{"id":296759,"date":"2025-05-03T14:26:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T14:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/03\/americas-vietnam-war-opponents-who-fled-to-canada-reflect-on-the-past-and-future\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T14:26:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T14:26:04","slug":"americas-vietnam-war-opponents-who-fled-to-canada-reflect-on-the-past-and-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/03\/americas-vietnam-war-opponents-who-fled-to-canada-reflect-on-the-past-and-future\/","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s Vietnam War Opponents Who Fled to Canada Reflect on the Past and Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/10\/02\/multimedia\/00canada-resisters-promo\/00canada-resisters-visual-1-fmgj-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"America\u2019s Vietnam War Opponents Who Fled to Canada Reflect on the Past and Future\" title=\"America\u2019s Vietnam War Opponents Who Fled to Canada Reflect on the Past and Future\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The presidential pardon signed by Jimmy Carter in 1977 was a sweeping invitation to thousands of Americans to come home and help heal a nation torn apart by the Vietnam War. Those who had left for Canada to avoid the draft had wanted no part of the conflict, which killed about 60,000 Americans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Canada had offered a refuge. It did not support the war and was willing to welcome, with few questions asked, those crossing the border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many war resisters, or draft dodgers as they were often called by others, were not interested in returning when Mr. Carter made his amnesty offer. Their decisions had come with high costs: ruptured family ties, broken friendships and, often, shame. While some hailed those who went to Canada as principled, others considered them cowardly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, the 50th anniversary of the war\u2019s end arrives at another turbulent moment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Americans living in Canada, President Trump\u2019s economic attacks and threats to Canada\u2019s sovereignty have again stirred uneasy feelings about the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I traveled across Canada and spoke to roughly a dozen people who had left America, most now in their 70s or 80s, who reflected on their decisions to leave and their feelings about both countries. Here\u2019s what they had to say.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-tosae5 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-47e0edf0\">The Optimist<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Richard Lemm saw Canada as a mythical land of beautiful vistas and a peaceful government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He applied for conscientious objector status in the United States, which was meant for people who refused military service because it was incompatible with their religious or moral beliefs, among other reasons. He was denied, and fled north in 1968.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe principal motivation for leaving was political and moral,\u201d said Mr. Lemm, a professor, writer and poet in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As for today, when he looks at the United States, he sees a deeply polarized society. \u201cPeople are not listening to each other enough and really, really need to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Peace activism in the 1960s held a lot of promise for Rex Weyler, a writer and ecologist who was born in Colorado.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But things changed when the F.B.I. came knocking after he ignored multiple draft notices. Mr. Weyler fled to Canada in 1972 and now lives on Cortes Island in British Columbia. He went on to become a founder of Greenpeace, the environmental group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the past several months, he said, several people in the United States have asked his thoughts about coming to Canada. In this case, he said, he doesn\u2019t believe that leaving is the right answer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou can\u2019t really run away from political opinions that you don\u2019t like,\u201d Mr. Weyler said. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"css-tosae5 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-3a18095f\">The Family<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Don Gayton spent two years serving in the Peace Corps among poor farmers in Colombia. When he returned to the United States in 1968, a draft notice awaited him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMy country had sent me to help peasant farmers in Colombia,\u201d Mr. Gayton said. \u201cAnd now they want me to kill them in Vietnam.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gayton and his wife, Judy Harris, packed their belongings and two children and went to British Columbia in 1974. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The couple\u2019s departure led to a decade-long rift with Mr. Gayton\u2019s father, who was furious that his son had turned his back on his military duty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe were proud of it, that we stood our ground,\u201d Mr. Gayton said. \u201cThe shocking part is that people will go to their grave never forgiving the war resisters.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"css-tosae5 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-1e6fdd0b\">Seeking an Authentic Life<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Born in Los Angeles to a family of hunters, Susan Mulkey was a vegetarian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At 20, she took a bus to British Columbia because she opposed the war and wanted to pursue a more environmentally oriented lifestyle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She now lives and works in community forestry in Kaslo, British Columbia, but has dabbled in American political activism, helping expatriates vote in U.S. elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cCanada facilitates my capacity to live an authentic life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"css-tosae5 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-2fb3d2b7\">The Environmentalist<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1969, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada\u2019s prime minister, declared that the draft status of young Americans moving to Canada was not relevant to their being allowed to legally enter the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That was one reason John Bergenske moved to British Columbia in 1970 after the United States granted him conscientious objector status.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI left because I fell in love with this landscape,\u201d Mr. Bergenske said. \u201cThe politics were secondary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He focused on environmental work and was the longtime executive director of Wildsight, a nonprofit conservation organization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf you\u2019re going to leave your home country, you should be sure that where you\u2019re going to is a place that you really love,\u201d Mr. Bergenske said.