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

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Marko

From Sarajevo, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Living in Canada since 1990’s

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Max Farber, told by Bernie Farber

From Sokolow Podlaski, Poland

Lived in Canada since 1940’s

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Claudio Durán

From Santiago, Chile

Living in Canada since 1970’s

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Robi Botos

From Budapest, Hungary

Living in Canada since 1990’s

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Christine

From Rwanda

Living in Canada since 2011

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Randy Singh

From Georgetown, Guyana. 

Living in Canada since 2013

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Mie Tha Lah

From Hein Zae Mining Zone, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar

Living in Canada since 2000’s

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Avtar Sandhu

From Kandola Khurd, India

Living in Canada since 1980’s


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Tarun

From Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Living in Canada since 2000’s

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Joseph

From Freetown, Sierra Leone

Living in Canada since 1990’s

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