South Vietnam

controversial legislation: Ottawa support for the controversial legislation was widely viewed as an effort to win support from the members of Canada 220,000-strong Vietnamese community, many of whom left their home country as refugees after South Vietnam was defeated, according to Globe and Mail. Such a strategy could become increasingly apparent as the Conservatives look to secure votes from immigrant communities in Canada ahead of an expected fall election. On Friday, Vietnam foreign ministry summoned the Canadian ambassador in Hanoi and publicly denounced the bill as a backward step in relations between the two countries. Much of the bill controversy concerns its choice of date and the language that was first used to describe it. The title was changed to the Journey to Freedom Day, and references to the communist regime were removed, but Hanoi still opposes the choice of April 30. Senator Thanh Hai Ngo introduced the bill as the Black April Day Act and said it was meant to mark the day South Vietnam fell under the power of an authoritarian and oppressive communist regime. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.