{"id":28498,"date":"2016-04-25T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T17:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?p=28498"},"modified":"2016-04-24T21:43:41","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T04:43:41","slug":"vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/spacingmedia.com\/spacingvancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/features\/indepth_feature-VAN.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Between 1964-1973, an estimated\u00a0100,000 Americans left the United States for Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft or protest the war. Vancouver was one of the country\u2019s choice destinations and the new arrivals injected fervour into the city\u2019s burgeoning hippie scene, counterculture and antiwar movements. Many Americans who laid down roots in Vancouver ended up having an out-sized impact on the city\u2019s cultural, academic and political institutions. But, as in many social movements of that era, internal tensions quickly emerged.<\/p>\n<p>This Thursday April 28, Lara Campbell (Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women\u2019s Studies, SFU) will give a talk exploring how Vancouver became a hub for transnational anti-war activism where the student, socialist, anti-imperialist, and women&#8217;s liberation movements intersected and criticized each others&#8217; positions on the war in Vietnam. \u00a0Her talk, part of the <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vancouver-historical-society.ca\/events.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Vancouver Historical Society<\/a> <\/i>speaker series, takes place at 7:30pm at the Museum of Vancouver (1100 Chestnut Street).<\/p>\n<p><b>Canada: A Safe Haven from Militarism?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Why Canada? For Americans dodging the draft or seeking to escape a political situation they found intolerable, moving to Canada was a choice option due to its proximity and common language. When the Canadian government announced in 1969 that border officials\u00a0would no longer ask immigration applicants about their military\u00a0status, many draft evaders\u00a0heard the statement as an open invitation. \u201cInitially, a lot of people believed Canada was a haven from war and they hoped Canada would be a very different, more peaceful place to live,&#8221; says Campbell. \u201cSome became disappointed because yes, they were able to successfully avoid the draft, but of course, we know that Canada had lots of problems around poverty, inequality and violence and it wasn\u2019t a utopia,\u201d she says. \u201cBy 1970, you get the War Measures Act in Quebec and people are starting to say, \u2018Wait a second, the state here is just a problematic as the way the state is acting in the US.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>A Mixed Reception to the American Influx<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Draft dodgers and deserters aroused sympathy from Vancouver\u2019s antiwar activists. Local support networks, like the <i>Vancouver Committee to Aid American War Objectors<\/i>, focused on helping draft evaders find jobs and housing in BC. \u00a0Yet, the Canadian reception was not universally warm. Conservative factions, including Vancouver\u2019s then Mayor Tom Campbell (who served from 1967-72), suggested that draft dodgers and hippies were a corrupting influence on the city&#8217;s youth. \u201cI don\u2019t like draft dodgers and I\u2019ll do anything within the law that allows me to get rid of them,\u201d he said in 1970. \u201cSomebody is sure doing a swell job of corrupting a minority of our youth. I want the border closed to radicals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/player\/play\/1765887650\/\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> for a 1970 CBC Radio broadcast focusing on Vancouver as the centre of draft dodger immigration.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, some left-leaning Canadians began\u00a0critiquing the growth\u00a0of American dominance\u00a0in certain professions. Many draft resisters were highly educated and became involved in teaching, municipal politics and union activism, says Lara Campbell. \u201cBy the 1970s, there\u2019s a feeling that wait a second, there\u2019s all these Americans coming \u2013 why aren\u2019t they staying in the US and fighting the American government from there? Why are they coming here, why are they teaching in our universities, why are they teaching in our school systems?\u201d Rising unemployment rates in the 1970s exacerbated these tensions, leading many draft support groups to begin advising Americans against coming north, unless it was their last resort.<\/p>\n<p><b>Gendered Tensions<\/b><\/p>\n<p>At the same time, gendered tensions within the antiwar movement had emerged. Many American women saw themselves as deeply politicized stakeholders in the emigration process, having given up their lives to join their partners or in many cases, having initiated the immigration process. Yet in part because women were not directly affected by the draft, their contributions to the antiwar movement were often marginalized and underappreciated. \u201cWomen felt as if they were placed in secondary roles\u2026 as if their concerns weren\u2019t being listened to,\u201d says Campbell. \u201cBy the late 1960s, you start to see more and more women saying, \u2018We shouldn\u2019t be treated as appendages to men. We\u2019re here because we\u2019re political and what we have to offer the movement is really important.\u2019\u201d Many went on to become active in women\u2019s liberation groups, critiquing the hypocrisy of male-dominated left-wing politics. Feminist groups in British Columbia surged from less than a dozen in 1969 to over 200 in 1974.<\/p>\n<p><b>Lessons from the Past<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Campbell suggests the history of social movements can shed light on the inequalities we wrestle with today. \u201cThe debate in the 1960s and 1970s was, what\u2019s the most important focus of our concern: Is it war, is it race, is it class, is it gender? Those debates about oppression continue as I think we grapple with inequality\u2026 studying the history of the Vietnam war movement can tell us a little bit about that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mid-way through her research project, Campbell says she is inspired by the tremendous dedication of women\u2019s groups who were organizing in a pre-digital world. \u201cThey\u2019re organizing in a time when there\u2019s no social media, there\u2019s no internet. They\u2019re using posters and flyers and snail mail, telephones and telephone trees\u2026 \u00a0it took a lot of work to organize and we sometimes forget that, because we live in a world where information is communicated much more efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><em>For more information on the upcoming <span class=\"s1\">Vancouver Historical Society<\/span> lecture series, click <span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vancouver-historical-society.ca\/events.htm\">here.