bout de papier, Vol. 25, No. 4 (2011) — Winter/Spring 2011 // Hiver/Printemps 2011, pp. 22–23
From personal recollections by John Zawisza, Joe Bissett, Maria Beaulne, Joyce Cavanagh-Woods, David Bullock, Mike Molloy, Doug Dunnington, Charles Morrow and Daryl Mesheau recorded in the “Bulletin” of the Canadian Immigration Historical Society, July 2005, and adapted for bout by Gerry Maffre.
Following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 21st, 1968, refugees poured into Austria. Many of those headed straight for the Canadian Immigration Office in Vienna. Canada was to gain much from the skills and talent of those refugees. The successful management of the movement, spear-headed by a young Manpower and Immigration department, reflected well on us. It demonstrated to our allies and to the United Nations that we could be counted on to play our role in contributing to the solution of international refugee problems.
In hindsight it was a challenge well met, but — as the adage goes – hindsight is always 20-20. What did it take? Leadership, team building, a great sense of common cause, good luck, and trust at every level both at the several visa offices involved and at Headquarters. This was Canadian diplomacy pulling together, a taste of crisis management 1968. Readers experienced in other special Canadian immigration programs (Central Americans, South-east Asians, Kosovars) and immigration responses to disasters in places like Italy and Haiti will note common issues, challenges and satisfactions in helping those in need to re-establish themselves in a new land.
By late August the Officer-in-Charge of the Vienna Office, John Zawisza, was telexing Immigration Foreign Branch in Ottawa to advise them of the exponentially growing queue outside the office and of the urgent need for instructions and reinforcements to implement whatever action Canada decided to take.
At the time, the office numbered just an Officer-In-Charge, one Visa Officer (VO), a Medical Doctor; an RCMP Security Officer, six local support staff, two interpreters and a visiting trainee.
In Ottawa, a watching brief moved into high gear over the Labour Day weekend. A small group of Manpower and Immigration and External Affairs officials gathered in the East Block to discuss an immigration response to the situation. With minimal debate and with no Cabinet authority, the officials – including Joe Bissett who would manage the movement at the Ottawa end, drafted a press release for the Secretary of State for External Affairs, the Honourable Mitchell Sharp, to announce Canada’s response. This release was distributed on the Tuesday after Labour Day.
Before staff arrived in Vienna to put the program into action though, journalists and Canadians began calling to find out what Canada would be doing. With nothing to tell them at that point, Zawisza soon got confirmation from Immigration’s regional HQ in Geneva that instructions were forthcoming and Temporary Duty (TD) staff was being mobilized.
The processing instructions arrived the first week of September and made it clear that HQ expected Vienna to solve any problems with regard to processing, staff needs and travel to Canada. It was also clear that the office was to “proceed judiciously” and not give anyone grounds to criticize the recently formed Department of Manpower and Immigration.
On September 4 – 15 days after the Invasion, the first TD officers arrived. They were a mix of experienced VOs and trainees from Paris, Cologne, Rome, Kingston, The Hague, and Ottawa. In total, there was a team of 15. Forewarned, the Administrative Section of the Embassy quickly provided the new arrivals with the support they needed. As with many aspects of these early arrangements, Treasury Board authorities for the expenditures were still pending. Without these authorities, trust and collaboration were key in Ottawa and in Vienna for the interdepartmental work afoot.
To manage the avalanche of Czech applications, Vienna implemented a “Case Processing Plan”. Two critical considerations were space and communication with a clientele that largely spoke only Czech. The office challenge was solved by doubling up in offices and converting other areas into work stations. In total, 15 extra Visa Officers could be accommodated!
As for communication, Vienna eased that challenge by translating into Czech all the key processing documents – the immigration application form and the medical and “Stage B” (security) questionnaires. They also produced a Czech outline of the Case Processing Plan that each applicant would follow – in most cases to immigrant visa issuance. This described the nature of the various interviews, listed documents that could be presented, gave directions on getting to interviews and outlined what would happen up to notification of a successful application and departure for Canada.
The processing plan provided for a preliminary screening of the naner annlications hv two VOs and selection interviews ex-Czech VO. Two VO trainees worked full time to issue immigrant visas (from the broom closet) and one VO dispensed application kits from a table in the office entrance. A daily counselling session on life in Canada was offered to the Czechs for many of whom Canada was Toronto and nothing more.
The refugee selection decisions were based on the 1976 Immigration Act which, ironically, had no legal provision for refugees. However, the Act’s Regulations provided officers with discretionary authority to make such decisions. And they did in huge numbers as the months flew past.
