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![\"RUTH](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4341605_web1_260619-Saigon-Centre-1-.jpg\")
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RUTH BONNEVILLE \/ FREE PRESS <\/p>\n
Vietnamese Association of Manitoba spokesperson Quanhai Tonthat, (right) with Vietnamese community members and residents of Saigon Centre in the multi-purpose room they use regularly. <\/p>\n
While rent levels are protected under a caveat that was enacted when the building opened, residents say they\u2019re about to lose access to their cultural centre. The large room on the main floor is used for community gatherings, health and wellness activities for seniors, festivals, language-learning classes and other events over the last four decades.<\/p>\n
Tenants told the Free Press the space has long been a connection point for Vietnamese newcomers, including those who fled at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, part of a humanitarian crisis in which hundreds of thousands escaped the country by cramming into fishing boats. They became known as \u201cboat people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quanhai Tonthat, a retired social worker and medical language interpreter who came to Winnipeg from Vietnam in 1983, said the Saigon Centre is akin to an \u201cancestral house\u201d \u2014 a Vietnamese traditional place of worship where record of a family\u2019s lineage is kept \u2014 in part because some did not have a home to return to.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of this place, I feel at home in Winnipeg, and I feel proud of that. And if this place is erased, it\u2019s a part of my identity being erased,\u201d Tonthat told the Free Press. \u201cThis is why I feel the urgency to come here, just to say something to keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim Le has lived in Saigon Centre for decades and founded the Vietnamese Women\u2019s Association that\u2019s based in the building. She said tenants have no issue with the Manitoba Housing takeover, but worry it will erase their community traditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to keep our tradition, the culture, alive, so why (would) the government, Manitoba Housing, destroy this place, so we don\u2019t have anywhere to maintain the culture?\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s a big thing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Manitoba Housing confirmed the transfer of ownership, but refused to comment on the future of the community gathering space.<\/p>\n
However, in a letter to Vince Bueti, lawyer for the Vietnamese Non-Profit Housing Corp., during the takeover process last year, deputy housing minister Charlene Paquin said the room will be turned into a space that can be booked \u201cfor occasional use.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile exclusive use of the main floor hall will not be permitted, community groups, including VNPHC, will be able to book the space for occasional use through the future property manager,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n
Bueti said he has spent more than a year since the foreclosure was announced trying to reach provincial officials in hopes that Manitoba Housing would be directed to \u201clook after and provide the services in that hall to the tenants and also to the various community groups that use that hall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelsey Vuong, 20, who has lived in the building her entire life, said Saigon Centre was created for Manitoba\u2019s small, close-knit Vietnamese community.<\/p>\n
Opening up the main floor would force them to hold events elsewhere and cut off access to residents who are seniors, don\u2019t speak English and aren\u2019t able to travel.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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She said the takeover could rob her of her wish to live in the building as she gets old.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m going to lose a part of my identity because I want to be able to share with my children and my children\u2019s children as well, so that they can continue the tradition and keep the folks that built this place alive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The original $4.4-million capital cost was paid by the provincial government, while the Winnipeg Core Area Initiative contributed $60,000 for the cultural centre.<\/p>\n
Statistics Canada data from 2021 found more than 4,300 Vietnamese people live in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Malak Abas Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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