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/><\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-13\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Three generations of Ed Washington\u2019s family served in the U.S. military. They were Black and considered the military more hospitable than the civilian world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMy grandfather felt it was the least racist place for him to be,\u201d said Mr. Washington, a legal aid lawyer in Calgary, Alberta.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His mother, a Quaker, sent Mr. Washington to a Quaker boarding school in British Columbia. When he returned to the United States to attend college, he applied for conscientious objector status because of his pacifist beliefs and taught at a Quaker school in California where he met Jerry Garcia and became immersed in rock \u2019n\u2019 roll subculture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Washington said he soured on the drug use in his circles and moved back to British Columbia in 1974.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He hasn\u2019t spent a lot of time dwelling on the past. \u201cI just thought it would interfere with me living my life today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-15\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As a university student in Washington state, the draft policy allowed Brian Conrad to defer his military service as long as he was enrolled in school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After completing his studies, he hitchhiked through Latin America in 1972, eventually marrying and using his Canadian dual citizenship to move to British Columbia, where he spent 30 years as a high school teacher and an environmental activist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Conrad has considered returning to the United States, but two things keep him away: Canada\u2019s tight control of firearms and its public health care system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-16\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to paint one with roses and the other with thorns. We have our challenges and problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"css-tosae5 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-1682cb08\">The Pacifist<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-17\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ellen Burt grew up in a Quaker family in Eugene, Ore., shaped by a culture that opposed many U.S. policies, even before the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At 19, Ms. Burt decided she wanted to live in the wilderness. She traveled to British Columbia, where she had connections to Quakers living there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-18\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She started her family while farming and caregiving and holding seasonal jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She never considered going back to the United States because her relatives there were so supportive of her move. Today, however, she said she feels Canada does not have quite the same reputation for being a haven.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis right-wing takeover of governments is happening all over the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-tosae5 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-7cb9195a\">The Mountains Were Calling<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-19\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Canada felt more like a giant backyard than a separate country to Brian Patton. The border was just a short drive from his job in Montana as a park ranger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After taking an injured woman across the border to a hospital in Alberta one night in 1967, he decided he wanted to live in the Canadian Rockies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He ignored a draft notice in the mail, went on to become a Canadian citizen and wrote a hiking manual called, \u201cThe Canadian Rockies Trail Guide.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-20\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The mountains were Mr. Patton\u2019s sanctuary, he said: \u201cSanity was just a step across the border.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"css-tosae5 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-5988f281\">The Politician<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-21\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When his draft notice arrived, Corky Evans stuck by the rules and took an Army physical exam. He passed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Evans tried to obtain conscientious objector status, but his Christian minister refused to write a letter of support. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He married a woman with children from a previous marriage and they moved to Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He became a child-care worker on Vancouver Island and toiled at odd jobs before running for a provincial office, which led to a long career in British Columbian politics. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-22\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cCanada let me build a life here,\u201d Mr. Evans said.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"css-tosae5 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-3a14df67\">The Father<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-23\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Bob Hogue was serving in the army and stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco, at the time an army base, where he unloaded the body bags of American soldiers who had died in Vietnam.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He dreaded the moment when he would be called to the front line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When the day came, he decided to go AWOL. He said he couldn\u2019t bear the possibility that his 1-year-old son might grow up without a father.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1969, he crossed the Canadian border with his wife and son.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNot once did I ever feel guilty about it or that I was betraying my country,\u201d said Mr. Hogue, who lives in northern British Columbia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-24\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He took on various jobs, including firefighting and carpentry, before eventually owning a small logging company. Still, Mr. Hogue never gave up his American citizenship and feels an affinity for the country he left behind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m worried for the state of our world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Vjosa Isai<!-- --> contributed reporting from Toronto.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/03\/world\/canada\/vietnam-war-opponents-canada-america.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The presidential pardon signed by Jimmy Carter in 1977 was a sweeping invitation to thousands of Americans to come home and help heal a nation torn apart by the Vietnam War. Those who had left for Canada to avoid the draft had wanted no part of the conflict, which killed about 60,000 Americans. Canada had [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/10\/02\/multimedia\/00canada-resisters-promo\/00canada-resisters-visual-1-fmgj-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11226,224642,740,182717,47637,739,12287,225,14600,164579,3102],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296761,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296759\/revisions\/296761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}