<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"column\">**<\/div>\n<div class=\"column\"><em><strong>Madeleine de Trenqualye<\/strong> is a historical researcher and writer who has worked for Parks Canada, the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board and multiple heritage institutions.\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Between 1964-1973, an estimated\u00a0100,000 Americans left the United States for Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft or protest the war. Vancouver was one of the country\u2019s choice destinations and the new arrivals injected fervour into the city\u2019s burgeoning hippie scene, counterculture and antiwar movements. Many Americans who laid down roots in Vancouver ended up having<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8285,"featured_media":28506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,11230,20,11233],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civic-engagement","category-community","category-events","category-history","post_format-post-format-image"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Between 1964-1973, an estimated\u00a0100,000 Americans left the United States for Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft or protest the war. Vancouver was one of the country\u2019s choice destinations and the new arrivals injected fervour into the city\u2019s burgeoning hippie scene, counterculture and antiwar movements. Many Americans who laid down roots in Vancouver ended up havingContinue reading &quot;Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-25T17:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/VietnamResistanceVancouver_600.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Madeleine de Trenqualye\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Madeleine de Trenqualye\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/\",\"name\":\"Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver - Spacing Vancouver\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/VietnamResistanceVancouver_600.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-25T17:00:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/3426a79514f24bef14f7ad36efc6beca\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/VietnamResistanceVancouver_600.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/VietnamResistanceVancouver_600.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":440,\"caption\":\"In August, 1965, 39 youth were arrested for blocking Prime Minister Pearson\u2019s car in the PNE parade as part of an antiwar protest. The following spring, more than 3000 marched through Vancouver to protest the Vietnam War. (Photo Credit: Associated Press)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Vancouver\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/3426a79514f24bef14f7ad36efc6beca\",\"name\":\"Madeleine de Trenqualye\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b28a407d895213e62038ad4974e31171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b28a407d895213e62038ad4974e31171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Madeleine de Trenqualye\"},\"description\":\"Madeleine de Trenqualye is a historical researcher who has worked for Parks Canada, the Museum of Vancouver and the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. She has an M.A. in history from McGill University and is on the board of the Vancouver Historical Society. She is also a digital communications specialist at the University of British Columbia and writes about research in the Faculty of Arts.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/madeleinedetrenqualye\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver - Spacing Vancouver","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver - Spacing Vancouver","og_description":"Between 1964-1973, an estimated\u00a0100,000 Americans left the United States for Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft or protest the war. Vancouver was one of the country\u2019s choice destinations and the new arrivals injected fervour into the city\u2019s burgeoning hippie scene, counterculture and antiwar movements. Many Americans who laid down roots in Vancouver ended up havingContinue reading \"Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Vancouver","article_published_time":"2016-04-25T17:00:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":440,"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/VietnamResistanceVancouver_600.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Madeleine de Trenqualye","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Madeleine de Trenqualye","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/","name":"Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver - Spacing Vancouver","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/VietnamResistanceVancouver_600.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-25T17:00:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/3426a79514f24bef14f7ad36efc6beca"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/VietnamResistanceVancouver_600.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/VietnamResistanceVancouver_600.jpg","width":600,"height":440,"caption":"In August, 1965, 39 youth were arrested for blocking Prime Minister Pearson\u2019s car in the PNE parade as part of an antiwar protest. The following spring, more than 3000 marched through Vancouver to protest the Vietnam War. (Photo Credit: Associated Press)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/04\/25\/vietnam-war-resistance-vancouver\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vietnam War Resistance in Vancouver"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/","name":"Spacing Vancouver","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/3426a79514f24bef14f7ad36efc6beca","name":"Madeleine de Trenqualye","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b28a407d895213e62038ad4974e31171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b28a407d895213e62038ad4974e31171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Madeleine de Trenqualye"},"description":"Madeleine de Trenqualye is a historical researcher who has worked for Parks Canada, the Museum of Vancouver and the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. She has an M.A. in history from McGill University and is on the board of the Vancouver Historical Society. She is also a digital communications specialist at the University of British Columbia and writes about research in the Faculty of Arts.","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/madeleinedetrenqualye\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8285"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28498"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28511,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28498\/revisions\/28511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}