Ó Copyright by Mark Edward Pfeifer (1999)

Abstract/Acknowledgements/Table of Contents - [ Chapters - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 ] -  Appendices - References Cited

The concept of the ethnic community, like that of communities more generally, tends to be only vaguely defined when utilized by scholars. Following the parameters of the classic gemeinschaft definition of community, some social scientists have emphasized the common interaction, general sense of unity, and communal type relationships existing within ethnic populations conceived of as communities (Fitzpatrick, 1966; Jansen, 1978; Davies and Herbert, 1993). Many other scholars have utilized the term "community" far more loosely when describing a group of people sharing a common ethnic origin. Nagata (1979) argues that the convention of speaking about "ethnic groups" has the effect of creating an illusion of solidarity and community consciousness among given ethnic populations which in practice rarely exists. Nagata notes that the popular notion of the cohesive ethnic community is the result of forces both internal and external to the ethnic aggregate. Commonly, uninformed outsiders make definitions of ethnic groups with insufficient knowledge of the internal organization of particular populations. In some cases, these external definitions are imposed for the purposes of simplicity and expediency. Census classifications are a good example. The Canadian census has long broken down European ethnic groups into quite specific categories (i.e. English, Scottish, Irish) while utilizing broader categories to describe other ethnic entities (i.e. South Asians, Latin Americans). However, Nagata also observes that it is often in the interest of members and particularly leaders of a particular population to try to present the image of a unified community to "outside" society, and attempts are commonly made by group "representatives" to obscure or otherwise gloss over heterogeneity and internal dissension (Nagata, 1979, pp. 173-75). Other social scientists have noted that ethnic aggregates tend to be characterized by significant internal cleavages, which divide the population in terms of age and generation, gender, socioeconomic status, regional identification, religion, and political ideology and other aspects of social differentiation. Fragmentation and competitive relations among subgroups of the population, it has been argued, may actually provide an essential indicator of a dynamic and functioning ethnic community as rival factions contest social status, political philosophy, and organizational prerogatives within particular ethnic institutions (Dorais et al., 1987; Breton , 1991).

Dorais et al. (1987) and Gold (1992) in studies of Vietnamese populations in Quebec City and Southern California, respectively, have found Vietnamese participation in formal institutions in certain localities to be sharply fragmented by such variables as socioeconomic status and class background, date of arrival, gender, age, religion, political ideology, and region of origin. The social history of Vietnam (Chapter Three) would also indicate that many of these same variables might have salience as sources of internal differentiation within a Vietnamese diaspora "community." This chapter assesses the organization of formal co-ethnic activities among the Vietnamese population in the Toronto area. Variables which structure the membership and leadership composition as well as the program agenda of Vietnamese ethnic institutions will be discussed. The research will address the following issues: How is the Vietnamese ethnic "community" constructed internally by the Vietnamese in the Toronto region? Which aspects of social differentiation seem to most strongly influence participation in community-based activities among the Toronto Vietnamese? The chapter will also examine the nature and extent of interaction and cooperation existing among Vietnamese associations. The issue of community cohesiveness provides the basis for another set of research questions: Are there institutions and/or possibly certain events and occasions where members of the sub-groups in the Vietnamese "community" come together for the purpose of common interaction? Is there any evidence of communication and cooperative activities among the various groups?

Information to address these issues was primarily gathered through semi-structured key informant interviews with Vietnamese-Canadian informants. Discussions were conducted with the leadership of ten Vietnamese ethnic associations, 18 ethnic churches and temples, seven Vietnamese-language broadcast and print media outlets, and twenty Vietnamese-speaking employees of social service agencies including boards of education, health clinics and neighbourhood organizations. The sample includes representatives of more than 70% of the formal Vietnamese institutions (ethnic associations, churches and temples, and ethnic media outlets) active in the Toronto area. The sample also includes more than 2/3 of the Vietnamese-origin social-service agency employees listed in a directory compiled by the Vietnamese Greater Toronto Interlink Services, a City of Toronto funded coalition intended to promote information-sharing and cooperation among Vietnamese-speaking employees of service providers based in the Toronto area. Informants affiliated with ethnic institutions and social service agencies were asked questions in regard to several issues including past history and present programs and activities offered by their institutions, the institution’s administrative structure, the characteristics of their Vietnamese clientele or membership (region of origin, Chinese-Vietnamese or ethnic Vietnamese, time of arrival, gender, age distribution, socioeconomic status), and the nature and extent of any interaction occurring between their organization or agency and any other Chinese-Vietnamese or ethnic Vietnamese organization, as well institutions of the host society and those of any other ethnic groups.

