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Vietnam
Towns in North America
[ Viet Towns in United State Of America ] [ Viet Nam Towns in Canada ]
Little
Saigon - Viet
Nam Towns in Canada
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XUVN.COM for More Insight of Vietnam, Its Land & Its People
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Toronto, ON
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41,740
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Montreal, QC
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25,335
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Vancouver, BC
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16,865
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Calgary, AB
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10,110
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Edmonton, AB
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7,770
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Ottawa-Hull, ON-QC
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6,615
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Kitchener, ON
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2,950
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Hamilton, ON
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2,825
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Winnipeg, MB
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2,750
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Vietnamese began arriving in Canada in the mid 1970s and early 1980s as refugees or boat people following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, though a couple thousands were already living in Quebec before then. Most new arrivees were sponsored by groups of individuals and churches and settled in areas around Southern Ontario, Montreal, Quebec, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Between 1975 to 1985, 110,000 settled in Canada (23,000 in Ontario; 13,000 in Quebec; 8,000 in Alberta; 7,000 British Columbia; 5,000 in Manitoba; 3,000 in Saskatchewan; and 2,000 in the Maritime provinces). As time progressed, most eventually settled in urban centres like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton, Hamilton and Calgary.
The next wave of Vietnamese migration came in the late 1980s and 1990s as both refugees and immigrant classes of post-war Vietnam entered Canada. Some of these immigrants are ethnic Chinese from Saigon in southern Vietnam. These groups settled in urban areas, in particular Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.
Vietnamese immigrants settled mainly in the eastern sections of Vancouver and in Montreal's downtown and south shore. In Toronto they have settled in the city's Chinatown area near Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West or to the west in Mississauga. Vietnamese Canadians also brought their cuisine and pho has become a popular food everywhere in Canada.
In Canada, local Vietnamese media is dominated by:
Thoi Bao - Toronto newspaper
Thoi Bao TV - Toronto
Vietnamville http://vietnamville.ca - Montreal
In Vancouver, hardworking Vietnamese Canadians managed to open a variety of stores and restaurants throughout Vancouver, especially on the east side of the city around Kingsway and Fraser. The area is home to several Vietnamese clothing, food stores, and shops.
In the Toronto area, there are 19 Vietnamese owned supermarkets, some serving ethnic Vietnamese-French.
In Montreal there are about 40,000 Vietnamese Canadian population among
highest median income and education of Vietnamese Canadians in major cities.
There are more than 100 Vietnamese restaurants, hundreds of small size
manufacturers of different products from clothing to technology, about 80
pharmacies and hundreds of doctors, dentists, over a thousand scientists,
engineers and technicians, about sixty convenient stores and groceries. Since
Nov 2006, Mr. Ngo Van Tan has started a daring project to promote and build the
first Vietnam Town in Canada called Vietnamville near metro Jean Talon including
St-Denis, Jean Talon, St-Hubert and Belanger streets with over 130 businesses
already opened in the area. Investment opportunities in Vietnam Town are open to
Vietnamese worldwide.
Toronto Little Saigon
Vietnam
Town in Toronto, ON Little Saigon
In Toronto, the Vietnamese immigrants have settled in the city's Chinatown area near Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West or to the west in Mississauga.
The area bounded by Spadina Ave. (West), Beverly Street (east), College Street (North), and Queen Street (South) is considered as Viet Nam Town since it comprises about more than 136 Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese businesses.
Toronto's largest Chinatown is centered on Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street. To the east of the Don River is Toronto Chinatown East, at the corner of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street. With a population of over 400,000 Chinese, Toronto has the largest concentration of "chinatowns" in North America when considering all five major chinatowns in the metropolitan region. Toronto's Chinatown and Chinese communities are highly represented by Hong Kong immigrants and families. In the last decade, mostly after the 1997 Hong Kong handover, the influx of immigrants from mainland China has surpassed the flow of immigration from Hong Kong. However, most Chinese businesses and restaurants are still conducted in Cantonese. The pan-Chinese diasporas are generally segregated, with the Vietnamese Chinese, who generally arrived as impoverished refugees, residing in old Chinatown and suburban Mississauga in western Toronto. The wealthy Hong Kong Chinese tend to be concentrated in upscale Markham and Richmond Hill in the northern part of Greater Toronto. The Mainland Chinese have concentrated in the historic Chinatown in Toronto.
In addition to the Chinatown around Dundas and Spadina and the East Chinatown on Gerrard, there are multiple other Chinatowns throughout Toronto's suburbs, especially those in Agincourt and Milliken: Stretching west from Brimley along Sheppard Avenue to blocks west of Kennedy and north from Sheppard to Steeles. Mississauga, Richmond Hill along Bayview/Hwy 7 to Leslie/Hwy 7 and north from Hwy 7 to roughly 16th avenue.
To the north of the city of Toronto, Markham and Richmond Hill, Ontario are noted for their large concentration of Chinese strip malls; in 2001, 30 percent of Markham's population, or 62,355 people, was of Chinese descent. Mentionable Chinese malls in Markham and Richmond Hill include Pacific Mall (largest Chinese mall in North America with over 300 stores), Market Village, Metro Square, and First Markham Place, Times Square, Commerce Gate, Chalmers Gate and Golden Gate Plaza. On February 14, 2007, Splendid China Tower Mall had opened. It's at the corner of Kennedy Rd and Steel Ave, which it's the border of Scarborough and Markham and it marks the entrance of another expansion of the Chinese cultural-commercial presence in North America.