This enterprise was managed from Zawisza’s office where he was supported by a VO responsible for the smooth running of the daily processing flow, including trouble-shooting case problems. Another VO controlled supplies and coordinated with airport services, charter flight embarkation, queue control by the police and volunteer groups. As TD staff arrived, Zawisza also had to regularly re-negotiate with hotel managers only too eager to put out the Canadian VOs in favour of others demanding rooms in an over-crowded city.
For the first two weeks of the application surge under the special measures, there were just two Canada-based staff in the visa office and they did not stop! One VO continued with regular business while preparing the information material being urgently translated into Czech by two very capable and experienced interpreters. Zawisza stayed in touch with American, Australian, and South African embassies to determine those governments’ approaches to the Czech Refugee Movement. He regularly visited the Border Police and the Driekirchen Refugee Facility and kept in touch with voluntary groups and Air Canada’s Representative for Eastern Europe, Mr. Hucl, an ex-Czech Canadian.
The Hucl connection proved invaluable with transportation of accepted applicants looming as a crucial issue. As processing moved into high gear, the office would be filling imaginary seats on non-existing aircraft. Before long, the office would choke on its own production and not be able to quickly move the accepted refugees to Canada despite the initial resettlement flights provided by DND aircraft.
Hucl solved the problem! Air Canada was “ferrying” empty passenger aircraft from Europe to Canada each week that could be re-routed to Vienna to pick up the refugees. The tickets would be much less expensive than regular or charter fares. The problem was that Vienna had to tentatively reserve flights immediately or risk losing them. Zawisza got assurance from Hucl that he would be able to back out if Ottawa refused to support him. Hucl was confident that Zawisza wouldn’t be held responsible and drafted a contract that Zawisza signed, hoping that he had not made the “paistake of his life”. In Ottawa too, Bissett was facing these same expenditure and commitment dilemmas in the absence of Treasury Board decisions.
In the end, this transport arrangement worked superbly and Vienna filled a minimum of one aircraft per day working with Air Canada staff somehow squeezed in the visa office. One day, with the departure list set, the visa office successfully scrambled to find 40 extra migrants when a stretch DC-8 unexpectedly arrived! staff and Air Canada were even able to ensure one refugee family’s beloved dog was “wink-wink, nudge-nudge”, a stowaway to Canada. On another flight, the crew served champagne to all aboard as soon as the wheels were up — the right way to greet people heading to Canada for a new life!
Over and above the challenges of visa processing, Vienna had to contend with various interest groups seeking a role in facilitating the migration of individuals or groups of interest to them. Each group was the subject of a separate telex from Ottawa, providing minimum background and the groups’ often hazy objectives.
The most helpful of these groups was the Canadian Jewish Congress through its Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS). JIAS — definitely the most pragmatic and best organized group — guaranteed the transport to and initial integration in Canada of all Jewish refugees. At one point, they were conducting 48 interviews on their weekly interview day.
Vienna also had to respond to Canadian journalists who were extensively covering the movement and the office was asked to give them every assistance. However, the reporters tended to overlook the majority of the relatively well-off Czechs who did not fit the stereotype of a refugee. They wanted to concentrate on those who would dramatize the refugee experience and provide human interest stories that highlighted the deficiencies of life in Czechoslovakia and the sadness of parting from relatives and friends. As well, Vienna received colleagues from Ottawa and Canadian employers who were able to recruit Czech refugees.
During these three months, the Canadian officers found time to socialize — including at a Thanksgiving Buffet and learning about Austrian cuisine. At the end of November, and to mark the close of the special movement, the Canadian Ambassador to Austria hosted a farewell buffet that was attended by the Canadian and locally engaged staff.
The Czech applicants were mainly experienced, well-trained skilled workers and technicians with formal training and the acceptance rate was high. Even though they were involuntary migrants with few choices about where to go, the decision to leave was still difficult. But ultimately, the 12,000 or so who migrated to Canada were largely successful. Some joined friends and relatives especially in Toronto, while those with no personal connections were routed to smaller centres where community support was stronger. In fact, two of the involved VOs were most pleased. to meet, not that much later in Canada, Czechs they had visaed and who were well employed in their original professions — TV news cameraman and concert violinist.
The Czechs’ success was in some part due to lessons learned in the 1956 Hungarian special Canadian movement and applied in 1968. This meant that the Czechs received settlement assistance and language training that started soon after arrival. Also, they were set up in typical Canadian accommodation rather than in refugee hostels — all to expedite their integration into Canadian society. What had been one the darkest days for Czechoslovakia brought out some of the best in Canadians — it would be fair to say that our solidarity in adversity back then strengthens our unity in diversity today.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 25, No. 4 (2011) — Winter/Spring 2011 // Hiver/Printemps 2011, pp. 22–23. Read the rest of this issue →