Age or generation is a significant variable structuring the activities of Vietnamese organizations and associations in the Toronto region. Several service agency employees spoke of a generational divide between a middle-aged and elderly leadership and service bureaucracy and a younger group of Vietnamese social service workers in their twenties and thirties. The older generation consists of many individuals who were formerly associated with the South Vietnamese elite of government officials, military officers, teachers, physicians and merchants. The younger group of activists is also composed primarily of persons who originate from South Vietnam. Many of these individuals are the children of former members of the South Vietnamese elite. Members of this younger group of community workers are much more likely than the older generation to have received university educations in Canada. As might be expected, they also have a higher proficiency in English and are in general more familiar with the norms of Canadian society and its institutions.

In Toronto, there has been substantial disagreement between the two generational factions in regard to the resources which should be devoted by community organizations to certain issues. Several of the younger service agency employees spoke disapprovingly of the strong preoccupation older generation activists continue to possess with political issues back in Vietnam. Active opposition to the current Communist government is a priority of a number of local Vietnamese associations in which middle-aged and senior individuals constitute the bulk of the staff and/or membership. Most of the younger activists, while disapproving of the Vietnamese regime, prefer to place a greater emphasis upon issues believed to affect the day-to-day adaptation of the Vietnamese people in Canada.

Younger service agency employees are far more outspoken in regard to social justice issues, in particular, the mistreatment of Vietnamese individuals by representatives of the criminal justice system and the negative impact of the mainstream media’s reporting practices upon the larger public perceptions of the Vietnamese population. Several younger activists spoke at length about a perceived pattern of unequal treatment of Vietnamese persons by police, mall security guards, judges, and correction system officers. Many of the older activists were clearly uncomfortable speaking about these kinds of issues in any detail. A few of the older activists have even publicly supported the deportation of Vietnamese convicted criminals back to Vietnam. Most of the older leaders and community workers were somewhat more willing to discuss the negative effects of news reporting practices but do not seem to be as agitated by the topic as many of the younger activists are.

Another example of an issue where the younger generation of service agency employees has taken the lead is in the realm of AIDS education. A Vietnamese employee of a non-profit service agency which targets AIDS-related services to East and Southeast Asian Canadians noted the strong stigma associated with AIDS among the older generation of service workers, several of whom, he believes, are reluctant to advise and refer clientele to available services and programs. By contrast, several of the younger service personnel employed by agencies located throughout the Toronto area have referred their clients to an Asian AIDS service agency and a number of these individuals have also volunteered their time to serve on the agency’s board of directors and/or assist in outreach efforts.

Gender is another important variable implicit in the organization of community-based activities among the Vietnamese population. Some of the mutual assistance groups are organized along the lines of gender. A group of older women have established a separate elderly society. The professional societies of doctors, dentists, and pharmacists are mostly composed of men. The elder segment of the Vietnamese service bureaucracy is also dominated by men. This pattern may reflect notions about the proper public role of women prevalent among the older generation of Vietnamese. A greater gender balance is found among the younger generation of social service employees. Particularly apparent is the strong representation of Vietnamese women in settlement related work and health-related services. Female employees of two community health centres have been advocates for Vietnamese women caught in abusive domestic relationships, while also providing information on birth control topics as well as sexually transmitted diseases – topics which are somewhat taboo among some of the more conservative segments of the service bureaucracy.

While older men dominate the leadership and administrative hierarchy of the majority of churches and temples, female members are notably active in the affairs of many religious institutions. Two temples in the Toronto area are solely administered by Buddhist nuns. Women are overrepresented in the membership of several religious institutions. The clergy of half of the churches and temples represented in this study estimated the majority of their congregation’s members to be women. In a few churches and temples, female worshippers constitute greater than 60% of the membership. No leader estimated their congregation to have a majority of men among its members. Several clergy observed that females were more likely than men to attend services regularly and become active in the organized as well as informal activities of their churches or temples. The involvement of many older women in the baking of food items – a key source of revenue for most Buddhist temples – may serve as an example of such an active participation in congregational affairs.

Ethnic identification is another factor structuring the activities of Vietnamese community organizations in the Toronto area. Ethnic Chinese constitute a significant portion of the Vietnam-born population in the Toronto region. It has been estimated that about 40% of the Vietnam-born population enumerated in the Toronto CMA in 1991 was of ethnic Chinese origin (Wilson, 1995). Comparable estimates were not available from the 1996 census at the time of this writing.

