Commentary
When young American men crossed the northern border to avoid military service during the Vietnam War, they received a cordial welcome from Canada’s progressive intelligentsia.
Estimates of the Vietnam era migration range from 40,000 to 60,000 draft-age men who entered a population of some 20 million Canadians. Above average education levels permitted many of the American arrivals to seek positions in Canadian cultural institutions. Around half remained in Canada even after the USA offered them amnesty.
These Americans were disproportionately well-educated, progressive, and eager to support the generational shift to the left that was gathering momentum under then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Records indicate that many found jobs in colleges and universities, and significant numbers went into teaching, writing, publishing, media, the arts, social-justice activism, environmental movements, and local politics….