September 7, 2013

CANADIANS AND THE COUP

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Elements for a speech given at “Para Que Nunca Mas En Chile: Never Again in Chile” Casa Salvador Allende, Toronto, September 7, 2013

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My thanks to the Casa Salvador Allende and all who worked to bring this very special evening together.

I’ve been asked to comment on the political context in Canada in the early 70s. My remarks are based on my experiences as a co-creator of the Inter-Church Committee on Chile (ICCC), chair of the Toronto Welcome Committee for Refugees from Chile, staff of the United Church of Canada and a member of the Latin American Working Group. (*)

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THE GENERAL SCENE

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Let’s think back briefly:

• The Cold War continued: Nixon and Kissinger, the CIA in full flower, the economic strangle hold on Chile, sustained hostility to Cuba.

• The Brazilian generals were still in power, and Allende’s Chile and important refugee haven.

• In Canada, the Liberal Pierre Trudeau was in power, but a minority government dependent on the NDP, led by David Lewis. Mitchell Sharp was External Affairs Minister, Robert Andras Immigration Minister, Gerard Pelletier was Secretary of State.

• For Canada, Latin America was a low priority, there was a persistence of stereotypes – military coups were chronic and nothing special, “of course they do those things”. There was a small constituency who spoke Spanish. The Centre for Spanish-Speaking Peoples in Toronto a small outpost. Those of you who spoke Spanish in those days, were particularly valuable and worked very hard.

• There were academics, trade unionists and solidarity groups like the Latin American Working Group (LAWG) who were trying to change the situation and deepen links with Latin American counter parts. The Chilean students in Toronto were engaged, people like Arturo and Florrie Chacon and their colleagues.

• But remember, Canada was just three years past the October,1970, FLQ crisis and the arbitrary repression of the War Measures Act. News of the radical left in Latin America  – the Tupamaros, for example – seemed a bit too close for some.

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MORE SPECIFICALLY: the churches and NGOs

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• There were some Canadian church missions bridging the gap – thePME from Montreal, the Scarboro Foreign Mission, a few Anglican and United Church personnel. They were few in number but turned out to be essential.

• Importantly, the leaders of three Canadian major denominations – the Anglican and United Churches and the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference – toured Latin America in the early seventies, and sent three of us to observe the UNCTAD in Santiago in 1972.

• NGOs like LAWG and the Development Education Centre in Toronto active in solidarity and education– early in 1973 they published a provocative booklet Chile Vs the Corporations, which included economic and political analysis, messages from missionaries and a speech by Allende. (&)

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THE COUP OF SEPTEMBER 11, 1973 AND RESPONSE: THE RECORD, AT LEAST A BIT OF IT.

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• From the first news of the military strike on the Moneda, NGOs were active in assisting Canadian media to reach witnesses in Chile and commentary in the north. The contacts established with Chilean students earlier, now were essential with those who had returned before the coup.

• On September 11, the CBC’s As It Happens interviewed American academic James Petras and Canadian Michael O’Sullivan of the University of Regina recently returned from Santiago.

• Immediately after the coup, on September 12, p a number of church folk, LAWG and other activists met to strategize, at the Ecumenical Forum in downtown Toronto, Fred Franklin of the Society of Friends was there. This emergency meeting led to formation of the Inter-Church Committee on Chile, based at the Canadian Council of Churches.

• On Sept. 16 the CBC Radio program Sunday Magazine,  carried excerpts from Tim Draimin’s phone conversation with Florie Chacon in Chile. She spoke of “… truckloads of bodies entering the cemetery …

• On Sept. 17, in Santiago Marc Dolgin (First Secretary, political) and David Adam (First Secretary, Commercial) surreptitiously transfered those few Chileans who had obtained asylum in their homes to the ambassador’s residence, a safe refuge. The Ambassador was still abroad in Argentina.

• On Sept. 18, Foreign Minister Mitchel Sharp informed the House of Commons that no Chilean nationals had requested emigration to Canada

• A day later on Sept. 19 two carloads of students, church activists, solidarity folk drove to Ottawa to seek meetings with Minister Sharp at External Affairs and with MPs. The atmosphere at External Affairs was frigid, we were closely watched, our concerns heard but not accepted. We urged that Canada should refuse to recognize an illegitimate regime, and should open doors to refugees. NDP leader  David Lewis invited the Chilean students to speak to a meeting of their parliamentary caucus.

• On Sept. 20 , winding up a tribute to Allende in Parliament, NDP MP John Rodriguez shouts “Viva Allende, Viva Chile.”

• Then on Sept. 26 the Toronto Star gave prominent coverage to a story about the contents of a cable sent by Canadian Ambassador Andrew Ross, which he had sent from Buenos Aires on September 13. He advised it would be wrong to view the military takeover as “a rightist coup” and that he could “see no useful purpose in withholding recognition unduly.”

• On September 29 – Canada recognized the junta.

