American Review of Canadian Studies
Volume 39, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 271-289
Saving, kidnapping, or something of both? Canada and the Vietnam/Cambodia Babylift, spring 1975 (Article)
Strong-Boag V.* ,
Bagga R.
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a
Women's Studies and Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada
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b
Centre for Women's and Gender Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada
Abstract
In the spring of 1975 Canada supplied one chapter in the Vietnam "Babylift". Canadians disagreed about the Babylift's meaning for themselves and their nation. For some, it offered the opportunity to rescue child casualties of war and to confirm a multicultural country; for others, it constituted kidnapping and evidence of Western imperialism. This dual response is explored in four parts in this article. First, there is a brief history of Canadian adoption, which grew gradually more inclusive after World War II to include youngsters of Asian origin. Second, it describes public, especially newspaper, responses to the US war in Vietnam and the place of children in this. Third, it introduces adults engaged in the Babylift and their approach to international adoption more generally. And finally, it profiles the children involved and examines what rescue or kidnapping might have entailed for them. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.
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https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77958073314&doi=10.1080%2f02722010903116483&partnerID=40&md5=5f17cdb8bfe0eba9fab15cf286886e89
DOI: 10.1080/02722010903116483
ISSN: 02722011
Cited by: 4
Original Language: English