There have been a number of businesses, namely restaurants that have flourished in the large Chinese communities.
Toronto's new Chinese suburbs include businesses from several regions of China, but they also are dominated by businesses set up by Hong Kong companies as well as immigrants from Hong Kong and their families. Also, the old Chinatown of Toronto on Spadina Avenue has become noticeably Vietnamese in character. Vietnamese have also become part of the new Asian areas on the Jane and Finch corridor and in Missisauga.
Old Chinatown Little Saigon
PacificMall
in suburban Markham |
Typical Chinatown restaurant window along Spadina at night. |
Toronto
has the one of the largest Chinatowns in North America. It is centred around the
intersection of Dundas
Street West and Spadina
Avenue, and extends outward from this point along both streets. It has grown
significantly over the years and has come to reflect a diverse set of Asian
cultures through its shops and restaurants, including Chinese, Vietnamese,
and Thai.
Toronto's original Chinatown was located on Dundas Street West
and Bay
Street. When the City began construction on the current City
Hall in the 1960s, Chinese-oriented stores and homes formerly in the old
district were required to close down and move shop, so that the area could be
cleared for the new building. Consequently, the Chinese community migrated
westward to Chinatown's current location.
Toronto's oldest (surviving) Chinatown is struggling to
redefine itself in the face of an aging Chinese population, recent declines in
tourism, and the lure of the suburban Chinatowns that continue to draw money and
professional immigrants away from downtown. Unlike the newer Chinatowns in the
suburbs, Dundas and Spadina relies heavily on tourism and Chinese seniors.
Younger, higher-income immigrants from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, and Hong
Kong have moved out, so those left in the district are typically from older
generations who depend on downtown's dense concentration of services and
accessibility to public transportation. Ethnic Chinese from Vietnam
are now the faces of old Chinatown Toronto and turning some parts into Little
Saigon. While the aging population shrinks however, so too do the revenues
of businesses in the district. Also the area is also seeing a surge in Latin
American immigrants, they too are changing the face of the old Chinatown.
The
Chinese Vietnamese in Toronto's Chinatown (PDF file)
Ottawa
Ottawa's
"Chinatown" is actually named the Asian Village and it is located in
the Centretown area, on Somerset Street West near Bronson Avenue. It is a
community mixes with ethnic markets, shops, services and especially an
assortment of ethnic Chinese and ethnic Vietnamese eateries.
Windsor
An informal but sizable Chinatown is found in Windsor, Ontario, in close proximity to the Ambassador Bridge on Wyandotte Street West, between Ranking Avenue and Partingten Avenue, within walking distance from the University of Windsor. This street has several businesses, ranging from Chinese groceries, restaurants, bakeries, among others - mostly established by the Vietnamese Chinese migrants. This Chinatown is also frequented by people from Michigan and Ohio since Metro Detroit lacks a formal "Chinatown", although there is a growing Chinese retail strip in the Detroit suburb of Madison Heights, Michigan, also filled with various businesses owned by Vietnamese Chinese.
Montreal
Montreal's small, but well-frequented Chinatown is on rue De La Gauchetière and around rue Saint-Urbain and boulevard Saint-Laurent, between boulevard René-Lévesque and rue Viger (Place-d'Armes metro station), just a stone's throw away from the touristy Old Montreal (Vieux-Montreal). It was originally formed in the 1890s and has been the centrepiece for Chinese residing in the Montreal area.
The Chinatown is known as Quartier chinois in French. Hong Kong Chinese especially have settled in the area. Over the years, Vietnamese Chinese have set up shops and restaurants in the area as well. As with other Chinatowns the world over, the majority of the trade in the district are specialized in Chinese gastronomy, but there are also other diners specializing in Vietnamese cuisine. There are also Chinese bakeries offering Chinese pastries.
A newer Chinese commercial centre of suburban Montreal is on
Boulevard Taschereau in Brossard, where Chinese Canadian make up a fairly
sizable portion of the population. Began in the late 1980s, Hong Kong Chinese
immigrant arrived prior to the 1997 Communist Chinese takeover of British Hong
Kong. Sadly, Brossard experienced a drop in its population of Chinese origin and
many strip mall businesses have been abandoned as some Hong Kongers returned to
meet their uncertain fate in the Communist-rule era of Hong Kong.
Chinese businesses in Quebec enjoy one of the only exceptions
to that province's notorious language laws. When l'office de la langue
francaise ordered restaurants and other businesses to replace their Chinese
signs with signs where the French text is at least twice as large as Chinese,
and without any English, Chinese businessmen protested that this was unlucky and
bad for business. They were granted exemptions from the province's strict sign
laws on cultural grounds.
In Montreal (mainly in downtown and south shore) there are about 40,000
Vietnamese Canadian population among highest median income and education of
Vietnamese Canadians in major cities. There are more than 100 Vietnamese
restaurants, hundreds of small size manufacturers of different products from
clothing to technology, about 80 pharmacies and hundreds of doctors, dentists,
over a thousand scientists, engineers and technicians, about sixty convenient
stores and groceries.
Vietnam
Town in Vancouver, BC
Vietnamese immigrants settled mainly in the eastern sections of
Vancouver. In Vancouver,
hardworking Vietnamese Canadians managed to open a variety of stores and
restaurants throughout Vancouver, especially on the east side of the city around
Kingsway and Fraser. The area is home to several Vietnamese clothing, food
stores, and shops.
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