• On October 2, the Canadian Export Development Corporation gives Chile a $5 million credit for the purchase of six twin otter aircraft from Canada.

• On October 3 – Church leaders meet Minister Sharp, who began by trying to undermine their position, quoting church sources which supported the coup. He stated that he had it on good authority that Chile was “normalizing”. There was, for the government little to be done. The churches mislead by biased information.

• The battle over information continued through the coming months. Reporters like Timothy Ross of the Toronto Star and Ian Adams, radio personalities like Barbara Frum and many others took a special interest in the stories. Church people including Jesuit Dick Roach, Scarboro Father Buddy Smith and Canadian Bishop’s staff Rev. Bill Smith all visited Chile and brought back first hand testimony which undermined the assessments coming from the Ambassador. It was Florrie Chacon who alerted NGOs and the media to the sight of dead bodies floating in the Mapocho River.

• On October 7,15 refugees, who had taken refuge with the Embassy, including Marcela and Claudio Duran and family arrived in Montreal.

• Ambassador Ross’s cables were leaked by a whistleblower – Bob Thomson – working at CIDA, to LAWG and then the media. Exchanges in the Commons in early November were heated.  On November 5, NDP MP John Harney read the cables into the record in Parliament and confronted Mitchell Sharp with the failure of Canada to respond to Chile with the same generosity offered to Hungarian refugees in 1956.  Mitchell Sharp made a special point of going after the whistleblower and in January was able to announce that he’d been identified, and Bob Thomson lost his job.

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• Matters became critical in November as pressure from church witnesses and leadership continued, the Chile-Canada Solidarity network occupied government offices in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal on the 19th.

• Leading journalist Ian Adams visited Chile and on 28 begins a series of reports for the Globe & Mail . He relayed the story of a high-ranking official in the Catholic Church  who went to Ambassador Ross shortly after the coup asking for asylum for a list of 25 people in “extreme danger”. The Ambassador refused to take 25, or ten or even five. His response contrasted dramatically with the role played by Swedish Ambassador Harald Edelstam – called the “Black Pimpernel” and others in saving lives. Ross told Adams that the reports of human rights violations “has been exaggerated out of all proportion.”

• Meanwhile, Allende’s widow, Hortensia Bussi toured Canada, addressed a large crowd at Convocation Hall and met Prime Minister Trudeau on November 28th.

• In this context and with international pressure from the Prince Saddrudin Aga Khan, UN High Commission for Refugees, the government decided to send Geoffrey Pearson from External Affairs and a senior immigration official south. Returning on November 24 Pearson went immediately to see Minister Sharp to advise a more sympathetic approach: Canada’s Ambassador had got it wrong, the Chilean and Canadian churches were right that Chile was a refugee emergency, and many of these Chileans “would make good Canadians”.

• Despite Ross’s advice to the contrary,the government of the day took Pearson’s findings seriously.

• On November 26 the Cabinet Committee on Social Policy decided that some 300 to 1000 refugees should be accepted under reduced criteria, with public support for resettlement: this meant money for transportation and accommodation; language training, job placement support, winter clothing and other necessities. “Special Movement Chile” was approved.

• This decision clearly meant work of preparation and support at community level here in Toronto and in other centres. The Toronto Welcome Committee for Refugees from Chile had formed. It brought together concerned folk from the Centre for Spanish-Speaking peoples, various political tendencies, church activists, lawyers and many others willing to help.

• A Canadian Fund for Refugees from Chile was also created.

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• However, getting the programme moving was another challenge. Further the challenges facing potential applicants were significant.

• On December 3, Church representatives again met with Ministers Sharp and Andras again, pointing out that many really in danger could not walk up the many floors and into the Embassy, fill out forms and await procedures.  Despite additional personnel sent to Santiago, visa approval was slow and security concerns from the RCMP led to rejection of many applicants.  Of more than 1000 applications, only 184 were approved in November and December, and 55 were given safe haven in the Canadian Embassy on December 10 and 11.

• There was also the challenge of international transport. Airline space was very limited, it was the holiday season. In the Commons,  NDP M.P. Andrew Brewin called for an airlift, and a further church and academic delegation on December 27 pressed Sharp and Andras again.

• On January 4, 1974 an RCMP officer arrived in Santiago to begin security checks of the refugees.

• On January 10, 1974, a Canadian Forces Boeing 707 was sent to Santiago and brought 137 refugees to Canada. “Special Movement Chile” was finally operational and more than 4,000 applications were soon in process.

