First Canadian chartered flights for Ugandan Asians leave from Entebbe Airport.

The Christian Science Monitor reported on the unfolding crisis with the following:

“The United States decision to take up to 1,000 of the Asians being expelled from Uganda is little more than a token gesture but is nonetheless welcome to the British.

The refugees to be admitted to the U.S. will be drawn from the 10,000 or so stateless Asians being forced to leave Uganda in addition to 30,000 to 40,000 holders of British, Indian or Pakistani passports. They will be selected with an eye to their professional qualifications to ensure that they will be self-supporting and not affect the labor market. There should therefore be no difficulty in absorbing them.

Canada, where the unemployment rate is high, is taking 5,000 of the expellees.

Altogether 16 countries so far have responded with concrete offers to the British Government appeal for an international effort to find homes for the world’s latest batch of refugees. Britain, which will take up to 30,000 of the expellees itself, can find some comfort in the fact that a considerable number of its friends and allies are lending a helping hand in this crisis. It has accepted full responsibility for settling those Asians with British passports. But rightly enough it considers the problem of the stateless Asians to be an international one.”

Source: ‘Resettling the Asians’, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 Oct 1972