Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

Canada has a long and sometimes forgotten history of accepting refugees dating back to its founding. This history connects with present-day refugee approaches and challenges that are in contrast with the emerging policies and attitudes south of our border and in many other countries. It is not only Canada’s reliance on a provision in the 1976 Immigration Act that allows for groups of individuals to privately sponsor refugees that makes Canada a possible model for other countries, but our distinction as an accepting and supportive home for refugees. Refugees to Canada indeed come from war-torn, discriminatory and poor countries throughout the world. Canada resettled 60,000 refugees from places like Vietnam and Cambodia between 1979 and 1980, for example, including about 34,000 who were privately sponsored. Nearly 300,000 refugees have resettled in Canada since the late 1970s.That extraordinary effort helped Canada win the 1986 UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award in recognition of the collective work of the governm