Vietnamese family ‘grateful’ for new home
After three years as a fugitive, human rights advocate set to enjoy first Christmas in Canada
Quyen Bach missed the birth of his first child. Instead, the Vietnamese human rights advocate was in jail, imprisoned for daring to speak out against his government.
When he was finally released seven years ago, Bach’s daughter was three months old and his resolve to fight for a better country was far from diminished. Neither were his woes. Soon, another arrest warrant was issued for him, and Bach knew he had to escape.
After a harrowing three-year journey as a fugitive — to Thailand via Cambodia and then to Canada — the 30-yearold, his wife and now three children have finally found peace in a small onebedroom apartment in North York, grateful for a chance to start afresh.
This year will be the Catholic family’s first Christmas in Canada. A lighted snowflake decoration hangs under the TV in their living room and a small wreath on the front door knob.
They hope to get a Christmas tree, too. Under that tree, they’re excited to have a few boxes from the Star’s Santa Claus Fund.
The fund, founded 114 years ago by Star publisher Joseph Atkinson, raises money to ensure all Toronto children have a merry Christmas. The gift boxes contain a toy, a book, warm clothes, a toothbrush and toothpaste. This year, the Star is looking to raise $1.7 million to buy presents for 45,000 children.
“We’re so grateful,” Bach said. “Even though I’m a newcomer, and I haven’t done much for the Canadian government and the people, but I still got recognized and helped like this.”
Bach said he took the kids downtown to the Santa Claus parade in November and they wrote letters to Santa — they recently received a response from the jolly old elf himself.
Bach proudly shows a reporter a video of the family playing in the snow for the first time. He said the children love school so much that on weekends, they want to go to the library.
It’s a big change from the life Yen Nhi, 7, and Nhi, 4, knew in Thailand, where the family lived for two years as refugees. Though they had official United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights status as refugees, the children were not allowed to attend school, nor was Bach allowed to work.
He said agents of the Vietnamese government, through their Bangkok embassy, followed the family around — spying on their phones, sometimes standing outside their Thai home, frightening Bach’s wife and children.
They feared Bach would be nabbed and taken back to prison in Vietnam.
“When I came to Thailand, I thought life would be better. But then I realized that it’s not easy, especially for the kids when they can’t get a fair education,” Bach said.
Tuan Le, vice-president of Vietnamese Overseas Initiative for Conscience Empowerment (VOICE) Canada, who translated for Bach during the interview, had worked with him in Vietnam, helping him distribute the UN Declaration of Human Rights so people knew their basic rights and freedoms.
Bach continued his activism, speaking out against polluting corporations, the seizure of private land by government and other human rights abuses under the dictatorship.
“I knew that he’s working with great courage and bravery to help people, so when he was in great danger, we tried the very best to save him,” Le said.
While still in Vietnam, Bach had published interviews and criticism on social media, and when the Communist regime decided it wouldn’t ignore him any longer, he fled over the border to Cambodia, then on to Thailand, his family following soon after.
Last year a friend and fellow activist, Hoang Duc Binh, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for similar activities to Bach’s — livestreaming video of fishermen filing a suit against a Taiwanese-owned steel plant’s toxic spill into the ocean. That further reinforced Bach’s decision to escape, knowing what was in store if he stayed.
“It meant that if I didn’t escape fast enough and run (to) the border in Cambodia, I’d be in jail right now,” Bach said.
He also knew what it was like to serve time in a Vietnamese jail, where he said he was kept among hardened criminals.
It was a rough time for his pregnant wife, Giang Bui. “I was in hell,” she said through Le. Her neighbours had no idea why her husband was jailed and gave her a tough time, assuming it was for something shameful.
Le worked with the Canadian government to fast-track Bach’s acceptance to this country.
“The more time was delayed, the more danger could happen to him,” Le said.
Bui came first in May with their girls and son, Joseph, now a year old. Bach arrived days later. The soft-spoken father is currently working as a roofer to support his young family.
But he can’t stop checking over his shoulder.
The Vietnamese consulate in Ottawa keeps tabs on him, Bach said. He recently asked that his Vietnam driver’s licence be translated into English to hurry along his application for an Ontario licence. The consulate refused, Bach said, instead telling him to come in and surrender to the arrest warrant still out for him in Vietnam.
“My family really needs a car to travel around, do the groceries and drive the kids to school,” he said.
“It’s a simple need in life.” He said his parents, still in Vietnam, are regularly harassed by authorities.
“I feel like I’m still being threatened by the government back home,” Bach said.
Once he’s settled into his new life in Canada, he said he hopes to keep advocating for human rights in Vietnam. He also finds inspiration in the worldwide protests for Hong Kong.
“I feel grateful, and I want to thank the government of Canada for giving my family a better life. The kids can go to school, I can work and make money to support my family and look toward a better future here in Canada.”
“I want to thank ... Canada for giving my family a better life.”
QUYEN BACH HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE