Notes: This was staged as a major "yellow flag" event with a large contingent of uniformed ARVN present. A point was made of capturing many photographs of Stephen Harper and other MP's with uniformed men. The Senator describes the event as an homage to the refugees, not the cultural event that Tet is supposed to be. Video of Harper speech posted on YouTube. Harper awarded 9 certificates. Ngo awarded 20 more certificates (signed by Stephen Harper). The photos capture a sample. " [organization] in recognition of its dedication to mark[ing] the 40th anniversary of the Boat People Resettlement in Canada. Your efforts to honour the history of Vietnamese Canadians are commendable". The point all this is to establish a revised origin story for Canada's Vietnamese community, and a revised historical narrative between Canada, the Vietnam war and the boat people. The main purpose would have been to inform the rest of the Vietnamese community that the ARVN is now in charge -- I doubt that Harper would otherwise widely circulate these photos. |