Shortly after the Hungarian uprising in November 1956, the Irish government, in common with other western European countries, gave asylum to 541 Hungarian refugees.. Early in December, however, the Irish Government through its Ambassador to Canada, Dr. Thomas J. Kiernan, asked that Canada admit some 500 of these refugees who wished to settle in Canada. The ambassador observed that the Irish Government did not necessarily wish to be rid of those refugees who were ill or maimed but only those who could pass Canadian immigration requirements and who sincerely desired to resettle in Canada. Since at that time Canada's policy was to help to relieve Austria, which was overcrowded with refugees, the Canadian Department of External Affairs informed Ireland that Canada would accept any Hungarian with close relatives in Canada, but not the others. It was, nevertheless, indicated at that something might be done for the Hungarians in Ireland in the spring of 1957. According to the February 13 decision of the Canadian Department of Immigration Hungarians not yet issued visas could enter Canada if sponsored by relatives or friends in Canada able and willing to receive and care for them. Otherwise the Department admitted only those unsponsored refugees who could qualify as ordinary immigrants and could pass medical examination. The additional controls imposed on 1 May 1957 effectively stopped the immigration of all Hungarian refugees except those from Austria and those covered by the special agreements with France, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.1
At that time Canada's representative in Dublin was Alfred Rive. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1930. During the Second World War a Special Section, under his leadership, was created within the Commonwealth and European Division at External Affairs to deal with matters related to interned civilians and prisoners of war.2
His empathy for the underdog was well known. Rive was eager to help the Hungarian refugees in Ireland to find refuge in Canada. When, however, he wanted to visit a refugee camp the Canadian Department of Immigration rejected his request to prevent him from making informed recommendations. Immigration wired him in December 1956: "At the present time it is the policy of this Department not to encourage movements of any size of Hungarian refugees from countries other than Austria."3
Nevertheless, Rive found information in the Dublin press incorrectly resumed that the Canadian government already agreed in principle to take some of Hungarian refugees from the camp near Limerick.4
Meanwhile the Irish ambassador Dr. Thomas J. Kiernan practically begged Ottawa to accept the Hungarians in Ireland who were stranded in the land of emigration.5
External Affairs, as usual, took the side of the Hungarians. Paul Malone on behalf of the Undersecretary at External Affairs wrote to Immigration: "It would be appreciated if favourable consideration could be given to the ambassador's request when and if the present regulations regarding admissions of Hungarian refugees to Canada from Ireland are relaxed."6
Immigration showed no sympathy for the plight of the Irish. In the view of the Director of Immigration the Irish should be able to look after those who went to their country. "This seems a small effort for a country like Ireland," he wrote back to External. Minister of Immigration J.W.Pickersgill added by hand: "I agree." The Director continued somewhat sarcastically: "The only basis we could consider would be to take them in place of an equal number of others, but I doubt if we could find transport."7
The Irish ambassador in Ottawa kept up the pressure. He claimed that External Affairs told him "firmly and unequivocally" that Canada would accept a few hundred Hungarians to Canada in April."8
Rive innocently added: "We are on the spot and I think pretty well forced to take them or incur resentment."9
The two ambassadors, the Irish and the Canadian, tried to ignore Immigration's conditions. In fact Immigration agreed to consider the removal of the Hungarian refugees in Ireland without delay providing the Irish government arranged and paid for transportation and agreed to replace departing refugees with equivalent numbers from Austria.10
Pickersgill said that the Irish should be able to look after the few Hungarians who went to their country. He was considering taking the refugees if the Irish were willing to replace those taken by an equal number of refugees, but as an afterthought he noted, "I doubt if we could find transport". 11
The refugees themselves were restless and impatient to leave Ireland. The group included a good number of mechanics, metal workers, technicians and engineers who were not used to idleness. The high rate of unemployment in Ireland made it difficult for them to find work locally. About 70 of them found temporary employment. By April there was a crisis at Bukckalisheen camp. Twenty refugees returned to Hungary, and about 100 had been settled more or less permanently in Ireland but some 350 remained including over 100 children. The majority of those remaining had begun a hunger strike and refused all medical attention. Rive pleaded: "For humanity and charity I strongly recommend that we forget our differences with the Irish and take early action to admit remaining families to Canada."12
Immigration was not impressed. Rive was ignored. So were the Hungarians who continued their hunger strike into May. Laval Fortier informed External that hunger strike or not, he will not arrange any movement of Hungarian refugees from Ireland.13
Immigration considered the economic situation in Canada a serious one. The small number of Hungarians accepted by Ireland made the case a secondary one. Pickersgill considered the Irish entreaties unreasonable. He thought that they should have followed the example of Austria.14
The new Acting Minister of Immigration, E.D.Fulton, shared the view of his predecessor.15
From the point of view of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees every refugee was a priority. A.R.Lindt urged Canada to find a solution to the problem.16
In November 1957 the Irish government offered to contribute $80 per capita towards the cost of transportation of Hungarian refugees from Ireland to Canada. By now the Director of Immigration, complaining of the constant pressure applied by Canadian External, the UNHCR, the Irish authorities, and the Presbyterian Church of Canada to accept the Hungarians stranded in Ireland, suggested the acceptance of the offer.17
