The resettlement experiences in Canada of Chinese-Vietnamese refugees after the Vietnam war

Through six intensive and semi-structured interviews, this research paper examines the role social support networks may or may not have played in facilitating the resettlement experiences of Chinese-Vietnamese refugees living in Canada after the Vietnam War. It was observed that those who were privately-sponsored emphasized the instrumental role their benefactors played in assisting their successful resettlement, whereas those who were government-sponsored were forced to adopt a more independent mindset of forming their own social support systems. Regardless of sponsorship type, the notion of hard work was a commonality found amongst the participants. They arrived at the receiving country expecting and willing to accept conditions of underemployment and downward mobility. The effects of pre-migration enabling factors such as marital status and educational attainment are also acknowledged. Within a social support framework, theories of social capital and resiliency are used to analyze the lives of the participants after the traumatic experience of forced migration.