Lynn Tao

"I’m Chinese, born in Vietnam, raised in Canada. I have two young kids. My husband, we kind of work together, we met in university in computer science at UNB. So when the Vietnam War happened in 1979... [my parents and I] were boat people and we had to get out. So to get out meant to take all of your belongings, what you could carry really, and build a boat. My dad was part of the building process at that time so my family, the three of us, were able to get on and have a seat. We fled and you go through open waters, with rolling waves. We met pirates, you know that movie with Tom Hanks? You think that it’s crazy, but it actually happens. These guys were coming in and they were trying to steal whatever you got. My uncle, he was smart enough, he melted his gold and made it a belt buckle, but painted it black. And they’d strip them all right down and he would still have his belt on. He’d have nothing else on but he wore the belt and the guys didn’t pick up on it, so he was able to keep that. So we ended up in the refugee camp, which was the end goal at that time, it was in Malaysia. We were there for, I wanna say 8 months. And that’s good. So we had an aunt and uncle who came here, really the same way, but came [to Fredericton] just a few months before us. And so we were like, Fredericton? We didn’t know what that meant, we just knew at least we had someone there to help us. My parents would have flown the coop Fredericton-wise. They have less of a connection with Fredericton because of the cultural differences I’d say. They would have gone to Toronto or Vancouver, anything bigger that had the community. Myself, I went through school here so it’s a huge roots system that I have in Fredericton. You know whether it’s friends you went to school with or friends you met somewhere else. I have a huge support social structure here. I’ve worked at a big company elsewhere and I love the companies I’ve worked for. But, the cities are so big and it’s just a fast-paced thing... that lifestyle is not a long-term one, it’s not an investment it’s just a quick hit. I think [the lifestyle] is the biggest seller of staying in New Brunswick… and I’d say if we can create the opportunities here in Fredericton and New Brunswick, people would stay. I can’t imagine living anywhere else."