Hundreds of refugees came to Sudbury from Hungary, Vietnam in decades past

Morning North11:27Syrian refugee crisis similar to past influxes from war-torn countries

CBC reporter Erik White explores the past influxes of refugees into Sudbury and Northern Ontario, with focus on the Hungarians in 1956 and the Vietnamese in 1980 and uncovers a pair of love stories.

Preparations are being made to welcome Syrian refugees to Sudbury and across northern Ontario, but this is not the first time doors have been opened to those from troubled corners of the world.

We look back on the last two influxes of refugees that saw families sponsored, fundraising campaigns launched and new Sudburians welcomed.

George Galba

George Galba was a 15-year-old hanging out in a public square in Budapest when the Soviet Union invaded his homeland.

He was swept up in a rush to the border and ended up in a refugee camp in Austria. It was two months before his parents found out what happened to him.

Galbawas eventually put on a boat for New York, and ended up in the Sudbury area. He was placed with a farmer and was treated like a slave labourer something he never liked to talk about. He later lived with a Hungarian family in Sudbury, completed eight elementary school grades in one year and was hired on at INCO's Clarabelle Mill.

He met his future wife Jessie at a dance. She was seven months pregnantwhen he died in a plane crash in 1973. Her daughter, Georgina, has embraced Hungarian culture, despite never knowing her father.

Nam and Carol Le

In October 1980, Carol went to the Sudbury airport to pick up the latest group of Vietnamese refugees. Working at the multicultural centre, she had helped some of the 350 "boat people" settle in the city.

A quiet young man named Nam Le was part of the group. He had fled Vietnam in a small boat and spent 11 days lost on the ocean before arriving in the Philippines. In Sudbury, he got to know Carol as he servedas an interpreter for the other Vietnamese who werearriving.

They are still married today, living in the village of Walford, west of Sudbury. His first job was making doughnuts, but he is now a respiratory therapist at the Sudbury hospital.