Most of my information comes from history classes taught here in canada but I have also done some studying on my own and recommend this book http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674004719 it's very well written and talks about the movement from the point of view of an American citizen who moved to canada.

The first thing to know is that there were two distinct groups of American citizens who came to Canada, Draft Dogers and Deserters. Draft Dogers were generally college educated men who had recently become eligible for the draft, they were able to enter Canada and begin an immigration application to become Canadian citizens, they mostly settled in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal developing what were known as American ghettos, large settlements of American citizens with a very strong anti war sentiment, they were able to hold regular jobs and build their own communities with the help of Canadian citizens. After the pardon was granted by the American government up to half returned to the US while the others stayed in canada becoming citizens and some eventually becoming prominent figures such as Jim Green who served on the Vancouver City council.

Deserters were handled slightly differently, because they had already been conscripted it was possible for them to be arrested when attempting to cross the border. After entering Canada they were usually able to settle and work however they were unable to become Canadian Citizens. As well, because a pardon was never granted for Deserters they are still technically able to be arrested and have been as late as 2006 when attempting to cross the border, after being held for a short period of time they are given a dishonorable discharge and released.

French Canada has always held very strong views against conscription, so strong that when a draft was attempted during WW1 riots erupted in the streets of Quebec and conscription was generally ineffective in recruiting new soldiers (this is a whole different discussing with far reaching effects on canada that I won't get into). Between those views and the generally anti war sentiment of the Canadian government and it's citizens American draft Dogers were welcomed to canada without resistance. During this time almost 60 000 viatnamese boat people were also admitted into Canada as refugees and often supported and funded by Canadian citizens.

Not all Canadians were anti war and as many as 30 000 Canadians traveled to the US and enlisted in the American army which was against Canadian law at the time. In his book what is it like to go to war Karl Marlantes, makes reference to Canadians serving in Vietnam, integrated into American units and treated the same as any other soldier.

As a side note exact records of the number of people entering Canada during this time were not very well kept or accessible so I have given the low end numbers where possible.

Follow up question: Any introductory reading (articles, maybe a small book) to this phenomenon? I'm British and only studied the Vietnam war in the context of international relations (i.e. effects on USSR, Chinese, French, British and American foreign policies; effects on the US presidency; comparisons with other conflicts). So i've never heard of this. It'd be nice to know anything about the domestic human cost in the United States, especially this moving to Canada part (e.g. how common it was, effectiveness and long term side effects).

Hi everyone, just posting a general reminder on our rule about anecdotes. As happens a lot of times when we hit one of the cool topics of American history that is still widely remembered and discussed by living people, a lot of comments have removed because we do not allow personal anecdotes or second and third-hand ones. While they're sometimes quite interesting, they're unverifiable, impossible to cross-reference, and not of much use without more context. This comment explains the reasoning behind this rule. Thank you!