In 1959, a national uprising by Tibetans against the Chinese occupation of their homeland took place in Lhasa. Over 80,000 Tibetans were forced to flee to India, Nepal, and Bhutan. After more than a decade in India, the Canadian government supported the resettlement of a small number of refugees in Canada. This video shares the stories of life in Tibet, India, and Canada for several people who came to Canada in the early 1970s, as told through their oral history interviews. The interviews and video are the result of a collaboration with the Chyssem Project: Celebrating the 50 year story of Tibetan Canadians.
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Long Journeys: The First Tibetans in Canada
’Chyssem’ is a Tibetan term used to describe the quality of caring about the collective welfare, a person who is community-minded. The choice of this expression as a project name is a tribute to the first wave of Tibetans, founding members of today’s community in Canada, who embodied that spirit and shared it with their children.
The Chyssem Project: Celebrating the 50 year story of Tibetan Canadians.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Tibetans in Canada, The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 collaborated with the Chyssem Project to gather oral histories of the first Tibetan refugees who arrived in Canada in the early 1970s.
This video shares their stories about life in Tibet, the journey from Tibet after 1959 to their temporary homes in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, and finally to their “new” homes in Canada.
Music: Tenzin Choegyal
TIBET
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“Summer, it’s really beautiful. It’s always flowers and things like that. And winter, Phari is really too cold and too much snow.” Tsetan Nanglo
“My father and mother, they have kind of a mixed farm with yaks and sheeps and horses, some hens.” Lobsang Tsultrim Loga
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Lobsang Mentuh (with Chimi Mentuh):
“I was a little boy, always go to temple there, the temple is not far from my house…There was a friend, young monks. We were together, pray together then play together. In Tibet we don't have no toys, but they so were little stone. Stone. And they called rdo. Something to play like with your hand. And then we made some handmade for a drum, little drum. And then chanting for praying."
Yeshi W. Duntak (with Yeshi K. Wangkhang):
“I remember my parents talking about burning of the documents. I remember him burning on the fire, and we never did talk about things. They always sent us to another room and everything seemed really hush-hush and I knew there was something going on and I was scared, you know, I was, but I don't really remember too much…I used to worry about my parents being taken away from, you know, you hear different stories, so."
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In 1959, a national uprising by Tibetans against the Chinese occupation of their homeland took place in Lhasa.
Over 80,000 Tibetans were forced to flee to India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
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“You’re in a war. You’re not thinking about food, you know? You are saving your life.” Pema Matho
“Must be two or three months, I think, we walked.” Migmar T. Khangsar
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Tenpa Lektsog:
“The time that we were taking to escape was in the middle of the night, and we had to, you know, climb up the mountain, which was very difficult, hard to see. And we had to carry the children on our backs. I had one of my kids on my back, my wife had one, and a friend of ours took my younger son on his back. So, we fled very quietly, and, as I said, I knew the area well because that was the area that we were farming, and then, we reached Bhutan in the morning.”
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Translation from Tibetan to English by Pema Lektsog.
INDIA
Tibetans in India earned a living in many ways. The Indian government provided employment in road construction, as well as land for resettlement.
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“My mother opened up a small, teeny little restaurant in Kalimpong … making momo and thukpa.” Gelek Gyathong
“Lots of Tibetans working for foreign consular places in New Delhi.” Nyima Tsering
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Yeshi K. Wangkhang (with Yeshi W. Duntak):
“I worked in road construction, even, I’m thirteen years old. Road construction was really hard and everything. But then, like, every Tibetan came, is come from Tibet, no matter whether you are rich, poor, that's the only way. So no choice, so. And, really poor situation, like when you're working road construction, you stay in one space for one month, then have to move on again, and all you have is a tent. They just put tent and sometimes when it's raining, tents are not waterproof. So many people died there too, yeah."
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The UNHCR assisted the Indian government by attempting to resettle Tibetan refugees outside of India.
Canada’s High Commissioner to India, James George, recommended the resettlement of a small number of refugees in Canada.
Between 1970 and 1972, 228 people arrived in Canada, living in various towns and cities.
They became one of the earliest groups of non-European refugees– an important milestone in Canadian immigration history.
Namchho Chhoyang with children, Dicki and Lobsang, Montreal airport, 1971.
CANADA
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“Well, my hope is that, come to Canada, and take a training as a nurse.” Nyingko Tsering
“We got in Taber, and then Manpower put us in the motel for six months.” Phuntsok Khako
“I moved to Calgary, and then I found a job on CP Rail.” Norbu Rinchen Khangsar
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Yeshe Jamyangling and daughter Deki Jamyangling
[Yeshe Jamyangling]:
“I came to Canada. Then '72, I work. Thirty seven years I worked”...making chair, making umbrella…TV comes, it's a big one.
[Deki Jamyangling]: Satellites.
[Yeshe Jamyangling]: Satellite.
Dicki Chhoyang:
“And I still have the dish set that my parents used on New Year’s Day. Because it was a special day. I mean, out of the six plates there might be two left, but we still have it, you know, because when we were in Drummondville, that was our fancy dish set, set of dishes for Tibetan New Year. And then also even political activism. March 10th, the uprising date in ’59… There’s always a demonstration nearby in Ottawa. They always made sure that we would go."
