False start: the 1956 Palestinian refugee movement to Canada
ABSTRACT In 1955, responding to a recommendation by Chargé d’Affaires, Elizabeth MacCallum at the Canadian Legation in Beirut, Minister of External Affairs Pearson and the Cabinet of Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent agreed to an unofficial UNRWA request to resettle a small number of Palestinian refugees in Canada. An interdepartmental committee was charged with coordinating the movement, which was planned well but executed poorly. This paper examines its planning and operations, along with the perceptions and assumptions of the committee, MacCallum, her staff and the official who traveled to Lebanon and Jordan to interview the refugees. It also delves into the complex reaction of Arab states and Palestinians to the idea, and the delicate situation UNRWA found itself in. Finally, it explores the operational failures and external factors that led one official to label the operation “an ill-fated scheme”. Finally, it reflects on the surprising number of issues in the political context that remain relevant to today.