FLIGHT AND FREEDOM: Stories of Escape to Canada
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?
(The text in this gallery appears in the book Flight and Freedom: Stories of Escape to Canada, and is reprinted here with the authors' permission.)
Official Book Website: FLIGHT AND FREEDOM
Sabreen
From Negev Desert, Israel
Living in Canada since 2000’s
Marko
From Sarajevo, Bosnia And Herzegovina
Living in Canada since 1990’s
Max Farber, told by Bernie Farber
From Sokolow Podlaski, Poland
Lived in Canada since 1940’s
Claudio Durán
From Santiago, Chile
Living in Canada since 1970’s
Robi Botos
From Budapest, Hungary
Living in Canada since 1990’s
Christine
From Rwanda
Living in Canada since 2011
Randy Singh.
From Georgetown, Guyana.
Living in Canada since 2013
Mie Tha Lah
From Hein Zae Mining Zone, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar
Living in Canada since 2000’s
Avtar Sandhu
From Kandola Khurd, India
Living in Canada since 1980’s
Tarun
From Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Living in Canada since 2000’s
Joseph
From Freetown, Sierra Leone
Living in Canada since 1990’s