FLIGHT AND FREEDOM: Stories of Escape to Canada


Text by Ratna Omidvar and Dana Wagner. With photos by Christopher Manson, Ryan Walker, & JC Pinheiro


2015 | Softback | 288pp
Published: BETWEEN THE LINES, Toronto
Format: Paperback
Number of Pictures: 30 b&w (12 by Christopher Manson)


Statement: 

The global number of people currently displaced from their home country - more than 65 million - is higher than at any time since World War II. Yet in recent years Canada has deported, denied, and diverted countless refugees. Is Canada a safe haven for refugees or a closed door? This project, 'Flight and Freedom: Stories of Escape to Canada', is made up of images that were originally published in a book by Maytree Foundation, a private non-for-profit organization in Canada. They focus on Canadians who arrived as refugees from notable conflicts around the world – from WWII to the ongoing War in Afghanistan – and from persecution in their home countries. These are stories of forged passports, human smugglers, armed guards, drifting at sea, starvation, rape, death and survival. Each portrait is accompanied by a story that begins with an escape that is sometimes harrowing and always remarkable. The narrative then turns to contemporary lives and careers, and the impact of refugees-turned-Canadians in the communities they call home, from Halifax to Vancouver and Toronto. And the final question: Would they get in to Canada today?

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