Despite the substantial size of the ethnic Chinese population there are few associations or agencies oriented toward providing programs and services to a Chinese-Vietnamese clientele. A Chinese-Vietnamese social worker noted that ethnic Chinese from Vietnam encounter something of an identity problem living in Canada. That is, they are not completely accepted by many of the ethnic Vietnamese associations and service agencies as "Vietnamese". At the same time, they often do not feel they readily fit in at Chinese organizations in which Chinese from Hong Kong tend to predominate in both membership and leadership positions. Playing a role in this sense of marginalisation is the strong feeling of identity Chinese-Vietnamese have historically maintained as an overseas Chinese population. Even though they do speak Vietnamese, most consider themselves first and foremost to be Chinese and favour using the Chinese language when interacting with other Chinese from Vietnam. This maintenance of the Chinese language and culture was facilitated by the fact that many Chinese born in Vietnam lived in separate enclaves with their own institutions including schools and business associations.

Chinese-Vietnamese activists in Toronto have had difficulty finding government funding for programs specifically targeted toward their needs. This has been the case despite the unique aspects of their cultural background compared to the ethnic Vietnamese as well as the differences of background in terms of their status as refugee arrivals which contrasts with the immigrant life histories of the other major sub-groups of Chinese. Several Chinese-Vietnamese social workers pointed out that the most prominent and best-funded ethnic agency providing services to Vietnamese in the metropolitan area does not have a single Chinese-speaking employee on its staff even though the same organization has included the Chinese-Vietnamese numbers in the population estimates it submits to its many funders. These same Chinese-Vietnamese service agency employees also expressed unhappiness with the leadership of certain Chinese-run organizations. One such agency, located in a neighbourhood of Chinese-Vietnamese residential concentration, services a Chinese clientele composed disproportionately of Chinese-Vietnamese and yet possesses scant Chinese-Vietnamese representation on a board of directors dominated by Chinese who originate from elsewhere. One social worker explained the lack of ethnic-specific services by noting that government funders do not see any compelling reason to fund agencies serving subgroups of a larger population which speaks the same Cantonese language. In addition he observed that some of the established Chinese organizations have been in a good position to win grants for services oriented to the Chinese-Vietnamese refugee population as a result of the considerable education and experience in proposal writing their staffs possess in comparison to incipient organizations run by Chinese-Vietnamese, many of whom by virtue of their personal histories lack such a background.

There is only one ethnic association in the Toronto area which targets its programs to a predominately Chinese-Vietnamese clientele. This organization – the Vietnam/Cambodia/Lao/Chinese service organization of Ontario possessed extensive federal and provincial funding to provide settlement services to refugees in the early-to- mid-1980s. In the past decade, this downtown agency situated in the downtown Dundas/Spadina Chinatown has lost most of its external funding. A vice-president of the organization notes that ethnic Vietnamese and mainstream Chinese organizations have managed to claim most of the available funding for ethnic-specific social services. Over this time period, the Chinese-Vietnamese organization has repeatedly had its funding requests rejected on the basis that its proposed programs would only duplicate those offered by other agencies. Presently, the Chinese-Vietnamese association primarily operates as a voluntary organization providing cultural activities to its membership.

There are also three predominantly Chinese-Vietnamese congregations active in the Toronto area. One Buddhist, and two evangelical Christianity Missionary Alliance churches consist almost entirely of members who originate from South Vietnam and worship in Cantonese. Chinese-Vietnamese also constitute a small minority of the membership in several ethnic Vietnamese Buddhist, Cao Dai and evangelical Protestant congregations. Other Chinese-Vietnamese attend Buddhist, Catholic, and Protestant congregations in which Cantonese-speaking Chinese from other backgrounds predominate. It should be also be noted that Chinese-Vietnamese businessmen are active in a few key overseas Chinese business associations based in Toronto’s main Chinatown.

Religious affiliation is an especially significant source of differentiation in Vietnamese community-based activities. The majority of Vietnamese in Toronto are Buddhists. The Vietnamese Buddhist "community" in Toronto is itself rather diverse. Vietnamese Buddhists have established at least eight organized groups in the Toronto area.With one exception, these groups follow the "Pure Land" school of Mahayana Buddhism. "Pure Land" is the form of Buddhism most commonly practiced at temples located within Vietnam. There is one group in Toronto, which practices a school of Buddhism associated with Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist master whose teachings have won a growing following among both East Asian and Western Buddhists. The Vietnamese Zen Meditation Group possesses about 100 members, most of whom are Vietnamese. The group meets at members’ homes and at a Chinese temple in North York.While some members of the meditation group do attend services at other Vietnamese temples, there is little formal interaction between this group and other local Vietnamese Buddhist associations. The Zen Meditation Group differs significantly from the other Buddhist associations in terms of the region of origin, date of arrival, and social class of its membership. The majority of the Meditation Group’s members came to Canada in the mid-to-late 1970s or early 1980s. Many of the participants are employed as professionals in health, education, and social services. Several of these individuals are leaders of Vietnamese mutual assistance associations based in the City of Toronto. The distinct constituency of the group prefers the progressive character of Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh’s reform brand of Buddhism. There is also a notable regional orientation to the Meditation Group’s membership. A disproportionate number of the members originate from Central Vietnam – a group leader attributed this situation to the important role friendship networks have played in the formation of the congregation. The other Vietnamese Buddhist groups in Toronto consist of memberships which are more varied in terms of length of residence and class composition. The vast majority of the membership of the seven other Buddhist congregations originate from South Vietnam, with rather small minorities of families coming from the central and northern regions of the country.

