The event is a partisan political statement about the Vietnam war. There is no law against making partisan political statements about the Vietnam war.

Partisan political statements about the Vietnam war divide Canada's Vietnamese community. The community can handle that -- political division is not unusual behaviour in any community. That is the nature of free speech.

If politicians want to join a political faction in making a partisan statement about the Vietnam war, that is their right.

If politicians describe their involvement as an homage to anyone other than the partisan political group, that is a statement of hostility toward the other people. Such involvement in this case is hostile to around 99% of Canadians of Vietnamese origin.

The event organizers refer to it as a "flag raising ceremony". The name Journey to Freedom Day is just to give Canadian politicians deniability as to the partisan political nature of the event.

The flag raised is the national flag of the Republic of Vietnam, that is, the Saigon regime. The national anthem of the Saigon regime is played at the flag raisings. The people performing the ceremony are members of the ruling Saigon military, dressed in their military uniforms. The name "heritage and freedom flag" is just to give politicians a cover.

The event is exactly what it appears to be: Canada formally recognizes the Republic of Vietnam as a nation via a formal flag raising ceremony. The formal recognition of the Saigon regime as a legitimate nation is in bill S-219. The flag raising ceremony just gives it visibility.

The event is an extreme and very unusual partisan statement about the Vietnam war.

If politicians want to join a political faction in making a partisan statement about the Vietnam war, that is their right.

When their participation gives the event legitimacy as a policy of the government of Canada, that is a statement of hostility toward around 99% of Canadians of Vietnamese origin as well as all of the other Canadians who were involved in Canada's humanitarian activities related to Vietnam over the years.

Journey to Freedom Day events are organized by groups representing the Saigon military. They wear their uniforms to the event. The Saigon military crest is always displayed on the lectern.

The event always include a formal military ceremony that memorializes the war dead -- for those who fought with the Saigon military.

The ceremony is often performed at one of Canada's important military monuments to the war dead -- the Old City Hall Cenotaph in Toronto or the National War Memorial in Ottawa. A wreath to the dead of the Saigon military is laid.

These Canadian monuments are memorial to Canadian war dead in the two world wars and the Korean war. This "borrowing" of the monuments for someone else's purposes is controversial. The presence of Canadian politicians gives them an appearance of respectability but does not resolve the controversy.

Canadian Forces never take part in any activities related to Journey to Freedom Day. These activities are partisan political statements, not reflections of Canada's military history.

In Vietnam, the Saigon military regime was a hated and feared military dictatorship. The ruling elite was a small elite that had its origins hundreds or thousands of years earlier and had increased its exploitive powers by associating first with the French colonists and then with the US military (and now with the Canadian government). The Vietnam war was to a large degree a civil war aimed at getting rid of them -- that's why the US eventually recognized their war was unwinnable and that's why Canada stayed away from the outset.

Who would hold memorials to its passing?

Lots of people do -- that's free speech. Attendance at the annual events range from dozens to a couple of hundred, not counting Canadian politicians. Many of the attendees at the events are from neighboring cities, provinces, or even US states. The events are not local community events.

Given that the event is a formal recognition of the Saigon regime as a legitimate nation, generally the only Vietnamese who attend are the former ruling elite, and only those who are inclined to be backward-looking about their situation. There is a strong message of victimhood associated with the event.

And who made them victims? Answer: all of the Vietnamese who refuse to acknowledge their authority to rule. The banner the organizers always display at the event says, in Vietnamese, "national memorial day of hatred".

The government of Canada compensates for the small number of attendees at the events by handing out written certificates of recognition to the Saigon military, confirming that Canada recognizes them as the legitimate Vietnamese refugees.

In terms of hostility toward Canadians of Vietnamese origin, it would be hard to get more hostile that than.