A traveling refugee museum exhibit is coming to Winnipeg

Currently in the Festival Hall of the Manitoba Museum is an exhibit on the experience of Southeast Asian refugees, led by a professor from Canadian Mennonite University (CMU). Organized by the Hearts of Freedom project, the exhibition “Hearts of Freedom: Stories of Southeast Asian Refugees” is dedicated to refugees who came to Canada in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Hearts of Freedom project was created by members of the Vietnamese community in Canada. The organization soon expanded to include the Laotian and Cambodian communities as the Vietnam War affected everyone.

Stephanie Phetsamai Stobbe, a professor of conflict resolution studies at CMU and a member of Hearts of Freedom, curated the traveling exhibit.

Stobbe said the people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia “were part of a mass exodus of people from their countries as a result of the violence and persecution they experienced and the lack of freedom in those countries.”

Stobbe and his team spoke to 173 people across Canada and conducted interviews in five languages: English, French, Vietnamese, Lao and Khmer.

“Many of them said it was the first time they were telling their story,” he said.

“They wanted to share it with their children, as well as their grandchildren, and share it with their communities in Canada.”

Stobbe noted the importance of the project to him because his family came to Canada as refugees.

“I came to Canada when I was very young and experienced war, migration, resettlement and resettlement,” she said, “and I really connected with the different people I interviewed for this project.”

Early discussions on the project began in 2015 and were funded in 2018. Interviews for the project began in 2019 and ended in 2021. Most of those interviewed were former refugees, but also government officials, including former prime minister Joe Clark. and other sponsors of the organization.

Finally, Stobbe decided to create a traveling exhibition based on the project.

“I wanted to give it back to the people I interviewed across Canada, to the communities, so they could share it with their families, friends and communities,” he said.

Stobbe hopes the exhibit will find a permanent home in Canada in the future. These stories and issues are “very important and relevant to this day,” he said, because of the ongoing problems of war and displacement.

“We really need to look at these issues and look at ways to help refugees,” Stobbe said. He said it's important to look at the services Canada needs to help them integrate into their new country and overcome language barriers when they have recent refugees.

He said it was important to celebrate the “positive stories of integration and the contributions of these former refugees and their descendants” in Canada.

After completing the exhibition in January 2023, it was commissioned at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC. The “Hearts of Freedom” exhibition has been touring the country since then.

The Hearts of Freedom exhibit will be on display at the Manitoba Museum from January 5th to April 7th. For tickets, visit my.manitobamuseum.ca.