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Some Vietnamese Winnipeggers say they don’t want to lose a meeting space that’s been a “cornerstone” of their community for decades now that Manitoba Housing is taking control of the building.<\/p>\n
The Saigon Centre, a 54-unit affordable housing complex on Balmoral Street that has served Vietnamese refugees since 1989, has a cultural centre on the main floor that has been a meeting place for the community for nearly 40 years.<\/p>\n
The building was operated by the Vietnamese Non-Profit Housing Corporation but went up for sale<\/a> in 2025 because it was $3 million in arrears on its mortgage. Manitoba Housing is set to take ownership of the building, a provincial spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Thu Pham, a retired health-care worker, says she didn’t speak any English when she first stepped foot in the building after arriving in Canada in 1989. The centre has been a place where she and others could meet to share their culture, language and history.<\/p>\n “We miss home, so we come here to meet people,” Pham told CBC News on Wednesday. “If Manitoba Housing takes it, where do we go?”<\/p>\n The space is special to Winnipeg’s entire Vietnamese community, and it’s in a “very convenient” location for newcomers to access much-needed services, Saigon Centre board chair Du Do says.<\/p>\n Do says celebrations are also held there for events such as Vietnamese New Year, Folklorama and Christmas, as well as commemorations of the fall of Saigon \u2014 which is when South Vietnam’s capital fell<\/a> to North Vietnamese forces, ending the Vietnam War on April 30, 1975.<\/p>\n It’s more than just a building to his community, he said.<\/p>\n “It’s a place where the Vietnamese people feel welcome, connected, and also feel home when they come here,” Do said. “If we lose this culture, that means we lose everything.”<\/p>\n The province is “fully committed” to honouring the centre’s history and has worked in recent years to support residents and protect the building’s social and affordable housing, a spokesperson told CBC News on Thursday.<\/p>\n The province will ensure the Vietnamese community “continues to have access to this cherished space” once the ownership transfer is finalized, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783079712_448_default.jpg\")
Vietnamese people feel welcome, connected and at home at the Saigon Centre, board chair Du Do says. (CBC)<\/p>\n
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