Sympathy and Exclusion: The Migration of Child and Women Survivors of the Armenian Genocide from the Eastern Mediterranean to Canada, 1923–1930

Ohanian, Daniel · 2017

In 1918 some 500,000 Ottoman Armenians were displaced from their homes or living in Muslim households across the Eastern Mediterranean and South Caucasus, and for most life did not return to normal after the war. New wars, political manoeuvring, famine and epidemics produced a long-term refugee crisis. This article examines one response: the humanitarian relocation to Canada of 110 boys and 39 girls and women, all genocide refugees and most of them orphans. It traces how the campaign succeeded despite Canadian immigration authorities' long-standing efforts to exclude Asians, the impoverished and the stateless. Breaking with the celebratory tone of much humanitarian-aid literature, it shows how earlier Canadian fundraising campaigns became a liability, and attends closely to the people and ideas that opposed the project.

Citation checked against the publisher's record on 2026-07-13.