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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 3:01 AM
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Was it that much easier to immigrate to Canada during the Vietnam draft dodgers era?

When I read about the history of the draft dodgers in the Vietnam war era it always strikes me as surprising how readily available Americans thought the choice to simply head across the border was then, instead of staying and getting drafted. Maybe it's just my lack of knowledge/experience on this matter, but I seem to get the impression that many of them did not seem to have much trouble doing so really quickly, even with no job lined up, or family there.

Nowadays, you hear about how difficult it is for Americans and Canadians to just pack their bags and move to each others' countries this way -- it's not something you do at the drop of a hat.

Was it really that much easier for someone from south of the border to just decide to move to Canada, with no family, job lined up or even much knowledge about what's up there other than that they wouldn't have to serve in the war?

Or was it that the draft dodgers were particularly well educated, and passed all the criteria (eg. they were college/university educated, spoke English etc.). I'd imagine the points system was already in play here so Americans, being so culturally similar would easily pass. Maybe the draft-dodging Americans had these similarities with Canadians that someone from overseas, say a Jamaican or Italian or Chinese, during the same era, would not be let through so quickly. Or were immigration standards for everyone worldwide just that much more lax than now?

Nowadays, arguments about whether there should be that safe third country agreement whereby refugees in the US shouldn't be allowed to go to Canada since the US is already safe for them reminds me of the draft dodgers. The draft dodgers could have argued that the US wasn't safe for them since they were at risk of being drafted to a war they wanted no part in, similarly to the way refugees stateside argue about the danger of being sent back if they stay in the US, but it seems like the draft dodgers faced far less resistance (from both the government and the public) than refugees today.
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 3:12 AM
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This feels like a question that could easily be asked within an existing thread regarding immigration.

That or someone should just make an entire social geography sub section.

Seriously, it feels like you are trying to do your entire liberal arts degree on SSP...
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 3:30 AM
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A hundred years ago we literally gave free land to poor Ukrainians. For some reason we don't give free land to poor immigrants anymore.
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 8:17 PM
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A hundred years ago we literally gave free land to poor Ukrainians. For some reason we don't give free land to poor immigrants anymore.
Because virtually all economically arable land under federal control is already settled. Do you really think any immigrant from anywhere in the world today would choose to homestead on the fringes of rural settlement on the chance he would get title to 160 acres of marginal, largely worthless land?
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 8:24 PM
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My dad wasn't a dodger but he did renounced his US citizenship and easily immigrate to Canada in the late 60s as a young man with half a university education. Apparently there were lots of services set up to help him, in Vancouver at least.

I do think most of the concern about refugees crossing north right now is racism.
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 8:56 PM
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Because virtually all economically arable land under federal control is already settled. Do you really think any immigrant from anywhere in the world today would choose to homestead on the fringes of rural settlement on the chance he would get title to 160 acres of marginal, largely worthless land?
We could give them an eighth acre to live on in suburban Toronto while they work at a call centre for a bank or telecom company. There's no reason we can't adapt past techniques to modern realities!
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 8:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Pinion View Post
My dad wasn't a dodger but he did renounced his US citizenship and easily immigrate to Canada in the late 60s as a young man with half a university education. Apparently there were lots of services set up to help him, in Vancouver at least.

I do think most of the concern about refugees crossing north right now is racism.
Surely some of the draft dodgers though would have been American racial minorities too though, considering the history of African Americans and the Vietnam war.
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 9:04 PM
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We could give them an eighth acre to live on in suburban Toronto while they work at a call centre for a bank or telecom company. There's no reason we can't adapt past techniques to modern realities!
Though of course, immigrants by far would not prefer rural areas far from any urban centre, I bet there are still lots of immigrants or refugees from really poor parts of the world that would take the choice of a first world country's most marginal, rural hinterland, over the war zones or totalitarian dictatorships they're currently in.
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 9:50 PM
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The draft dodgers were not your typical group of immigrants, they were the most liberal minded Americans, the best educated, typically from wealthy families, the most easily adapted and productive group to settle in Canada. I imagine the Canadian government would not have made it too difficult for them in that era.
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 10:19 PM
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my family came over on a ship to montreal from south africa in 1966 i think it was. Because it was also a commonwealth country all they had to do was walk off the boat, the person apparently said welcome to Canada and their friends greeted them, they had planned to settle in toronto but dad found a job over the weekend in montreal and they stayed there a couple years before heading to BC. So the 60's were a much easier time to immigrate.

Cut to 2017 my cousins couldn't even get a visa to visit for 10 days before Christmas.
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Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 10:42 PM
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Good old Justin just made it a whole lot easier. You don’t really need to speak an official language or even be here. Stupid move but no other party will have the balls to run against it:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics...nges-1.4456879
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  #12  
Old Posted Dec 28, 2017, 11:31 PM
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Originally Posted by vid View Post
We could give them an eighth acre to live on in suburban Toronto while they work at a call centre for a bank or telecom company. There's no reason we can't adapt past techniques to modern realities!
Really? Who's "we"? The municipalities? The province? The feds? Don't you suppose that whoever already owns that land might have something to say about it? The whole idea of homesteading was a once in a lifetime solution to the late nineteenth century problems of how to settle the prairies and provide a market for central Canadian industries. The idea that one could just conjure up vacant Crown land anywhere near a major city, or indeed anywhere but at the fringes of settlement, is frankly ridiculous.
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Old Posted Dec 29, 2017, 2:14 AM
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I always wondered about a former co-worker. And the subject came up this past summer when I spoke to his wife, also a former American. Although, he technically was not a draft dodger, as they immigrated to Canada before he got his draft notice, he effectively was. The story of draft dodgers was well known to the Canadian public at the time, and because Canada was not supportive of the Vietnam war, Canadian policy was very supportive of them as they entered the country.

I should also point out that immigration across Canadian-American border has become much tighter only in recent years. I know of a number of relatives who simply crossed the border to seek employment. Some later returned to Canada, while others remained for the rest of their lives. America was the land of opportunity even for Canadians until around the time of the race riots in 1967. That changed everything.

As a child in the 1960s, it was very apparent that Canadians were poor cousins of Americans. There was a change that occurred around the time of race riots that corresponded with Centennial year and Canadians started developing more pride in their country and began establishing a significantly different course than Americans. Up until that time during the post war era, Canada was very much like the United States except poorer.
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  #14  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2017, 3:21 AM
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Originally Posted by whatnext View Post
Good old Justin just made it a whole lot easier. You don’t really need to speak an official language or even be here. Stupid move but no other party will have the balls to run against it:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics...nges-1.4456879
Lots of old Italians and Finnlanders who don't speak any English in my city and no one seems to be angry about that.
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