There is also not much mutual cooperation or even communication between the seven "Pure Land" temples. Three of these seven temples are associated with competing international coalitions of Vietnamese Buddhist groups. A temple located in the east end of Toronto has linkages with a Vietnamese monk based in Montreal who possesses allied temples in several Canadian cities. A west end temple has connections with the World Vietnamese Buddhist Order – a coalition of temples in Canada, the U.S., and Europe affiliated with another Vietnamese monk based in Montreal. Another temple sited in Toronto’s west end has connections with the Linh Son Buddhist Order – an international coalition of temples associated with a Vietnamese monk based in France.

It is noteworthy that three of the more recently established temples in the metropolitan area were established at different periods of time over the last decade following administrative disputes between laity and clergy at one particular temple. In each of these three cases, lay members of the congregation sought unsuccessfully to wrest greater power in the day-to-day decision-making of the temple from the clergy. Most recently, a new temple was organized in January 1997 following a prolonged and bitter public dispute among factions at the same more-established temple. Before opening a new temple, the dissenting faction attempted to take over the existing temple through legal means. When this effort proved unsuccessful, the group organized protests and posted flyers in the city’s Chinatowns to earn support for its cause. At the same time, the dissenting group bought advertising in two local Vietnamese language newspapers. These advertisements claimed that the head monk of the existing temple had stolen funds. The head monk of the established temple later sued the two Vietnamese language newspapers for public defamation. A key issue in the dispute between the factions at the temple centered around the programs and activities of a Buddhist youth group. The dissenting faction reestablished the youth group at the new temple following the disbanding of a similar group among the established congregation. Most of the leadership and membership of the new temple and its very active youth group formerly belonged to the already existing temple. There is occasional informal cooperation between three other temples. Efforts have been made in the past to organize all of the Toronto temples into a common coalition. These initiatives have proven largely unsuccessful due to animosities, distrust, and philosophical differences among the leadership of several of the temples.

There are two Vietnamese Catholic parishes formally recognized by the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto. One parish based in Toronto’s west end on Annette Street is intended to serve over 2,000 Vietnamese Catholic families residing in Metropolitan Toronto. This parish possesses about 1,500 Vietnamese families on its membership rolls. Another parish based in Mississauga serves a couple hundred Vietnamese Catholic families living in Peel Region. Another Vietnamese speaking congregation of 50-100 families meets monthly at a Downsview church. There is extensive interaction among these three congregations. Members of the Downsview and Mississauga groups commonly participate in the extensive program of masses and social activities offered at the west end based parish. Vietnamese priests affiliated with the Mississauga and Toronto parishes occasionally say mass and listen to confessions at the other Vietnamese churches. This mutual exchange extends outside of the Toronto area to Vietnamese population centres located across Southern Ontario. The Toronto Catholic groups engage in considerable interaction with Vietnamese congregations located in Windsor, London, Kitchener, and Hamilton. Each year, over 1,000 Vietnamese Catholics from throughout Southern Ontario come together for a communal event in June at a shrine in Midland, Ontario. This day-long gathering includes picnics and informal socializing, an outdoor mass, as well as a two hour parade procession intended as homage to the thousands of Vatican-recognized martyrs, who constitute an integral part of the collective memory of Vietnamese Catholics.

There are eight Vietnamese Protestant congregations active in the Toronto area. Six of these groups are affiliated with the Christian Missionary Alliance – an evangelical denomination, which has been active in Vietnam for most of the twentieth century. One of the Toronto groups has an evangelical Baptist affiliation, while another is an independent charismatic, evangelical congregation with no active denominational affiliation. Vietnamese Christian Missionary Alliance congregations have been organized in the St. Clair/Dufferin area of the city of York, the Chinatown East area of Toronto, Downsview, Scarborough, Mississauga, and Brampton. The six Alliance congregations work very closely with one another. Each of the congregation’s pastors is a member of the Vietnamese Canadian Alliance Fellowship – a nationwide consortium of Vietnamese Alliance congregations. This group meets monthly for the purpose of planning evangelistic activities and promoting the exchange of resources among member churches. In addition, the Vietnamese Alliance pastors frequently bring their congregations together for joint worship services and less formal social gatherings including picnics, sports tournaments, and camping outings among youth groups. Vietnamese Alliance congregations based in Windsor, London, Kitchener, and Hamilton also commonly participate in these mutual activities.

