The Montagnard who play annually at the SEACAF festival are all refugees of an actively oppressed ethnic group in SE Asia. Over 250 of them have fled and made it to Vancouver – and now someone wants to tell their story in documentary form (or at least one
of their stories).
Featured will be Brak – he is one of us. Brak trains at maelstrom, primarily in the empty hand and stick classes. He loves the training and the people at the club. He has been separated from his wife and child for 6 years. He has fought and continues to fight to keep them safe over there and somehow get them here.
Help support the granting of this project by going to StoryHive, signing up (it is simple), and voting for “Resettled, Not Settled” (up to 5 of your 10 votes can be applied).
At this time of this writing, it is #14 – it needs to be in the top 10. There are only 7 days let to vote- Help make it happen! Spread the word…
Brak’s father was resettled to Canada as a convention refugee; however, the sponsorship process took many years, and by the time Brak was able to come to Canada with his mother and siblings, he had already married and started a family of his own. His humanitarian and compassionate grounds sponsorship application for his wife and daughter, who is now 6, was recently denied.
A nearly identical application for another young Montagnard refugee man who had been sponsored by his father and appealed to sponsor his young wife and child was approved. Neither of them claimed their wife or child when they arrived at the airport because they were questioned by ethnic Vietnamese border guards in Vietnamese, a language neither of them understands well and by a uniformed officer of their oppressor’s ethnicity. In Vietnam, speaking about their wives and children to state police would put their families at high risk of harassment, interrogation and physical abuse. This small mistake left them unable to sponsor their wives and children under the standard one-year window sponsorship process.
Many are working with Brak to help appeal the decision, but it is unclear if Brak – who as a refugee is unable to return to Vietnam – will be able to see his wife and daughter again.
Help support the documentary of his story by going to StoryHive, signing up (it is simple), and voting for “Resettled, Not Settled” (up to 5 of your 10 votes can be applied)
(Re-produced under fair-use and with credit)