Jan Raska

Biographic Data

ID801388
NAMEJan Raska
GIVEN NAMESJan
FAMILY NAMERaska
SIGNATURERASKA J
AFFILIATIONSCanadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21
ORCID0000-0003-3208-7561
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS9
TOTAL CITATIONS1
AUTHOR COUNT9
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2008
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2021
H-INDEX1

  • Small Gold Mine of Talent: Integrating Prague Spring Refugee Professionals in Canada, 1968-1969

    Open AccessJan RaskaARTICLERefuge Canada s Journal on Refuge2021References: 6

    Following the August 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, 11,200 Prague Spring refugees were resettled in Canada. This movement included many experienced professionals and skilled tradespeople. This article examines how these refugees navigated language training and barriers to employment, including professional accreditation, and examines how this experience shaped bureaucratic and public views of refugee integration. The focus of this ar…

  • Welcoming the Sick and Afflicted: Canada's Tubercular Admissions Program, 1959-1960

    Jan RaskaARTICLEHistoire sociale2019References: 2

    In the 1950s, the United Nations lobbied Canadian officials to help close Europe's remaining displaced persons camps and resettle "hard core" refugees—individuals who were unsponsored, sick, infirm, or disabled. As part of Canada's contribution to World Refugee Year (1959-1960), the federal government appeased public demands for a humanitarian response by implementing a special program that brought 325 tubercular refugees and 501 family members t…

  • Czech Refugees in Cold War Canada: 1945–1989

    Jan RaskaBOOKCzech Refugees in Cold War Canada2018

    During the Cold War, more than 36,000 individuals entering Canada claimed Czechoslovakia as their country of citizenship. A defining characteristic of this migration of predominantly political refugees was the prevalence of anti-communist and democratic values. Diplomats, industrialists, politicians, professionals, workers, and students fled to the West in search of freedom, security, and economic opportunity. Jan Raska’s Czech Refugees in Cold W…

  • Joshua C. Blank, Creating Kashubia: History, memory, and identity in Canada’s first Polish community

    Jan RaskaARTICLECanadian Slavonic Papers2017

    Joshua C. Blank, Creating Kashubia: history, memory, and identity in Canada’s first Polish community." Canadian Slavonic Papers, 59(1-2), pp. 176–177

  • Humanitarian Gesture: Canada and the Tibetan Resettlement Program, 1971–5

    Open AccessJan RaskaARTICLECanadian Historical Review2016

    In 1966, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (unhcr) lobbied the Canadian government to accept a small number of Tibetan refugees for permanent resettlement. Federal officials informed the unhcr that Canadian immigration policy discouraged group settlement. Initially, efforts to permanently resettle the Tibetan refugees were stifled as Canadian immigration officials disagreed over the resettlement of “self-described no…

  • Recreating a homeland: Czechoslovak diplomats in Canada during the Second World War

    Jan RaskaARTICLECanadian Slavonic Papers2016References: 17

    In the 1920s, a large influx of immigrants from Czechoslovakia came to Canada in search of industrial work and available land for agriculture. Interwar ethnic associations were predominantly led by individuals of Slovak origin. Czechoslovakia maintained contact with its nationals in Canada through its diplomatic officials. Their consular offices promoted loyalty to Czechoslovakia’s policies in the hopes that Slovaks and Czechs would adopt their h…

  • Forgotten Experiment: Canada’s Resettlement of Palestinian Refugees, 1955-1956

    Jan RaskaARTICLEHistoire sociale2015Cited by: 1References: 6

    À l’été 1955, le gouvernement canadien a fait preuve d’audace: il a admis des réfugiés palestiniens déplacés à cause de la guerre arabo-israélienne de 1948. Le gouvernement a approuvé la relocalisation de 100 travailleurs qualifiés et de leurs familles. Les autorités canadiennes croyaient que d’atténuer le problème des réfugiés au Moyen-Orient contribuerait favoriser la stabilité régionale. Le plan de relocalisation est demeuré une question polit…

  • Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996 by Chris Kostov (review)

    Jan RaskaARTICLECanadian ethnic studies2014

    Reviewed by: Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996 by Chris Kostov Jan Raska Chris Kostov. Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010. 318 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $76.95 sc. Treatments of intraethnic relations between successive waves of immigrants remain understudied in Canadian immigration historiography. In using Macedonian im…

  • Mistrusted Strangers at Home: Czechs, Slovaks, and the Canadian "Enemy Aliens" Registration Issue, 1938-1942

    Jan RaskaARTICLEInternational Journal of Canadian…2008

    Ethnic groups whose homelands had aligned with the Axis powers, had been invaded, annexed, or simply ceased to exist during the Second World War found that their wartime experience in their country of resettlement mirrored events back home. Past historiography has dealt superficially with the experiences of lesser-known ethnic groups in Canada. Hence, Czechs and Slovaks suffered a similar fate to the larger and more visible ethnic groups (Germans…