A refugee and her Canadian sponsor recall their 35 year friendship
On the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, we continue the conversations we began yesterday with the matriarch of a Vietnamese refugee family and the woman from a small town in Canada who became her friend. We introduce you to Dorothy Wood who sponsored Mai Tan's family from Vietnam in 1980.
They ask me, 'I know anything about Canada?' and I say 'I don't know anything but I think every country is better than what I live right now.- Mai Tan, refugee from Vietnam in 1980
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. Canada's efforts in the ensuing years meant that more than 60,000 refugees were sponsored across the country.
Yesterday we heard some incredible personal stories from so called boat people who arrived in Canada as refugees at the time.
Of course, in addition to the refugees, there were thousands of Canadians here who sponsored them....
And some of those connections turned into lifelong friendships.
Dorothy Wood was part of an Anglican Church group that sponsored Mai Tan's family from Vietnam in 1980. Dorothy Wood and Mai Tan were in Grimsby, Ontario.
This segment was produced by The Current's Ines Colabrese.