Vietnamese refugees pay it forward: Le Luong

When James Nguyen, Le Luong and Tom Tam saw the images of Syrian refugees trying to cross the Aegean Sea, with waves washing over the sides of their rubber dinghies, it brought back a flood of memories. As children, they had escaped Vietnam by boat in the 1970s. They were among the 60,000 so-called "boat people" that Canada welcomed as refugees after the end of the Vietnam War. Their hearts went out to the millions of Syrians forced to flee the bombing and terrorist attacks, which had literally reduced many of their homes to rubble.

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Transcript : Vietnamese refugees pay it forward : Le Luong

Video length: 54 seconds

Urban music plays in the background while a video montage is shown of a dark sky with black windy clouds. The sky opens up to reveal sunlight hidden behind.

The screen turns from daylight to a white background.

Gold text displays: “Canada’s Humanitarian Tradition” with a red Canadian maple leaf.

A woman appears on screen in a kitchen setting.

Le Luong (Former Refugee): But, hearing the stories of the Syrian refugees fleeing reminded myself of the plight of the Vietnamese forty years ago, when we also fled in boats as well. My sponsors, who, you know, I keep in touch with regularly, know what I am working on, and they are extremely proud, and they are, you know, supportive of this campaign. We are compassionate, as Canadians, and we help others. And, it’s because of the generosity of the Canadians. That’s why my family and, you know, more than sixty thousand Vietnamese boat refugees were sponsored and resettled here, in Canada.

The screen goes black.

Text displays in white font: “To learn more: Canada/ca.refugees”