It was an image that caught the world’s attention: A rusty freighter, the Hai Hong, appeared off Port Klang on the coast of Malaysia in early November 1978, its filthy decks teeming with 2,500 refugees from Vietnam.
asserted
decks → catch → Vietnam
There had been an initial outflow of refugees fleeing the country but by 1978 that stream had turned into a torrent, creating what became known as the “boat people” crisis, as tens of thousands of Vietnamese boarded any watercraft, no matter how flimsy, to escape their homeland, heading out across the South China Sea.
asserted
thousands → flee → Sea
They were joined by victims of repression in Cambodia and Laos.
asserted
They → join → Cambodia
Malaysia, already overwhelmed by the influx of refugees, wanted nothing to do with the Hai Hong’s human cargo and threatened to tow the ship and its desperate passengers out to sea.
asserted
Malaysia → overwhelm → sea
And Malaysian authorities claimed the passengers weren’t real refugees because they had paid for their passage.
asserted
they → claim → passage
As international pressure grew for wealthy countries to do something, the Canadian government decided to act.
asserted
government → grow → something
Immigration minister Bud Cullen announced that Canada would take 600 of the ship’s refugees for resettlement.
asserted
Canada → announce → resettlement
The officer in charge of Canada’s tiny immigration office in Singapore was Ian Hamilton, a seasoned 42-year-old official, who was sent to Kuala Lumpur to lead what became a heroic operation that saved thousands over the coming months.
asserted
that → send → months
Tall, charming and rugged-looking with an infectious sense of humour, Mr. Hamilton, who died in Ottawa on Sept. 15 at the age of 89, was also determined and dedicated to the task at hand.
asserted
who → die → hand
Malaysian officials wanted the Hai Hong and its passengers to leave their country’s waters, but nonetheless threw roadblocks in front of Mr. Hamilton’s small team.
asserted
Hong → want → team
They wouldn’t allow the freighter to dock or permit the Canadians to board it.
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freighter → allow → Canadians
But, according to the 2017 book Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees, 1975-80, Mr. Hamilton persuaded the officials to allow him to set up shop on a Malaysian minesweeper, anchored near the Hai Hong, to conduct his screening.
uncertain
him → accord → screening
Armed Malaysian police escorted small contingents of the refugees to the deck of the naval ship where the immigration officers, plus a doctor and an interpreter, assembled a rudimentary office consisting of two wooden tables and a few chairs under a tarpaulin to protect them from the scorching tropical sun.
asserted
officers → escort → sun
The refugees were short of food and traumatized by their days at sea, with the Hai Hong refused entry by neighbouring countries.
asserted
Hong → traumatize → countries
“It was an appalling situation, probably the greatest human tragedy of our time,” Mr. Hamilton told a CBC film crew.
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Hamilton → tell → crew
“The pressure of saying yes and no just squashes you,” Mr. Hamilton said 10 years later in an interview with The Ottawa Citizen, recalling how frail and terrified the refugees were.
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refugees → say → Citizen
“You’re doing the best job that you can and you’re just being eaten up by the decision-making process.
asserted
you → do → process
You want to say yes, but obviously you can’t.”
asserted
you → want → ?
He did what he could, sometimes bending the rules to save lives.
uncertain
he → do → lives
Dick Martin, who was No. 2 in the Singapore immigration office, remembers an incident where a woman slipped and fell to her death on the Hai Hong.
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woman → remember → Hong
The next day, her son, who was seven or eight and now an orphan, appeared before the Canadian immigration officers with a group of other refugees.
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who → appear → refugees
“I told Ian the story and he was overcome.
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he → tell → story
He already had in front of him a young family, a mother, father and two children,” Mr. Martin recalled in an interview with The Globe.
asserted
Martin → have → Globe
“Ian looks at them and says, ‘are you taking your nephew with you?’”
asserted
you → look → you
Perplexed, the father initially said he didn’t have a nephew, but Mr. Hamilton insisted, gesturing to the little boy in the queue.
asserted
Hamilton → say → queue
The man relented, and his new-found nephew was on his way to life in Canada.
asserted
nephew → relent → Canada
Despite the awful conditions, Mr. Hamilton and his crew interviewed and accepted as many as 356 refugees on a single day in an era when the standard was 12 interviews a day.
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standard → interview → era
By the end of November, the first Boeing 707 full of refugees from the Hai Hong arrived in Montreal.
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Boeing → arrive → Montreal
Three more flights followed.
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flights → follow → ?
In all, 604 Vietnamese from the Hai Hong restarted their lives in Canada.
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Vietnamese → restart → Canada
The remaining refugees were taken by the U.S., France, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.
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refugees → remain → U.S.
Over the next two years, Canada welcomed 60,000 Southeast Asian refugees, many of them under the pioneering private sponsorship program, where church and other groups got together to support newcomers as they adapted to Canadian life.
asserted
they → welcome → life
After the Hai Hong, Mr. Hamilton travelled throughout the region processing thousands of refugees at wretched refugee camps, renting fishing boats and leaning on reluctant bureaucrats to facilitate his work, armed with nothing more than a stack of Maple Leaf pins, which he distributed widely.
asserted
he → travel → which
“He was a real leader, a mentor, the kind of guy who set an example,” said Scott Mullin, who as a 21-year-old junior immigration officer in Hong Kong, was assigned to work with Mr. Hamilton.
asserted
who → set → Hamilton
I loved working with him,” added Florent Fortin, who represented the Quebec government, which had recently signed an immigration agreement with Ottawa, and was part of the team.
asserted
which → love → team
“They were young and they were tough,” said Mike Molloy, a senior Immigration official at the time who worked on co-ordinating the refugee influx from Ottawa and co-wrote Running on Empty.
asserted
- → say → Empty
“Ian was a really compassionate person,” Mr. Molloy told The Globe.
asserted
Molloy → tell → Globe
“There are people who are really good and Ian was one of those people, in terms of being compassionate and caring about people.”
asserted
Ian → be → people
Ian Stewart Hamilton was born on Sept. 23, 1936 in Ottawa, the eldest of three children of John Hamilton, a vice-president of the E.B. Eddy forest products company, and his wife, the former Shirley Stewart.
asserted
Hamilton → bear → company
Ian grew up in Aylmer, Que., and attended boarding school in Ontario, winding up at Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, where he completed high school.
asserted
he → grow → school
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
