Passage to Freedom
Documentary Screening & Discussion
Friday, October 27th
7-9 PM
While admission is by donation, preregistration is required
Mississippi Mills Public Library, Almonte Branch
155 High Street
Forty years ago, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, 2,000,000 people fled Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos on dangerous small boats to escape the regimes that had taken over their countries. According to the UN, more than 500,000 of those died or disappeared.
In what has become one of our finest hours, Canadians rallied together and helped more than 120,000 of those refugees settle in Canada from 1975 to 1990. In 1986, the United Nations gave the people of Canada the Nansen Refugee Award which had never before been given to an entire population, recognizing the enormous role Canada played in resolving the South East Asian refugee crisis. In turn those refugees have made enormous contributions to every area of our society. This film is their story.
In 2015 Colleen Lundy was approached by the Vietnamese Canadian Federation to interview former refugees and those involved in their settlement to ensure that their experiences were preserved for future generations and recorded as part of Canada’s historical narrative. The result of that collaboration is an extraordinary documentary called Passage to Freedom.
A one hour screening will be followed by a discussion and Q&A .
The film "Passage to Freedom" was brought to fruition by many people across the country who shared their wide expertise and experience. Those joining us at this showing and leading the discussion are Colleen Lundy and Allan Moscovitch, both Professors Emeritus at Carleton University's School of Social Work and instrumental in guiding this project from research, to interviews and most importantly to distribution, ensuring that Canadians remember and value this hugely defining moment in our history.