A Vietnamese woman flees her country’s totalitarian communist regime

Minh Lê, her mother and two sisters arrived in Canada as refugees from Vietnam in March 1980. They fled Vietnam’s totalitarian communist regime by boat in the second wave of emigration.

“In short, my parents fled communism from north to south in 1954. Vietnam was divided. My grandparents on both sides of the family took my parents from the north to the south. Then the communists took over the south [in 1975]. So my parents took me to the sea,” Lê said in an interview with the Jesuit Refugee Service Canada.

The four women were among the “boat people”, a term used to describe three successive waves of emigration from the Indochinese peninsula between 1975 and 1990.

During the first wave, in 1975, some 4,000 Vietnamese arrived in Montreal.

Minh and her family were part of the second wave. They were sponsored in 1980 by members of the Richelieu Club in Boucherville, a group of  25 members.

“In 1979, the bishops of Quebec launched an appeal to sponsor refugees from Vietnam. Their odyssey was widely publicized in the media. I was a member of the Richelieu Club in Boucherville, a social club with a philanthropic vocation. We decided to ‘do our part,’” said Jules Allard, a member of the club, in an interview with JRS Canada.

Photo from a newspaper article in La Seigneurie, March 19, 1980, page 7.

That same year, the Canadian government also decided to welcome more Vietnamese nationals by establishing a sponsorship program. Between 1979 and 1981, Quebec received 13,000 immigrants.

Before arriving in Canada, Minh’s family made several attempts to flee their country, but these failed efforts had serious consequences.

“We tried it once in July 1977, and it was a trap. Our whole family went to prison,” said Lê.

Minh’s family went through many hardships before arriving in Canada. They were homeless for two years, then lost all their savings and had to borrow money from a cousin.

“Life was no longer a life under the regime,” Lê said.

The family even disguised themselves as Chinese nationals when Vietnam wanted to expel all Chinese from the country. Using false Chinese documents and a Chinese identity, Minh’s mother, her three sisters, and herself tried to flee again. This time, they succeeded.

“Finally, we were able to leave in June 1979. Seven days, seven nights, only water, sky and the jumping fish,” Lê said.

The journey to Indonesia was difficult. The refugees on the boat went days without food or water, and there wasn’t much space between passengers.

“We were on a small boat, with 400 people and not even one square meter per four people,” Lê said.

The family of four was towed overnight to the southern tip of Indonesia and landed on a small island where they began a nine-month journey through refugee camps. Finally, in December 1979, the family arrived at the Galang transit camp, where UN assistance was officially provided.

Some photos from the Galang refugee camp, a transit camp in Indonesia. 
Top right, Minh Lê is with Father Gildo Dominici, Jesuit priest, “her protector against corruption 
and injustice in the various refugee camps”.

Unfortunately, as is often the case in such circumstances, Minh’s family was torn apart several times. First, Minh’s father was first imprisoned in Vietnam, then he was sent to a concentration camp, where he remained for two years.

“He was left alone, without a roof over his head, in Vietnam, after we left secretly,” Lê said.

When it came time to leave the Galang camp, the family of four was split up again. One of Minh’s sisters had a problem with her medical records and was detained at the camp with her mother. Minh continued her journey with her other sister on an ocean liner to Singapore. After spending a night in Singapore, they took a direct Air Canada flight to Edmonton.

“It was a special flight just to transport the Vietnamese boat people, most of whom came from the camps in Hong Kong,” Lê said.

From the airport in Edmonton, they were transported by bus to a CFB Griesbach military base.

All new arrivals received new basic winter clothing. After two weeks, well housed and fed, the family was reunited before leaving for Montreal. They were ready to start a whole new life. They left Edmonton and arrived in Montreal on March 10, 1980. Meanwhile, Minh also had the chance to reunite with her brother, who had arrived in Montreal from the Pulau Bidong refugee camp in Malaysia.

The trip was almost over, Minh and her family were transported to Boucherville to be temporarily housed in a small hotel for a week. Meanwhile, accommodation was being prepared in the heart of the Plateau Mont-Royal, by their sponsors, members of the Club Richelieu.

“The first steps of a new normal life in Montreal” said Minh as she shared 
these photos. Top left is the celebration of the first 
Vietnamese New Year in Montreal (February 1981) with Montreal's 
Vietnamese community. Bottom left, is an image from the beginning of the 
Montreal Vietnamese parish (1983).

Today, Minh lives a quiet life in Canada with her mother since 45 years. She has worked hard for her career and is very grateful for all she has accomplished. Minh is involved with the Jesuit Refugee Service as a volunteer because of her desire to give back what was given to her freely.

She also sponsored her father shortly after his arrival. He arrived five years later through an official road. He passed away in 2017 in Montreal.

Minh maintains a friendly relationship with the Allard family and considers them to be her adoptive parents.

“Out of friendship, we continued [our contact] with them. We developed a bond and were invited to her wedding [Minh’s]. They invited us to their home. They were very generous and grateful,” said Claire De Grandpré, spouse of Jules Allard. “It gave us a lot, an opening onto the world, the war, their country and the ability to understand the reactions of the people affected”.