It would be inclusive and non--partisan
The boat people are a diverse group
The boat people crisis let to people being admitted to Canada from all over Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos on a non-partisan basis. It occurred over 18 years from 1979 to 1997.
The Vietnamese boat people were largely ethnic Chinese escaping ethnic discrimination in Vietnam. The relevant war would be the one between China and Vietnam in 1979, not the war that is being commemorated in Journey to Freedom Day.
The present event commemorates only victims of the fall of Saigon, around 0.1% of the total number of refugees admitted in the boat people crisis.
It would be a Canadian story
What is important in the story is that we arrived in Canada, not what we left behind.
National days in Canada celebrate things relevant to Canadians. The boat people's arrival in Canada and Canadian generosity toward the boat people is a Canadian story.
Events in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos and the reason for their departure are varied and in any case are not Canadian stories.
It would be positive and forward-looking
Canadian multiculturalism works because we do not import old foreign conflicts.
The boat people did not come to Canada to bring past conflicts with them, and it is not in Canada's interest to encourage that. Leaving conflicts behind behind is what makes Canadian multiculturalism work. Don’t mess with it.
A celebration should be positive and forward looking by looking at the beginning of something good, not the end of something bad. The past conflicts did not involve Canada. Our arrival in Canada was a positive thing, the beginning of a new life.
It would not be a military event put on by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam
They can stage their events, but that is not us.
The ARVN does not speak for anyone other than themselves. They are a political faction in Canada, seeking power through endorsement by government
It would not be backed by a parliamentary bill that redefines the Vietnam War
This has nothing to do with the boat people or Canada.
The bill that established Journey to Freedom Day as a national day in Canada redefines the Vietnam War and ties everything to the Saigon military regime and the fall of Saigon. None of that has anything to do with the boat people.
It would be on a significant date
Refugees starting arriving in Canada in July, 1979
April 30 is the date of the fall of Saigon, which has absolutely nothing to do with the boat people. Selection of that date stereotypes us as “victims of the fall of Saigon”.
Almost any other date would do, but a July date would be appropriate because that is the time in 1979 when the first refugees arrived in Canada.
For the boat people, events in Canada got under way in July of 1979. In that one month, Canada made a commitment to bring in 50,000 boat people, attended an international conference to confirm that commitment, and received the first plane load of refugees in Toronto on July 27, 1979.[1]
April 30 confuses the event with two other existing memorial events that are significant to different groups of Vietnamese people and irrelevant to the journey of the boat people to Canada. Both of them are politically partisan memorials that are not relevant to Canada.
It would be supported by a respectful information campaign
Information would not be left to a partisan political faction.