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Tenzin Khangsar:
“What stayed with me the most, I think, were the dancing lessons. I think they were the most fun, if you could call it fun, as a young boy that did not want to go to Sunday school…Maybe there’s limited success in my Tibetan language skills and memory of the details of history and religion, but the dance stayed with me. But most importantly, the deep impression of our Tibetan identity and how it’s different and unique, that definitely stayed with me."
“I have always said I’m so thankful to my dad for making the decision to bring us to Canada…In those first two years, my mom, I remember her crying in the evening, saying, ‘Let’s go home.’ But she was very thankful in the end.” Ngodup Garie
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From the initial group of 228 people, the number of Tibetans in Canada has grown to over 9,300.
2021 Census.
Thank you to the people in the video who warmly shared their experiences through the oral history interviews and accompanying images. Your willingness to tell your stories deepens our understanding of the experiences of Tibetans who came to Canada from India in the early 1970s.
Thank you to the members of the Chyssem Project: Celebrating the 50-Year Story of Tibetan Canadians for your ongoing collaboration, and in particular Rignam Wangkhang for participating in the production of the video.
Thank you to Tenzin Choegyal for graciously sharing his music.
Thank you to staff at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 who assisted with this project.
Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 (CMIP) Oral History Interviews:
Dicki Chhoyang, interviewed by Siniša Obradović [16.09.19DC]
Lobsang Mentuh and Chimi Mentuh, interviewed by Emily Burton [19.10.10LMCM]
Nyima Tsering, interviewed by Emily Burton [19.10.11NT]
Yeshe Jamyangling, with Deki Jamyangling, interviewed by Emily Burton [19.10.11YJ]
Pema Matho, with Sonam Matho, interviewed by Emily Burton [19.10.12PM]
Yeshi W. Duntak and Yeshi K. Wangkhang, interviewed by Emily Burton [19.10.12YWDYKW]
Phuntsok Kakho, interviewed by Chungtak Tsering [21.03.06PK]
Ngodup Garie, interviewed by Jigme Tsering [21.03.09NG]
Lobsang Tsultrim Loga, interviewed by Chungtak Tsering [21.03.10LTL]
Tsetan Nanglo, interviewed by Chungtak Tsering [21.03.14TN]
Tenpa Lektsog, with Pema Lektsog, interviewed by Rignam Wangkhang [21.03.20TL]
Tenzin Khangsar, interviewed by Jigme Tsering [21.04.09TK]
Norbu Rinchen and Migmar T. Khangsar, interviewed by Rignam Wangkhang [21.04.14NRKMTK]
Gelek Gyathong, interviewed by Sonam Nylosang [21.05.26GG]
Nyingko Tsering, interviewed by Jigme Tsering [21.00.00NT]
Images:
Map animation courtesy of Darryl LeBlanc.
Prayer Wheel, Workshop and Interviews, Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, CMIP
Tsetan Nanglo, courtesy of Tsetan Nanglo, via Chyssem Project (CP).
Lobsang Tsultrim Loga, courtesy of Lobsang Tsultrum Loga, via CP.
Migmar Khangsar and Norbu Khangsar, courtesy of Migmar and Norbu Khangsar, via CP.
Tenpa Lektsog in Phari, Tibet, 1955 and Canada, 2022, courtesy of Tenpa Lektsog, via CP.
Gelek Gyathong, Canada, 2021, courtesy of Gelek Gyathong, via CP.
Namchho Chhoyang with children, Dicki and Lobsang, Montreal airport, 1971, courtesy of Dicki Chhoyang.
Nyingko Tsering, courtesy of Nyingko Tsering, via CP.
Early Group Photo, Taber, Alberta, March, 1971, courtesy of Phuntsok Khako, via CP.
CTC members, Ottawa, March 10, 1989. Courtesy of Canada-Tibet Committee (CTC).
Tenzin Khangsar, courtesy of Tenzin Khangsar, via CP
Tibetan dancers, courtesy of Tsetan Nanglo.
Articles and Reports:
Canada, Department of Manpower and Immigration (DMI). “Tibetan Refugees: A Second Life in a New Land.” Ottawa: DMI, 1976. [Add quotation marks and add space after (DMI). Tibetan]
“Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.” Statistics Canada. (statcan.gc.ca).
Seonaigh MacPherson, Anne-Sophie Bentz, Dawa Bhuti Ghoso. “Global Nomands: The Emergence of the Tibetan Diaspora.” Migration Policy Institute, 2008.
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/global-nomads-emergence-tibetan-diaspora-part-i
[add quotation marks.]
Jan Raska. “Tibetan Immigration to Canada.” https://pier21.ca/blog/jan-raska/tibetan-immigration-to-canada
Jeden Tolentino. “’An Invitation to Belong’: The First Tibetans in Canada, 50 Years On.” CMIP Oral History Research Report, 2021.
Music:
“Lotus Born,” Music is Life
Tenzin Choegyal
Videographer (2016 and 2019 interviews):
Darryl LeBlanc
Video Production:
Emily Burton, Rignam Wanghkang, Darryl LeBlanc
Video Editing:
Darryl LeBlanc
Countless Journeys. One Canada.
https://pier21.ca/research/oral-history