Vinh-The Lam
Before 1954, a majority of the Vietnamese people had never heard of Canada. And Canada also had no real interest in Southeast Asia in general and in Vietnam in particular. Even toward the end of the Second World War, the decision of the War Committee of the Canadian Cabinet during the Quebec Conference in September 1944 was that "Canadian military forces should participate, as a matter of preference, in the war against Japan in operational theatres of direct interest to Canada as a North American nation, for example in the North and Central Pacific rather than in the more remote areas such as Southeast Asia." 1 “Vietnam, before 1954, was a remote and distant country to Canadians." 2 However, the indifference of Canada toward this region was gradually replaced by a growing interest generated by the political turmoil in the region. "Canadians could not but watch with mounting concern as Southeast Asia progressively acquired all the characteristics of the pre-1914 Balkans - disruptive civil, regional and international rivalries, aggravated by competition between traditional and progressive forces, and among the ideological adherents of nationalism, communism, anti-communism and colonialism." 3 Against this background, the first contact between Canada and Vietnam was made through the role played by Canada as a member of the International Commission for Control and Supervision (ICCS) created by the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Vietnam signed by the warring factions in Geneva, Switzerland on July 20, 1954.
