Unguarded border: American émigrés in Canada during the Vietnam War

In: War culture

Abstract

"Unguarded Border: American Émigrés in Canada during the Vietnam War examines one of the largest exoduses from the United States, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when over 50,000 Americans immigrated to Canada during the Vietnam War. For many this emigration was the best way for them to resist military service. Women and non-draft-age men also left to accompany draft-age men or to escape the political and social atmosphere of the United States in the 1960s and 1970s with which they were at odds. Author Donald W. Maxwell provides a definitive history of this exodus that is compelling, accessible, and brimming with insightful observations. Canada was an attractive destination. It was very easy for Americans to enter. U.S. residents needed no passport to enter Canada and could, from 1966 to 1972, apply to immigrate to Canada from within Canada. Canadian immigration officials refused to extradite military deserters and draft resisters if they otherwise qualified as immigrants. Émigrés who succeeded in Canada did so by identifying a specific place in which they could enjoy life on their own terms while eschewing the nation and the responsibilities it places on its citizens. Further, they embraced cosmopolitanism, detached from civic engagement and political identification, which they exercised by traveling beyond the bounds of their own country, by accepting aid from religious groups, and by pursuing higher education with fewer restrictions than in the United States. By delving into rich archival resources and firsthand oral histories, Unguarded Border reclaims the multifaceted and complex history of these U.S. émigrés who might otherwise be lost to history"--