Established in 1987 by the VCF with the funding from the Vietnamese community and from the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture of Ontario, the Vietnamese Canadian Centre has operated as a cultural resource centre and a home for community activities. Since 1988, the Centre has been used as a meeting place for various public and community events including a public meeting of the Ministry of Housing of Ontario, the Celebration Committee of the 10th anniversary of Project 4000, the activities of 12 local community organizations, and all-candidates meetings for municipal, provincial, federal elections. Numerous courses in painting, martial arts, English, French and citizenship are being held at the Centre.  The principal source of funding of its operation comes from the Vietnamese community.
 

The Vietnamese Refugee Sponsorship Coordinating Council was established is to coordinate the activities of local sponsorship organizations to assist Vietnamese refugees in Southeast Asian camps. The Coordinating Council has held a number of meetings with its affiliated organizations and held many meetings with politicians at all levels of government to sensitize them to the plight of Vietnamese refugees in Southeast Asia.

On September 21, 1989, a Master Agreement on the sponsorship and joint assistance of the refugees was signed by the VCF President and the Minister of Employment and Immigration of Canada to facilitate the sponsorship of Vietnamese refugees for resettlement in Canada.

In October 1989, the Refugee Sponsorship Coordinating Council, with the collaboration of Project 4000, organized a fund-raising dinner in Ottawa and raised $15,000.00. On this occasion, the Council also received a cheque of US $ 20,000.00 from the Boat People SOS Committee, USA. Since then, the Council has been able to raise over $100,000 from members of the Vietnamese communities in the U.S., France, Australia and Canada to assist refugee sponsorship activities in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Halifax, Guelph, and London. Currently, $7,000 remains in this fund.

On November 7, 1992 the Council held a meeting in Ottawa to review the progress made in the group sponsorship program in Canada concerning Vietnamese refugees and to discuss the plan of action for the coming years. Participants in the meeting included representatives of the Boat People SOS Committee in the USA, the Vietnamese Refugee Sponsorship Committee of the Ottawa Region, the Boat People SOS Committee of Canada. The participants at the meeting agreed that in the following months attention shall be focused on the refugee screening process being applied by various countries in Southeast Asia to ensure that Vietnamese refugees are treated with fairness and dignity by first countries of asylum.

In 1994, the Council worked together with the Vietnamese refugees assistance groups in the U.S., France, and Australia in the preparation of a document entitled A Cry to Humanity to promote public understanding of the plight of over 50,000 refugees who are still awaiting resettlement in various Southeast Asian camps.  The Council also worked with the Greater Toronto Vietnamese Assistance Committee in the organization of a workshop on refugees on May 25, 1994 in Toronto.  Following this event, it made a presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, and collaborated with the Federation of Vietnamese Students in Montreal, the Vietnamese Women's Association of Montreal, and the Vietnamese Community of Canada - Montreal Region in the organization of a workshop with the theme Vietnamese Refugees - 1995: The Last Stage in Montreal on November 19, 1994.  This last event was participated by the representatives of the UNHCR office in Ottawa and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.  Meetings we also held with officials of Citizenship and Immigration Canada to discuss the situation of Vietnamese asylum seekers, particularly those who have relatives in Canada but have been screened out by officials of asylum countries.

 In 1995, the Council collaborated with refugees assistance groups in the U.S., Australia, and France in the publication of a series of documents on the allegations of corruption in the refugees screening process being used in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia.  These publications were then used to sensitize the world community and law-makers on the plight of Vietnamese refugees in Southeast Asia.

In late 1996, the Council cooperated with Vietnamese refugees assistance group in the U.S., Australia, Germany, and other countries to provide support to a refugee who took refuge at the Czech embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.  After intense lobbying efforts by the overseas Vietnamese community, the Czech government finally decided to grant political asylum to this refugee.  Also in 1996, the Council worked with the Edmonton Viets' Association in helping 11 members of a cultural delegation sent by the Hanoi government to the Klondike Festival in Edmonton to seek political refugee status in Canada.  As of the end of 1997, 10 of these refugees were granted the permission to stay in Canada.

In another effort to assist refugees resettle in their first countries of asylum, the Council sent $3,000.00 to the Philippines to assist in the establishment of a Vietnamese village near the former Palawan refugee camp.  As well, the Council sent $500.00 to the Vietnamese Assistance Association in Manilla, Philippines to help with the provision of resettlement and immigration services to about 1,000 refugees who are still in the country.

Close to home, in early 1998, the Vietnamese Canadian Federation sent a cheque of $1,000.00 to the Association of Vietnamese in Canada, Montreal Region, to purchase food stuffs for distribution to some shelters set up during the ice storm of the century in Montreal. This was followed by a contribution of $5,000.00 by the Association of Vietnamese Physicians, Dentists, and Pharmacists presented to the Government of Quebec on the occasion of the Vietnamese New-Year Festival of February 15, 1998.
 
The Boat People SOS Committee of Canada, a non-profit and charitable organization based in Montreal which has a close working relationship with the Council, has been able to raise $600,000 from overseas organizations. This money has been used to sponsor 200 refugees and will be used to sponsor another 300.

The Refugee Sponsorship Coordinating Council and numerous refugee sponsorship committees in Canada have been involved directly and indirectly in the sponsorship of 4,500 Vietnamese refugees in Southeast Asia from 1989 to 1996.
 

 In 1990, the City of Ottawa approved the request of the Vietnamese community for a site to erect a monument to commemorate the contribution of the Vietnamese community to the City and to the country as a whole.  A working group called the Vietnamese Commemorative Monument was then formed and incorporated to carry out this project.  This Committee is headed by An X. Vu, and Can D. Le, its former Presidents, as Co-Chairmen.  The site approved for this purpose is located at the corner of Somerset Street West and Preston Street.  A site dedication ceremony was held on November 30, 1991.  Subsequently, the Committee mounted four fund-raising campaigns to collect contributions from the members of the Vietnamese community and their friends in Canada and other countries.  Over $110,000.00 has been raised.  This project was completed on schedule for the unveiling ceremony held on April 30, 1995.  Over 2,000 people from across Canada and the U.S. were on hand for this occasion.

Subsequently, the Committee published a souvenir book to raise funds for the upkeepings of the monument.  As a result, over $12,000.00 was raised, sufficient to cover the additional landscaping costs and the maintenance costs until 1999.