Activities of the Canadian Delegation within the ICCS

In the statement issued after the Cabinet meeting on July 27, 1954 announcing Canada's acceptance to serve in the ICCS, External Affairs Minister Pearson warned: We have no illusions that the task we are undertaking will be either easy or of short duration." ³³

Although regretting that the solution for Indo-China had not been worked out within the framework of the United Nations, Canada accepted the invitation mainly because of its responsibility of world peace and also because it believed this international commission had more chance to succeed than the one for Korea. On August 17, 1954, the Canadian Government nominated Mr. Sherwood Lett to head the Canadian Delegation for the ICCS for Vietnam.³⁴

In the interview granted to CBC reporter W.J. Herbert on September 27, 1954, Ambassador Lett confirmed that the Canadian Delegation included 120 military personnel and 20 civilian staff. ³⁵ As representatives from a country of the Free World, the Canadian Delegation had a special interest in the execution of Article 14 of the Geneva Agreement., in particular paragraph c (on banning of all forms of discrimination and reprisals) and paragraph d (on freedom of movement).

It has disagreed on many occasions with the contents of the interim reports of the ICCS, especially with the Fourth Interim Report, and, as a result, has requested the ICCS to include in that report the full text of its minority report as Canadian Amendment to Paragraphs 24 to 34 of Chapter V concerning the freedom of movement, and as Canadian Amendment to Paragraph 21 of Chapter V and paragraphs 44 and 45 of Chapter VIII dealing with co-operation of the parties to the Agreement and problems of the future. In the first amendment, the Canadian Delegation has accused the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) of serious violations of Article 14 (d), especially in the incidents that occurred in Phat Diem, Tra Ly, Ba Lang, Luu My, Thuan Nghia, Tho Ninh, and Xa Doai.

It also rejected accusations by North Vietnam that Vietnamese in the North were forced to move to the South. This rejection was based on the results of the investigations that the Canadian Delegation had conducted at various refugee camps in the South: "Some 25,000 out of a total of 121,000 in these camps were contacted by the teams, which reported that there was no evidence of forced evacuation and none of the persons interviewed wished to return to the North."³⁶

When the 300-day period of free movement between the two regrouping zones was drawing to an end, and believing that there was still a number of people desiring to go to the South, the Canadian Delegation recommended that the period be extended for two months to July 20, 1955. This recommendation was approved by the ICCS and passed along to the two signatory parties, which also accepted. In general, Canada's voting record was slightly more favorable to the South Vietnamese side. ³⁷