Before 1975, the Vietnamese community in Canada which consisted of a couple of hundreds of students coming to Canada mostly under the Colombo Plan and as foreign students was little known in Canada. Until 1975, when the first wave of about 6,000 Vietnamese refugees came to settle here after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam, the Vietnamese community has gradually shaped up and became more visibly noticed. The second wave of refugees was made up of boat people with 50,000 of them coming to Canada during 1979 and 1980.
Vietnamese refugees represent a wide range of backgrounds and they came from all walks of life.
Some of them are well educated and had been exposed to western culture. Initially, some of these refugees developed physical health or emotional problems as a result of being in the refugees camps for a long time. Thanks to their determination to rebuild their lives and to the warm welcome and generous assistance provided by the Canadian public and governments, most of them have overcome these difficulties and have been very successful in their new country. Vietnamese refugees have gone through considerable hardships. They came to Canada during the time of budget restraints, with fewer job opportunities and more competition in the labour market.