The Vietnamese Baptist congregation, which is based in Toronto’s west end, also interacts frequently with the Alliance churches. The pastor of the Baptist church participates in the meetings with the Vietnamese Canadian Alliance Fellowship and members of the Baptist group have joined in several social gatherings organized by the other local Alliance congregations. Another evangelical congregation meets at a church building located in Toronto’s east end. Many of the members of this group, including its leadership, formerly were active in some of the Vietnamese Alliance churches. Initially, the east end congregation participated in joint activities with the other Protestant congregations. In recent years, it has taken on an increasingly charismatic orientation, while at the same time reducing its public exposure. Relations between the leadership of this small church and the other Protestant groups are strained and contact is very limited between the congregations.

Not surprisingly, there is only very limited interaction among the various Vietnamese denominational groups in the Toronto area. The leadership of the Buddhist groups, Catholic churches, Protestant congregations, and a Cao Dai temple do not have extensive formal or informal contact with one another. The leadership of some of the temples and churches has met in some years at a joint dinner on the occasion of a large Vietnamese New Year gathering organized by the Vietnamese Association of Toronto.

Regional background is an additional factor which serves as a basis of differentiation among Vietnamese community-based activities in Toronto. This personal characteristic is in turn closely intertwined with social class. Almost every Vietnamese ethnic association in the Toronto area, regardless of its primary emphasis – social services, mutual assistance, fraternal activities, or religious worship – possesses a leadership and membership in which persons originating from South Vietnam predominate. A few associations, particularly in the religious realm, have substantial proportions of Central Vietnamese among their members and leadership. Not one organization, of any type, was identified with significant proportions of its leadership originating from North Vietnam. Persons resident of North Vietnam prior to migration are represented in the membership of several religious associations including some Buddhist, Catholic, and Protestant groups. In most religious associations, however, North Vietnamese families constitute only a small minority of the overall membership, usually no more than a few families within an entire congregation. The general underrepresentation of the North Vietnamese in the membership of community organizations of all types is noteworthy considering that estimates by service agency employees suggest around 30% of the overall population in the Toronto area is composed of persons who lived in the North prior to coming to Canada. Indeed, it is very difficult to find any ethnic association in the Toronto metropolitan area in which North Vietnamese represent anywhere near 1/3 of the active participants in the estimates of organizational leaders.

Interestingly, this underrepresentation of persons migrating from North Vietnam is not confined to ethnic Vietnamese organizations. Ethnic Chinese originating from North Vietnam – a substantial component of the overall Chinese-Vietnamese population in the Toronto area - constitute only a small minority of the membership in two Chinese-Vietnamese Protestant churches. According to the pastors of these congregations, only a few Chinese-Vietnamese families from the North attend these two churches, both of which draw more than 90% of their members from former residents of South Vietnam.

An exception to these patterns may be found in the membership of two ethnic Vietnamese evangelical congregations located outside of the immediate Toronto area. The South Vietnamese pastor of a Kitchener church estimated as much 90% of his congregation originates from North Vietnam. The pastor noted that the regional composition of his church reflects the characteristics of the larger Vietnamese population in Kitchener-Waterloo and nearby Guelph. He pointed out that unlike in Toronto, former residents of the North are the majority of the region’s Vietnamese population. He stated that many North Vietnamese have moved to the area due to its proximity to seasonal agricultural employment, which is attractive to them because of their backgrounds in agrarian occupations. About half of a Hamilton congregation’s membership originates from North Vietnam, according to its South Vietnamese pastor. The pastor accounts for his congregation’s regional composition by noting that much of the Vietnamese presence in the Hamilton area can be attributed to the resettlement efforts of local churches including his own in the late 1980s and early 1990s. According to the pastor, the Vietnamese resettled in the Hamilton area at this time disproportionately came from camps located in Hong Kong, in which North Vietnamese refugees dominated.

In the case of both the ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese associations, social class may play a role in the lack of interaction between migrants from different regional backgrounds. Several informants – all of whom originated from South Vietnam – shared a widely held perception that the North Vietnamese segment of the larger Toronto population was generally of a lower income, less educated, and more likely from a rural background compared to the majority of South Vietnamese in Toronto. These leaders and service agency employees perceived North Vietnamese to be disproportionately represented in low-income clusters of housing, including apartment buildings located in Parkdale, Regent Park, Downsview, and Mississauga. Some of these South Vietnamese informants even made comments associating North Vietnamese with an underclass lifestyle centred around welfare recipience as well as inter-ethnic criminal activity.

