CONFIDENTIAL
243/1
Pa Resettlement
Howe f
BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION
80 ELGIN STREET
OTTAWA K1P 5K7
18 August 1983
126
com to
M
Sigar
SEAD
•Net. Dep A
DJ Peate Esq
United Nations Department
FCO
London
HKK 248/2
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
3 1 AUG 1983
DESK OFFICER
INDEX.
HEGISTRY
PA
Action Taken
Mins Walker HKD
in N. Montgomery Poit Immigration -
Home Office
•
Roubrit
IMPRO
3898/83
Ати
REFUGEE CONFERENCE
I called on Sheehan, the Assistant Under Secretary in the Department of External Affairs in charge of Immigration Affairs Branch who had promised to give us an account of the Conference which took place in Honolulu earlier this month to discuss resettlement policies for Vietnamese refugees.
2.
Sheehan attended the Conference with Mr Tom Axworthy, the Canadian Minister of Employment and Immigration. Others attending were Ambassador Douglas from the US, Stewart West, the Australian Minister, Mr Nakajima, described as the Japanese Deputy Minister and Mr Smyser from the UN High Commission for Refugees. Sheehan explained the background to the Conference which he said arose from discussions earlier this year in New York between Messrs Douglas and Axworthy. In addition to those attending the French were invited but apparently turned it down on the grounds that it was at the wrong time, discussing the wrong things and was too expensive. Earlier the Canadians had pressed for wider representation, particularly from Europe - possibly the UK, the Germans and the Dutch and from the High Commission for Refugees. As a result, Ambassador Douglas had asked the UNHCR.
3.
The conclusions of the meeting were:
-
-
a) That the three countries restated their commitment
to the resettlement overseas of Vietnamese refugees but stated that this commitment was not open ended since they had their own internal pressures. This qualified their commitment in the longer term and
CONFIDENTIAL
/encouraged