World Refugee Awareness Month: from Child Refugee to Canada’s 26th Governor General
- David Anthony Hohol
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
June is Refugee Awareness month. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), released data in June of 2025 that stated over 122 million people—one in every 67 individuals globally—are forcibly displaced. This number has doubled in only the last 10 years. Then, as it is today, Canada is seen around the world as a beacon of hope in their journey toward safety. Every time there is a worldwide crisis, we see people arriving in Calgary with hope in their back pocket.
Today we highlight once such story - Adrienne Clarkson
Adrienne Louise Poy Clarkson was born in Hong Kong on February 10, 1939. Her family escaped Japanese-occupied Hong Kong during World War II and arrived in Canada as refugees in 1942, settling in Ottawa. Those early years — arriving with “one suitcase apiece” and being welcomed by neighbours and local churches — shaped how she thought about belonging, public service, and Canada’s role as a country of refuge.
From April 1, 2023 to December 2025, CFN has helped more than 10,000 refugees.
We cannot do this without your help.
How a refugee childhood shaped her voice Clarkson has spoken repeatedly about arriving with very little and feeling that Canada’s welcome made her future possible.
In public remarks tied to refugee and settlement work she put it plainly: she described arriving “as a refugee with nothing, with one suitcase,” and said that coming to Canada made it possible for her life to unfold in ways she could never have imagined.
A career in culture, media and public life After growing up in Ottawa, Clarkson studied English literature at the University of Toronto and did postgraduate work at the Sorbonne. She built a long career in broadcasting and journalism with the CBC, working on programs such as Take Thirty and creating The Fifth Estate and Adrienne Clarkson Presents — roles that made her a familiar national presence through the 1960s–1990s.
"I have made belonging the interest of my life. I was, and am, a child of diaspora. I am someone who, for a while, did not belong anywhere. And I will always be someone who understands the everlasting anguish of not belonging. We arrived in this country under the shield of the Red Cross, stateless, as refugees. Then Canada took us in." - Adrienne Clarkson
Governor General and continued public service Clarkson served as Canada’s 26th Governor General from October 7, 1999, to September 27, 2005. During and after her viceregal term she emphasized multiculturalism, inclusion, and citizenship — themes she often tied back to her own experience as a refugee child in Canada.
Writing and civic projects Her memoir, Heart Matters, recounts her life and public years and was published in 2006/2007. After leaving Rideau Hall she co-founded the Institute for Canadian Citizenship to help new Canadians feel welcomed and included — work that echoes the welcome her family received when they arrived.
Why her refugee story matters Clarkson’s trajectory — from arriving with a single suitcase to representing all Canadians as Governor General — is frequently cited as an example of how early experiences of displacement and welcome can inform a lifetime of public engagement. As she has said in public addresses and writing, being received with kindness and practical help when her family had nothing left informed her conviction that Canada should remain a place that welcomes newcomers
"I read recently that immigration will be down by at least 30 per cent... That's terrifying because we need immigrants, we need refugees. We need people who came here... in order to do the things we need to do to keep up our pensions, to keep our universal health care..." - Adrienne Clarkson
Comments