Vietnam War resisters in Canada


Vietnam War resisters in Canada included American draft evaders and military deserters who found refuge from prosecution in Canada. American war resisters who sought refuge in Canada during the Vietnam War would ignite controversy among those seeking to immigrate to Canada. According to scholar Valerie Knowles, draft evaders were typically college-educated and middle class who could no longer defer induction into the Selective Service System. Deserters were usually lower-income and working class who had been inducted into the armed services right after high school or had later volunteered, hoping to obtain a skill and broaden their limited horizons.
Many continued to remain in Canada for their lives, and formed a small community of American war resisters in Canada.

History

Immigration and politics

Starting in 1965, Canada became the main haven for Vietnam War resisters. Because war resisters they were not formally classified as refugees but were admitted as immigrants, there is no official estimate of how many draft evaders and deserters were admitted to Canada during the Vietnam War. One estimate puts their number between 30,000 and 40,000.
American draft evaders 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. Canadian immigration policy at the time made it easy for immigrants from all countries to obtain legal status in Canada. By late 1967, draft evaders were being assisted primarily by several locally based anti-draft groups, such as the Vancouver Committee to Aid American War Objectors and 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 nearly 100,000 copies overall.
The Canadian government initially refused to admit deserters who could not prove that they had been discharged from American military service, this would change 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.
While Canada openly accepted draft evaders and later deserters the United States never seriously contested Canada's actions, while Sweden's acceptance was heavily criticized. The issue of accepting American exiles became a local political debate in Canada that focused on Canada's sovereignty in its immigration law. The United States did not become involved because American politicians viewed Canada as geographically close ally not worth disturbing.
Emigration from the United States continued to be unusually high while the United States was involved in the Vietnam War and maintained compulsory military service. In 1971 and 1972 Canada received more immigrants from the United States than from any other country.

Amnesty and repatriations

In September 1974, President Gerald R. Ford created an amnesty program for draft evaders that required them to work in alternative service occupations for periods of six to 24 months. In 1977, one day after his inauguration, President Jimmy Carter fulfilled a campaign promise and offered pardons to any draft evader that requested one. It created controversy, with those on the right complaining of giving amnesty to criminals and those on the left complaining that requesting a pardon required the admission of a crime.
According to sociologist John Hagan, after the 1977 amnesty about half of draft evaders in Canada remained while the others returned to the United States. Those who choose to return were notably lower class who had trouble finding work in Canada, a minority of leftist radicals who had demanded amnesty, or ethnic minorities who had trouble assimilating to Canadian culture. Despite not being granted amnesty, about 4 out of 5 deserters would eventually return to the United States.

Assimilation

Those that continued to live in Canada would form a visible community of Americans in Canada. The notably young and educated population that remained expanded Canada's arts and academic sectors, and helped promote leftist politics in Canada. American draft evaders who left for Canada and became prominent there include author William Gibson, politician Jim Green, gay rights advocate Michael Hendricks, attorney Jeffry House, author Keith Maillard, playwright John Murrell, television personality Eric Nagler, film critic Jay Scott, and musician Jesse Winchester. Other draft evaders from the Vietnam era remain in Sweden and elsewhere.

People

Deserters

An estimated one thousand deserters fled to Canada to avoid more service in the Vietnam War. The United States government have not pardoned them and they may still face pro forma arrest if they return to the United States, as the case of Allen Abney demonstrated in March 2006.

Draft evaders

Estimates vary greatly as to how many Americans immigrated to Canada for the specific reason of evading conscription, 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."
These young men were often well educated, and alienated from American society, showing a knowledge and distaste for American social problems at the time. Most felt the Vietnam War was immoral, and felt supported by the era's counterculture and protests to make the decision to flee to Canada. Despite a general distaste for the war, only a minority were active political radicals. Most made the decision to immigrate to Canada not because of a major opposition to the morality of the war, but in fear of a removal of personal independence brought by conscription. Many were middle class and needed little assistance assimilating in Canada. Draft evaders of a lower class background were more likely to come to Canada only as a last resort.
American draft evaders tended to balance the "brain drain" that Canada had experienced. While some draft evaders returned to the United States after a pardon was declared in 1977 during the administration of Jimmy Carter, roughly half of them stayed in Canada.

Notable Vietnam War resisters in Canada

Deserters