 

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• As you know, on September 11, there were many from Latin America, from Uruguay, Bolivia and Brazil who were already refugees in Chile. One group of these, including a number of Brazilians — many would remember Herbert da Souza – “Betinho” – flew to Panama when they saw agents of the Brazilian generals in Santiago.  Then they saw these agents in Panama.   Word of their situation came to Toronto via various channels, political and religious.  With the help of the Methodist churches in Panama and Jamaica, we managed something that would be virtually impossible today, given visa and airline regulations. Without appropriate visas and documents, the group flew to Jamaica, was met by church folk there and put on Air Canada to Toronto. They were met by a group of clergy in full dress and others at the airport here, and admitted.  Their contribution in Canada, and after return to post-dictatorship Brazil was remarkable. They founded the Latin American Research Unit at York University, part of CERLAC today. Betinho (1935-97), would live to go home to become Brazil’s most famous champion against hunger, HIV/AIDS, corruption and injustice. Those who returned founded IBASE, the Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Analysis in Rio de Janeiro.

• All this was not the end, or the beginning of the end, as George Cram will shortly indicate. The work on behalf of human rights in Chile by the Inter-Church Committee on Chile (and its successor the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America (ICCHRLA) continued until well after the referendum, and church-supported analysis and critique of the junta’s economic and social policy continued as well.

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A FEW CONCLUDING COMMENTS

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• This story has focused on church action. Other stories like that of Canadian trade union solidarity, or the role of parliamentarians also merit attention.

• The churches in that time, as well as NGOs like LAWG, had access to the media which seems amazing today: As it Happens, the major dailies and much more.

• Similarly, the access of church leadership and witnesses to top-ranking cabinet ministers was remarkable. In less than four months after September 11 there were four in person encounters with Minister Sharp, three with Andres, and one with Gerard Pelletier. In good part this was achieved by the constant flow of well-informed witnesses.

• The Chilean crisis and the popular response in Canada provoked and contributed to a major review of Canadian immigration and specifically refugee policy.

• The experience of citizen action on foreign policy, and — as the exiles settled across Canada — the new interest in Latin America and Latin Americans was an important foundation for the phenomenal Canadian solidarity movement with Central America of the late 70s and 1980s .

• This is part of an international, not only a Canadian, story. There were Ambassadors and staff from Sweden, Mexico and other countries who did much more, particularly in the tragic days of September.  There were the religious folk and allies of many persuasions who formed the Comite Pro Paz and then the Vicaria and other groups assisting people in danger and in prison.  Comite co-President Lutheran Bishop Helmut Frenz and Swedish Ambassador Harald Edelstam also visited Canada to help press for further action. The World Council of Churches, and its Human Rights Resource Office for Latin America led by Rev. Charles Harper, provided support, information and encouragement to those in the southern cone courageous enough to help, and linked them with us in the north.

• There are many personalities who campaigned in those days, many of whom are no longer with us: the Rev. Floyd Honey, Ms Ruth Tillman, the Rev. Eoin MacKay of the Canadian Council of Churches, Rev. Garth Legge of the United Church of Canada, Rev. Ted Scott, Rev. Bruce McLeod, Bishop Power, Fr. Bill Smith, Fr. Buddy Smith, and many more.

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• Its an honour and a special moment to reflect with you all on this very special time in our lives.

• Thank you.

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(#) Dr. John W. Foster was a staff officer of the Division of Mission in Canada of the United Church of Canada for approximately 18 years to 1989. He was a founder and long term member of the Latin American Working Group.  He was initial Chair of the Toronto Welcome Committee, and later of the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America.  He was c.e.o. of Oxfam-Canada (1989-1997), Ariel F. Sallows Prof. of International Human Rights, College of Law, University of Saskatchewan (1997-99) and Principal Researcher at the North-South Institute, Ottawa (2000-2009).  He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, Chair of the Coordinating Committee of the Social Watch, and Vice-Chair of the Civil Society Advisory Committee of the Commonwealth Foundation.  He currently teaches in the Department of Political Science, Carleton University and the International Studies Program of the University of Regina.

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(*) These remarks have benefited enormously from the works of:

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Bob Carty – various notes and comments

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Bill Fairbairn, “The Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America” in Christopher Lind and Joe Mihevc (Eds.)  Coalitions for Justice: The Story of Canada’s Interchurch Coalitions.  (Ottawa, Novalis, 1994)

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George Hanff, “Decision-Making Under Pressure: A Study of the Admittance of Chilean Refugees by Canada” NS. North-South (Vol. 4, No 8, CALACS, 1979)

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Joan Simalchik, Part of the Awakening: Canadian Churches and Chilean Refugees 1970-1979 (M.A. Thesis, University of Toronto, 1973)

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A record of the role of the Chilean churches, Jewish community, etc., can be found in:

Charles R. Harper. O Acompanhamento: Ecumenical Action for Human Rights in Latin America 1970-1990  (Geneva, World Council of Churches Publications, 2006)

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See also:

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Brian Stevenson, Canada, Latin America and the New Internationalism: A Foreign Policy Analysis 1968-1990 (Montreal & Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2000)

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(&)  Development Education Centre & Latin American Working Group, Chile Vs the Corporations: A Call for Canadian Support. (Toronto, January, 1973)