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Political Science Human Rights

Flight and Freedom

Stories of Escape to Canada

by (author) Ratna Omidvar & Dana Wagner

Publisher
Between the Lines
Initial publish date
Sep 2016
Category
Human Rights, Emigration & Immigration, General
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781771132305
    Publish Date
    Sep 2016
    List Price
    $28.99 USD
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781771132299
    Publish Date
    Sep 2015
    List Price
    $29.95

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Description

The global number of people currently displaced from their home country—more than 50 million—is higher than at any time since World War II. Yet in recent years Canada has deported, denied, and diverted countless refugees. Is Canada a safe haven for refugees or a closed door?

In Flight and Freedom, Ratna Omidvar and Dana Wagner present a collection of thirty astonishing interviews with refugees, their descendants, or their loved ones to document their extraordinary, and sometimes harrowing, journeys of flight. The stories span two centuries of refugee experiences in Canada: from the War of 1812—where an escaped slave and her infant daughter flee the United States to start a new life in Halifax—to the War in Afghanistan—where asylum seekers collide with state scrutiny and face the challenges of resettlement.

About the authors

Ratna Omidvar was born in India. She moved to Iran in 1975 to start life there with her Iranian partner. In 1981 she and her family (including an infant daughter) fled Iran and found a new home in Canada. Her own experiences of flight to freedom have been the foundation of her work. She has focused on articulating pathways to inclusion for immigrants and visible minorities in host societies, both in Canada and globally. Ratna is both a Member of the Order of Canada and Order of Ontario.

Ratna Omidvar's profile page

Dana Wagner is a senior researcher at Ryerson University. She studied journalism at Carleton University and global affairs at the University of Toronto. She has worked in Toronto, Ottawa, Hanoi and Nairobi.

Dana Wagner's profile page

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