Carleton students gathered Oct. 4 in a room decorated with 40-year-old headlines like “Uganda fights off invaders,” and “Canadian soldiers smooth the arrival of Asian refugees.”
While everybody seemed to know the topic of the presentation they were about to watch, they appeared less sure about why, four decades later, it was being discussed.
Mike Molloy, president of the Canadian Immigration Historical Society (CIHS), was there to offer them a reason.
He gave a talk on the 1972 expulsion of Uganda’s Asian population by then-dictator Idi Amin. His presentation “UGX 40” is part of a collaborative project between CIHS and Carleton to make important historical documents and press clippings, dating between 1970 and the expulsion in 1972, available to the public.
“It’s of interest to allow our students a chance to understand the particular African dynamics happening at that point and how Canada was implicated in that,” Institute of African Studies director Blair Rutherford said.
“The broader issues of citizenship and immigration are being politicized in a way that we haven’t seen in years. I think it’s important to reflect on Canadian policy at an earlier time,” Rutherford said.
Molloy said he was part of a team sent to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, by the Trudeau government to facilitate refugee applications following news of Amin’s order to expel the country’s British-protected Asian population.
On Aug. 4, 1972, an estimated 80,000 people were given 90 days to leave the country on grounds that they were “sabotaging the economy.”
“In reality, they were the economy,” Molloy said. “They controlled 80 per cent of the country’s business and made up half of its professionals.”
The Canadian immigration office in Kampala opened its doors Sept. 6, 1972 — 62 days before Amin’s deadline.
“It was a chaotic environment, but we had the strong leadership of Roger St. Vincent and a fundamental system that was rigid and simple,” Molloy said.
By Nov. 6, St. Vincent’s team had selected and moved 6,000 Asian Ugandans to Canada.
Molloy’s lecture focused on the political and human legacies of the event.
“The second generation of these refugees have flourished in Canada,” he said. “They have become senators, RCMP officers, businessmen, and researchers.”
Until Uganda, Canada followed the 1952 Immigration Act, which Molloy described as “retrograde.”
“This time we were allowed to use our own discretion about who qualified as a refugee as well as the points system. That was really empowering. I think it’s an important part of how immigration policy works in Canada.”
Molloy described how the 1976 Immigration Act was influenced by the situation in Uganda. He said that the definition and criteria for refugees became more flexible and that private sponsorship was encouraged.
The presentation also described a change in the Canadian public’s attitude toward refugees.
“People were surprised to see the Asians showing up at the airport in suits,” Molloy said. “We don’t like the idea of immigrants until you show us an immigrant . . . now people are accustomed to the fact that Canada is a multicultural place.”
“I found the whole process very respectful. I recognize that in Canada’s approach to immigration today,” master’s journalism student Maya Hamovitch said.
Molloy’s closing words put the headlines on the wall into context.
“I think Canadians understand that we need immigrants, even though there are bumps along the way. There will always be bumps. Real boats rock.”
