How the ‘Boat People’ Reveal What It Means to Be Canadian

Commentary This Canada Day, we should celebrate our country proudly and not let excessive focus on past grievances be used as an excuse to overshadow our accomplishments. Of which, Canada has many. Achievements, that is. Canada’s greatness, however, is found mostly in its quiet strengths. And thus, what makes Canada Canada can easily be overlooked—and even forgotten. To illustrate this, consider the “boat people” from Vietnam. On April 30, 1975, the Vietnam War came to an end with the fall of Saigon, and over the next 20 years, around 800,000 refugees would flee the communist Vietnamese regime. They fled by boat. Crammed into barely seaworthy vessels, many died of drowning, dehydration, and starvation, as they took to sea. But it was worth the risk, to escape such oppression....