The Day of Henderson's Goal

On September 28, 1972, a family arrived at an army barracks near Montreal.

They were the Saujanis. They came from Uganda. They had not chosen to leave.

That day, all of Canada was looking elsewhere. Paul Henderson scored the winning goal in the final game of the Summit Series against the Soviet Union.

The mother, Shanta, saw it as a sign. What an auspicious day to arrive, she exclaimed.

A month and a half earlier, in August 1972, Ugandan leader Idi Amin had ordered the expulsion of some 80,000 people of Asian origin. He gave them 90 days to leave the country. He said there was no longer room for them, even for those who were citizens.

The father, Rai Saujani, was born in Uganda. He was a deputy superintendent in the Ugandan police. Three of his brothers were arrested by the army, after an argument in a line for documents. Through his connections, he managed to get them released.

Their daughter Sheyfali would remember it as a frightening time.

Canada moved quickly. Within days, it set up an emergency program. It first planned to take 5,000 people, then agreed to receive them without a numerical limit. In early September, Canadian immigration officers opened an office in Kampala.

On September 27, 1972, the first charter flight to Montreal left Entebbe. Families were received at Canadian Forces Base Longue-Pointe, converted to welcome them. Above the suitcases hung a banner: "Bienvenue Welcome."

For the Saujanis, an aunt already lived in Hamilton with her husband and their three daughters. She wanted to sponsor the family, but her income fell a little short. The monthly mother's allowance cheques made the difference.

In under 90 days, about 7,000 people expelled from Uganda found refuge in Canada.

A country is not measured only by its goals. It is also measured by the door it opens.

Sheyfali Saujani went on to work as a CBC Radio producer for 30 years. Nearly fifty years later, she told her family's arrival story for Library and Archives Canada.

She concludes simply:

That day, a whole country was celebrating a goal. Elsewhere, quietly, it was winning something else: new neighbours, who would become its own.