Laval Fortier began to yield. He suggested the moving of the Hungarians from Ireland in the spring of 1958. Smith promised to process the refugees in the same manner as the Hungarians arriving from England had been processed. No one was to be refused solely on medical grounds and the lack of proficiency in an occupation in demand in Canada. By now External could only submit names of 99 Hungarian refugees who wished to go to Canada from Ireland.18
Laval Fortier recommended to the Acting Minister of Immigration Robert Fulton that Canada should provide free transport to those Hungarian refugees who applied for entree prior to April 30, 1958.19
He added, that following that date the Hungarian refugee program be terminated. Fulton agreed and ordered the resumption of the movement from Ireland and Austria after March 31, 1958. He still needed cabinet agreement for free transport.20
Thus it had been decided to accept the applications from Hungarian refugees in Ireland. The cabinet set the ceiling at 400. Dr. Lindt pressed for more but in vain. The Operations Division ordered its agents to accept 400 sponsored and unsponsored Hungarians but those with criminal record or known troublemakers will have to be refused visas.21
Immigration sent D.M.Sloan, the Chief of the Administration Division at London, to make the selection; to weed out mental cases, TB patients etc. The Irish government promised to pay $80 per head towards the transportation of the Hungarians and ICEM promised not to charge more than that for the fare.22
However, the Conservative Government in Ottawa suddenly reversed its previous commitment to the completion of the Hungarian refugee movement and ordered Immigration to replace the free transport program with Assisted Passage Loans for Hungarian refugees. The Director of Immigration immediately recognized the negative international implications of the new policy. Smith warned the Deputy Minister of Immigration: "I am not aware of any other country which has insisted that the refugees pay the costs of transportation and if Canada adopts this policy it might lose for us some of the good will built up by our generous action on behalf of the refugees."23
The memorandum was ignored and the Hungarians remained in Ireland during the spring of 1958. The Director took up their case again in June. He noted that the case of Hungarian refugees in Ireland caused considerable embarrassments particularly as Canada refused at one time to permit United States funds to be used for the movement.24
The new minister, Ellen L. Fairclough, agreed with Smith. In a memorandum to the Cabinet she called the ministers' attention to the desperate situation in Ireland. She argued that the 18 months ordeal of the Hungarians should not continue for another winter and therefore the Canadian Government should assist in the final solution of the Hungarian refugee problem in Europe.25
On July 14 Cabinet made its final decision. The Government agreed to pay the transport of all Hungarian refugees who received visas prior to July 14. They decide to admit one third of what the USA had agreed to take. The Hungarians in Ireland were to be included in that quota.26
The Dublin agent was told that he may wave security screening of the 200 he may select. He was to give priority to those who had a moral claim or need for free transportation. Operations suggested the acceptance of no more than 200. The Department Of Immigration will not pay for excess baggage, concluded the memo.27
Laval Fortier, in fact, assured Dr. Lindt that free transportation will be provided first to the number of Hungarian refugees who were in Ireland. Their number dwindled to 175 by mid-August but only 162 of them were visaed by September 12. The new patron of the Hungarians in Ireland, the Director, wrote his superior the Deputy Minister: "In respect of the group of 117 Hungarian refugees from Ireland destined to the Maritime Provinces, I am informed that almost all of the adult members speak English, were extremely well mannered, courteous, well dressed and appeared to be very anxious to obtain employment and become established."28
The Irish story came to an end on September 17, when with Ottawa's permission 117 Hungarians set sail from Ireland on the S.S. New York for Quebec City. 29
In late 1956 and early 1957, despite the repeated representations on behalf of the refugees in Ireland, Canadian Immigration held fast to the policy of relieving Austria first. Later on in the spring when it was discovered that economic opportunities were not keeping pace with the continued heavy influx of immigrants, mainly from the British Isles, the case of the Hungarians in Ireland was pushed further to the background. Immigration feared that if they would have lifted the restrictions imposed on refugee inflow on May 1, other countries with many refugees would expect similar concessions. One cannot exclude the possible explanation for the anti-Irish bias of Pickersgill who was not unresponsive to the complains of rural, especially rural Ontario, electors who viewed the whole Hungarian refugees movement with suspicion and had historical conflicts with the Irish. Pickersgill wrote shortly before his death in his published memoirs: "When I got home in mid-December [1956], I found that the first flush of enthusiasm had faded, particularly in Ontario where there were growing doubts about the wisdom of receiving such large number of refugees. There was a whispering campaign under way in which [Prime Minister] St Laurent was accused of encouraging the Hungarian immigration because the refugees were predominantly Catholics."30
He was proud that he managed "to forestall the anticipated criticism that the government was more concerned about Hungarians than British immigrants."31
1 Memorandum for the Acting Minister. Subject: Hungarian Refugees in Ireland, 26 December 1957, Ottawa, NAC, RG 76, Volume 864, File 555-64-565-5, pt 1; The possibility of spring recruitment was mentioned by Immigration on December 14th, 1956 ( C.E.S.Smith, Director, Immigration, to the Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs, 14 December 1956, NAC, RG 26, Volume 112, File 3-24-12-6).