Perceived and real socioeconomic differences seem to distance ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese originating from the South and Central regions of the country from those who come from the North. Tellingly, the pastors of two Chinese-Vietnamese congregations explained the underrepresentation of persons from the North among their worshippers by noting that most Chinese from the North and South of Vietnam don’t commonly interact with one another in the course of their daily lives in Toronto. It would seem that the same could largely be said of the ethnic Vietnamese originating from the major regions of their home country.

The lack of North Vietnamese representation in the leadership and membership of most ethnic associations may also be explained by the time of arrival of various sub-groups. The North Vietnamese disproportionately came to Toronto in recent waves of migration in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At this time, many Vietnamese were accepted into Canada from refugee camps located in Hong Kong. North Vietnamese constituted the majority population in these camps. Latter arrivals are generally underrepresented in the membership and especially the leadership of Vietnamese associations. Most Vietnamese organizations of all types are led by persons who came from South Vietnam as refugees or immigrants in the mid-to-late-1970s or early 1980s. Older leaders and service workers are usually former middle-class members of the South Vietnamese elite having been employed in the military, the government, or the professions in South Vietnam. Younger activists also tend to come from middle class backgrounds in South Vietnam and have usually completed their educations in Canada. It is not surprising given their former status in Vietnam and longer period of establishment in Canada that members of the earlier waves of migrations are overrepresented in leadership positions and the service bureaucracy.

While, with some exceptions, the more established Vietnamese dominate the leadership of organizations and the service bureaucracy, more recent immigrants and refugees from South Vietnam are well-represented in the membership of many associations. Most churches and temples possess a membership which on average arrived in Canada at some juncture between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. The same may be said for several community organizations including a womens’ group, the scouts, youth, and student associations, elderly groups, and veterans’ associations. With the exception of the regional imbalance, the membership of these ethnic associations of various types is largely representative of the larger Vietnamese population. Most participants are either unemployed or work in blue collar positions in manufacturing or the service sector. In general, it may be argued that these more recently arrived Vietnamese serve as a constituency for the activities organized by their more established compatriots.

Political Ideology – Political ideology is a central factor structuring community activities among the Vietnamese population in the Toronto area. Almost every Vietnamese ethnic association has found it necessary to publicly state its opposition to the current Vietnamese government. These declarations of opposition may be found in the by-laws of a diverse array of organizations including mutual assistance associations, service agencies, elderly associations, religious institutions, and professional societies. Several organizations dominated by the older South Vietnamese elite of former military officers, government officials, and civil service professionals are quite vehement in their public opposition to the Vietnamese regime. This segment of the community keeps a vigilant guard to inhibit the public display of symbols which might confer legitimacy to the Vietnamese government in the eyes of the wider Toronto public. At an annual ceremony sponsored by the City of Toronto Board of Education and organized by the Vietnamese Parents Association of Toronto, only the former South Vietnamese flag was displayed along with the Canadian Maple Leaf. Similarly, only the South Vietnamese national anthem and South Vietnamese flag were displayed at a concert of traditional Vietnamese music organized by the Society of Vietnamese Professionals, with funding support from the federal government.

Informants related several incidents in which the membership of certain Vietnamese organizations mobilized to prevent the public display of the flag of the current regime in Vietnam. One such fracas involved a parade of school children in Mississauga. As part of this "multicultural" event, school teachers encouraged children to carry the flag of their home country. Some Vietnamese children marched with the flag of the current regime, in response, several members of a Vietnamese association interceded to physically take the flags away from the children. In yet another incident, an international health agency unwittingly provoked controversy through its public display of materials produced in cooperation with the current regime at a forum sponsored by a Vietnamese organization. Other informants related accounts of other brouhahas involving flag displays at "multicultural" ceremonies in City of Toronto schools.

There are at least six Vietnamese associations in the Toronto area which possess a predominantly political orientation. These organizations publicly organize activities in explicit opposition to the current Vietnamese government. In addition, at least four primarily political newspapers are published at the local level. One of these newspapers – Thep Sung – is a production of the Republic of South Vietnam Armed Forces Veterans’ Service Organization of Ontario. All of these publications run stories chronicling the corruption and poor performance of the current Vietnamese regime. The newspapers also attempt to solicit public support for efforts to topple the existing government. As an example, on the front page of the August 1997 issue of The Vietnamese Opposing Centres’ Forum, a poem was presented with the English title: "A Call to Arms". In the Fall 1997 issue of a publication with the English-language title The Vietnamese Marketing and Business Report, numerous articles were published for the purpose of raising funds for a conference of overseas Vietnamese organized in Santa Ana, California. According to the newspaper, this conference was intended to "coordinate and push for the people’s rising all over Vietnam." Another publication, Tu Do – (which translates to "Freedom" in English) - is published monthly out of Mississauga. This newspaper prints occasional columns claiming Vietnamese with ties to the Communist government have infiltrated certain local Vietnamese organizations and newspapers. All four of these explicitly political publications are distributed at local Vietnamese businesses and are partially supported through the advertising of several Vietnamese commercial establishments in Toronto. Certain political, anti-government newspapers published in the United States may also be found at a few Vietnamese businesses and in the waiting rooms of some Vietnamese professionals, including doctors and dentists with practices in Toronto.

