouring governments. I was on the brink of my 16th birthday when I first learned of the disaster, and when Marion announced her initiative, I wanted to be part of it.
So I volunteered that summer in the Project 4000 office — answering phones, collating forms, and helping to move along the paperwork that would eventually culminate in one more family finding a new home in Canada. It was a chance to be a small part of something unequivocally good, and for that, I’ll always be grateful to Marion.
The results: the federal government eventually decided to bring in 50,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. And today, Ottawa has a thriving Vietnamese community making a valuable contribution to the economic and social life of the city.
Could a courageous mayor achieve the same results today?
A little more information:
- The Vietnamese Canadian Federation has links and posters
- CBC Ottawa covers the anniversary with three radio clips
- The federal government has a special digital exhibit on the boat peoples of Indochina