2 John Hilliker, Canada's Department of External Affairs; Volume 1 the Early Years, 1909-1946 (Montreal & Kingston, London, Buffalo: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990): 142-3, 173, 244.
3 C.E.S.Smith, Director, Immigration, to the Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs, 14 December 1956, NAC, RG 26, Volume 112, File 3-24-12-6.
4 Ambassador to External Affairs, 11 January 1957, NAC, RG 76, Box 862, File 555-54- 565, Hungarian Refugee- policies,1956-1960, pt.1.
5 Dr. Thomas J. Kiernan, Ambassador of Ireland, Ottawa to Under- Secretary of State for External Affairs, 17 January 1957, NAC, RG 76, Box 862, File 555-54-565 Hungarian Refugee-policies,1956- 1960, pt.2.
6 Paul Malone, for the Under--Secretary of External Affairs to Director of Immigration, n.d., ibid.
7 Memorandum for the Deputy Minister by J.S.Cross, 22 January 1957, NAC, MG 32, Pickersgill, J.W., B 34, Box 80, File I-2- 9391.
8 A.Rive, Canadian Ambassador to External Affairs, 29 January 1957, NAC, RG 26, Volume 112, File 3-24-12-6
9 Ibid.
10 From External Affairs to Canadian Embassy, Dublin, 30 January 1957, NAC, RG 26, Volume 112, File 3-24-12-6.
11 Memorandum for the Deputy Minister by J.S.Cross, 2 January 1957, NAC, MG 32 (Pickersgill, J.W.), B 34, Box 80, I-2-9391.
12 Rive from Dublin to External Affairs, 29 April 1957, NAC, RG 76, Box 862, file 555-54-565, pt. 2.
13 Laval Fortier to the Undersecretary of State for External Affairs; attention to Paul Malone, 8 May 1957,
NAC, RG 26 Volume 112, File 3-24-12-6.
14
Pickersgill to the Rev.J.A.Munro, Secretary for Home Missions, The Presbyterian Church in Canada, Toronto, 26 July 1957, RG 26 Volume 112, File 3-24-12-6.
15 Ibid.
16 A.R. Lindt, UNHCR to Max Wershof, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada, Geneva, 11 July 1957, RG 76, Box 863, File 555-54-565, part 4: June 13, 1957 to January 31, 1958.
17 20 November 1957 , NAC, RG 26, Volume 112, File 3-24-12-6.
18 9 December 1957 , NAC, RG 76, Box 863, File 555-54-565, Volume 4.
19 27 November 1957, ibid.
20 Laval Fortier's memorandum to The Acting Minister, 6 January 1958, NAC, RG 76, Int.2, Box 863, File 555-54-565, Volume 4.
21 From a/Chief, Operations Division, to all posts, 5 February 1958, NAC, RG 76, Box 863, Hungarian Refugee-policy, File 555-54- 565, part 5.
22 Laval Fortier' Memorandum for The Director of Immigration, 1 May 1958, NAC, RG 76 Box 863, File 555-54-565 Vol.5.
23 From The Director to The Deputy Minister8 May 1958, NAC, RG 76, Interim 2, Box 863, File 555-54-565, Vol.5.
24 The Director to the Deputy Minister,10 June 1958, NAC, RG 76, Int.2, Box 863, File 555-54-565 ,Vol.5.
25 Ellen L. Fairclough, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration's memorandum to Cabinet, 24 June 1958, NAC,RG 76, Int.2, Box 863, File 555-54-565 Vol.5.
26 18 July 1958, NAC, RG 76, Box 863, File 555-54-565, Hungarian Refugee-policies, part 6.
27 A/Chief, Operations Division, to All Posts Abroad and Superintendents25 July 1958, NAC RG 76, Box 863, File 555-54- 565, Volume 6; RG 25, Interim 109, 86/87/336, File 5475-EA-4-40, part 5; attached to Cit & Imm. July 28/58 to E.A.
28 Director to the Deputy Minister,12 September 1958,NAC, RG 76, Box 863,File 555-54-565,Volume 6.
29 NAC, RG 76, Box 864, file 555-54-565-5, Movement of the Hungarian Refugees from the Republic of Ireland.
30 J.W.Pickersgill, Seeing Canada Whole; A Memoir. Markham (Ontario: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1994): 435-436.
31 Ibid., 437.