The anti-Vietnamese regime view is also very visible in the mainstream Vietnamese ethnic media. Each of the four weekly Vietnamese language newspapers regularly features news stories highlighting the negative aspects of the current Vietnamese government. A few examples of these articles include reports of widespread corruption within the Vietnamese regime, the destruction of traditional Vietnamese architecture in Hanoi, and a story about the drug problem among youth in Hanoi. In general, many stories are run which emphasize the decay in Vietnamese society and culture that has come about under Communist control. The publisher of one of the weeklies explained that an explicitly anti-government emphasis is necessary for a publication to survive in the competitive Vietnamese print media market of Toronto. He stated that a newspaper which did not take a position against the current regime in its editorial content would easily fall prey to the public accusations of its competitors that it was "pro-Communist". Such charges carry significant weight in an environment where many of the most active and visible community organizations are run by members of the former South Vietnamese elite. A newspaper with a public image of being "soft" on the Communists would likely be shunned by many community leaders and probably would have difficulty competing for advertising.

In a similar vein, the producer of a Vietnamese-language television program noted that community norms prevent the broadcast of travelogues or performing arts programs taped in Vietnam with the cooperation of the current Vietnamese government. An informant observed the experiences of a Vietnamese performing arts organization. While well-funded by the federal government, this group’s programs have received little support from most of the established Vietnamese associations. The organization consists of a small number of young Vietnamese-origin artists, who refuse to align their group in any way with a political agenda. The arts association’s annual festival held in 1997 at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto was the target of protests by other Vietnamese organizations and some of the invited performers did not show.

In sum, the segment of the population that actively opposes the Vietnamese regime possesses absolute control of the public agenda in regard to homeland-related political issues. At the public ceremonies of Vietnamese Associations, and churches and temples, only the old South Vietnamese flag is displayed. The majority of the Vietnamese population, given the circumstances of their migration to Canada, supports these views. Subgroups of the population holding more conciliatory or less vehement opinions tend to keep a low profile on political matters.

Formal mechanisms do exist to facilitate the sharing of information among the Toronto area agencies providing services to a sizable Vietnamese clientele. Funded by the City of Toronto with the goal of reducing service overlap, the Vietnamese Greater Toronto Interlink Services is a consortium of Vietnamese-speaking employees belonging to the social service bureaucracy. The overarching structure of the Interlink organization coordinates interaction among its constituent members. The agency subsists on a budget of a few thousand dollars a year. Its sole functions are to organize monthly meetings at which guest speakers present seminars, and information is exchanged among members. The Interlink group has no independent authority to coerce member agencies to work with one another towards specific tangible goals. Each member agency is completely autonomous from the others in terms of administration and funding.

Representatives from more than twenty service organizations and government agencies are members of the Interlink coalition (Table 5.1). Members include staffers of ethnic-specific mutual assistance associations (including the two best externally funded ethnic organizations providing services to a Vietnamese population in Toronto – the Vietnamese Association of Toronto and the Southeast Asian Services Centre), as well as community health organizations, refugee reception centres, neighbourhood organizations which provide social services, and municipal agencies including the Children’s Aid Society, Metro Social Services, and the Toronto Board of Education. Several informants pointed out that the Interlink organization is a helpful means of keeping members of the extensive service bureaucracy informed of Vietnamese-language social services available throughout the Toronto region. Particularly useful for this purpose is an annual directory published by the organization, which lists each member and the services provided by his or her agency. A number of informants noted that they commonly received referrals from fellow members of the consortium. It should be noted, however, that the proceedings of the Interlink agency have at times been affected by internal divisions within the service bureaucracy. One informant observed that a split developed a few years ago between Interlink members who are younger professionals and older members. Younger members did not appreciate the hierarchical leadership style of these older men. At the time, some of these younger service workers considered dropping out of the consortium. The informant observed that in the past few years several older members have become more conciliatory in tone, recognizing the need for cooperation.

