Ontario Vice-President Ron Atkey featured prominently in a July 3 Toronto Globe and Mail article commemorating the 25 th anniversary of the arrival of the Vietnamese boat people to Canada in the summer of 1979. At the time, Mr. Atkey was in the early days of his appointment as Minister of Immigration in the Joe Clark government, but he and the fledgling government were able to achieve great things in spite of considerable demands coming from all directions. Canada was the first country to respond to the overwhelming crisis of the thousands of Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese who had been dispossessed and disenfranchised by the Communist regime in Vietnam and who were fleeing the country by any means possible and without any clear destination. Through the efforts of Ron Atkey and External Affairs Minister Flora MacDonald, who devised a program that combined public and private sponsorship, more than 60,00 predominantly Vietnamese refugees came to Canada over the next two years.

Although the experience was not without its dark side–the safety of Mr. Atkey and his family was repeatedly threatened through anonymous letters that warranted RCMP protection–it remains a most memorable period in his career. “This program showed Canada working at its best with governmentmatching the private sector in generosity,” said Mr. Atkey. “The parallels with the current tsunami situation in southern Asia are striking.”•

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When ICJ member Robin Sully took up her duties as Director, International Development for the Canadian Bar Association in 1994, she shared a CBA secretary with another department; now she works with a team of seven other committed individuals to carry out programs throughout the developing world.

As Director, Robin is responsible for the overall management of the International Development Committee’s (IDC) programs and projects, which are funded primarily through CIDA. Over the years, working with lawyers’ associations, ministries of justice, and advocacy groups in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, South Africa, East Africa, and Zimbabwe, Robin and her Committee have conducted projects in areas such as law and criminal justice reform, advocacy skills-building, access to justice, human rights, legal education, and ADR.

Within the CBA offices, the office of ICJ Canada is located in the space occupied by the IDC for a reason. “The work of the ICJ and the work the CBA’s International Development Committee are very compatible,” said Robin Sully. “Both groups recognize the central importance of the rule of law and secure legal frameworks for truly sustainable social and economic development, and ultimately the importance of developing a voice for the poor and disenfranchised.”

ICJ Canada and the IDC have undertaken a number of joint initiatives, including a local meeting in Ottawa and collaborative meetings at the CBA Annual Conference.•