Moving to Canada

Factual Questions
1

I might not be around to get an answer to this, but…

During the Vietnam War, a lot of Americans moved to Canada. It seems like it was a popular thing to do. How did they do it? Did they go through Canadian Immigration and get refugee status? Did they go as illegals? Did Canada say, “Come on up!”?

A friend of mine wanted to move to Canada a few years ago. He rented a house, and he runs a web-based business so he would not have been taking a job away from a Canadian. He had a contact up there who would vouch for him, and who would say (truthfully) that they are business partners. So he loaded up a truck and headed for the west coast. Although I told him he should go through Canadian Immigration, he said that since he had a place to live, a job, and a letter that verified that he has a job, he was turned back at the border. Now he occasionally gets pulled in when he wants to visit Canada, and he thinks that his information pops up as a possible illegal immigrant (although he no longer intends to move there).

So how did the “draft evaders” manage to move there and stay there for years and years?

2

The evaders were here illegally and would have been expelled if found, but there wasn’t major support for American involvement in Vietnam so the Canadian government wasn’t going to knock itself out hunting these people down. As long as they kept their heads low and didn’t commit any crimes (dodging military service isn’t a crime in Canada, as we have no draft) nobody cared enough to round them up. The 19th-century Underground Railroad that helped escaping slaves didn’t have official support either; just conscientious citizens.

Sneaking into Canada wasn’t really THAT popular; most draft dodgers just stayed in the U.S.

The dodgers weren’t specifically invited by Canadians, not even by would-be 20th-century Underground Railroaders (helping dodgers lacks the moral cachet of helping slaves), nor did they ever get official status unless they applied for citizenship or residency.

Interestingly, a number of Canadians actually went south to join up, seeking employment and adventure. I doubt it balanced out the numbers, though.