In addition to the activities of the Interlink coalition, there appears to be a considerable degree of interaction among the leadership of some religious organizations, mutual assistance associations, and many service agency employees. It is notable, however, that these linkages appear to be at least somewhat structured by the variables of age and also gender. For example, several older male informants are involved in an elderly association. Those active in the elderly organization include leaders of certain Buddhist, Cao Dai, Catholic and Protestant groups. In another example, a couple of lay leaders of a Buddhist group are also actively involved in the administration of women’s and scouts associations, respectively. Furthermore, a number of younger professionals employed by different service agencies volunteer their time at an organization active in promoting AIDS awareness among the Vietnamese population. The extent of actual cross-organizational membership is very difficult to quantify. In general, it may be stated that there are considerable linkages among the leadership of many of the community groups. A core group of organizations jointly organizes an array of programs and activities including the Vietnamese New Year Festival, which attracts thousands of Vietnamese to a common setting for a day-long program in January or February of each given year. Most of these organizations are based in central Toronto. These groups include the Vietnamese Association of Toronto, the Vietnamese Youth Centre, the Vietnamese Womens’ Association and the Vietnamese Elderly Association of Toronto.

Vietnamese Association of Toronto

Southeast Asian Services Centre

Metropolitan Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Aid Clinic

Brampton Neighbourhood Centre

Dixie-Bloor Neighbourhood Centre (Mississauga)

Jane-Finch Community and Family Centre

Northwood Neighbourhood Services

Parkdale Intercultural Council

COSTI Refugee Reception Centre

NOAH Refugee Reception Centre

Access Alliance Multicultural Community Health Centre

Asian Community AIDS Services

Hong Fook Mental Health Centre

Immigrant Womens’ Health Centre

Parkdale Community Health Centre

Regent Park Community Health Centre

Children’s Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto

Toronto Board of Education

Metropolitan Toronto Social Services

York Community Services

Peel Region Family Services

Jane and Dundas Branch Library

Sources: Vietnamese Greater Toronto Interlink Services, Member Directory, 1997 and

Informant Interviews

This chapter has examined some of the key factors of social differentiation which structure formal co-ethnic activities among Vietnamese residing in the Toronto area. Variables which shape the organization of the Toronto Vietnamese "community" include age and generation, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, region of origin, socioeconomic status, time of arrival in Canada and political ideology. It is worth noting that some facets of social differentiation seem to gain particular salience when they become intertwined within certain social settings. For example, region of origin and socioeconomic status seem to work together to strongly influence Vietnamese community activities. As noted above, persons of North Vietnamese origin appear to be very much underrepresented in the membership and leadership of Vietnamese ethnic institutions given their overall proportion of the Vietnam-born population. The leadership of several organizations attempted to explain this lack of participation by noting the absence of interaction between ethnic Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese originating from the North and Vietnam-born individuals from the South and the Central portions of this country. These informants argued that perceptions of socioeconomic differences probably account for much of this prevailing sense of social distance.

It should also be pointed out when discussing these factors of differentiation that in some cases as much variation exists within social categories as between them. For example, within the larger aggregation of Vietnamese Buddhists there is a considerable degree of internal division. As noted, there are eight Vietnamese Buddhist congregations in the Toronto area. These congregations are differentiated from one another by various factors including style of worship, degree of lay as opposed to clergy involvement in leadership, as well as the socioeconomic class and time of arrival of membership. Very little mutual cooperation or even common interaction exists between the Buddhist groups. Numerous attempts to coordinate activities among the various Buddhist congregations over the years have failed.

While the Vietnamese institutional environment in Toronto is far too fragmented and divisive to bear much resemblance to the classic gemeinschaft-type ethnic community, this chapter has shown that an impressive degree of interaction does exist among many of the non-religious organizations. There is some overlap in the leadership composition among these groups along with that of certain churches and temples. Despite, internal differences in the "community", a common Vietnamese-Canadian ethnic identity does link the various groups. On rare occasions, leaders of the associations have come together to achieve a common purpose. One such example was a petition signed by several organizations and presented to the editors of The Toronto Sun with the goal of improving portrayals of persons of Vietnamese-origin in the newspaper.

An agency funded by the City of Toronto has emerged as a forum for the leadership and staff of various organizations servicing a Vietnamese-speaking clientele to meet and share information. The overall functions and influence of this coalition – Vietnamese Greater Toronto Interlink Services - should be not overstated however. The agency possesses no influence over the budgetary or policy decisions of its constituent members. The Interlink coalition does represent an interesting attempt by an outside actor – the Toronto municipal government – to facilitate some degree of coordination or at least an exchange of information among the various service providers employing Vietnamese staffers in the Toronto area.

To Chapter 6

Abstract/Acknowledgements/Table of Contents - [ Chapters - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 ] -  Appendices - References Cited

		Updated February 09, 2004