Montreal’s Vietnamese community marks 50 years with Tết festival at Grand Quai
Posted February 8, 2026 4:10 pm.
Last Updated February 9, 2026 11:12 am.
The Vietnamese Community of Montreal celebrated both the Year of the Horse and a historic milestone Sunday, marking 50 years since the community’s founding with a vibrant Tết festival at the Grand Quai du Port de Montréal.
The day-long event combined cultural performances, ceremonial rituals and traditional food, drawing families, dignitaries and visitors to the Old Port for a celebration that reflected both remembrance and renewal.
The anniversary commemorated five decades since Vietnamese refugees began settling in Montreal following the Vietnam War, laying the foundation for one of the city’s most enduring cultural communities.
A community milestone
Organizers said the event was designed to bring together generations while sharing Vietnamese culture with the broader public.
“We are all here today to celebrate the biggest, the Lunar New Year for the Vietnamese community across Montreal and outside Montreal. We actually have the presence of other communities as well, not just Vietnamese, but the Cambodian community, the Filipino community as well,” said Yvonne Nguyen, vice-president of the Vietnamese Community in Canada – Montreal region.
Nguyen said the celebration carried added significance as it coincided with the community’s golden jubilee.
“We’re here to come together and first of all celebrate, but to second, today also marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of our community. So it’s a milestone for our community. And we’re also here to share the richness of the Vietnamese culture to the entire population. So it’s a celebration.”
Tradition, food and family
Nearly 50 food and exhibition vendors lined the Grand Quai, offering dishes typically reserved for Lunar New Year celebrations, including bánh chưng — the traditional sticky rice cake prepared specifically for Tết.
“It’s a day where everyone gets to try authentic Vietnamese dishes that normally there’s some dishes you only eat during the festival and like the sticky rice cake. We have the lion dance. You only see that in big celebration like the New Year as well,” Nguyen said.
She added that the festival was as much about gathering as it was about culture.
“We’re here to not only celebrate the Lunar New Year, but just to come together, we have all our friends and families and like to share with everyone else, not just within the Vietnamese community, but to the entire Montreal community,” she said.
The ceremony featured traditional lion dances accompanied by live music. During the performance, dignitaries — including Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada — participated in a customary ritual by holding heads of lettuce for the lions, symbolizing prosperity, good fortune and success for the year ahead.
Red envelopes were also distributed to children, a longstanding Lunar New Year tradition meant to bring luck.
“We distribute red envelopes for all the kids today. If we have 1000 kids, each of them will get a red envelope with money, which represents luck,” Nguyen said.
Preserving identity across generations
For Van Nha Tran, president of the Vietnamese Community in Canada – Montreal region, the anniversary was rooted in continuity and cultural preservation across generations.
“It’s very important for us today because it’s the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the community. And we want to make all together from the first, second and third generation together to continue to preserve the community,” Tran said.
He said the milestone reflects both the challenges of resettlement and the strength of identity carried forward by Vietnamese Canadians over five decades.
Tran added that symbols such as the Vietnamese heritage flag remain central to that identity.
“In 75 when we left the country, we want to keep our identity and how can we keep identity? We can keep our flag because the flag for now is represent exactly what the Vietnamese people want,” he said.
He said the yellow background symbolizes the Vietnamese people, while the three horizontal red stripes represent the country’s three regions — the north, central and south — serving as a clear expression of Vietnamese identity in Canada today.
Meaning behind Tết foods
Among the vendors was bánh chưng, a square sticky rice cake traditionally eaten during Lunar New Year and closely associated with family gatherings and ancestral traditions.
“It is very important because it’s the cake that you eat in the new year to celebrate with your family,” said Charles Nguyen, spokesperson for the Vietnamese Community in Canada – Montreal region.
He explained that each ingredient carries symbolic meaning tied to prosperity and unity.
“The way that it’s made is basically inside you have sticky rice and inside the sticky rice it’s a savoury cake. Inside you have mung beans which is the yellow part and I forgot to mention the sticky rice represents abundance, the yellow part represents gold or richness.”
Nguyen added that even how the cake is prepared and served reflects tradition.
“Traditionally, the way that they cut it is like they did it many many hundreds of years ago. They didn’t have utensils, they didn’t have knives and all that so they actually used the strings or back then it was actually banana leaf strings to be able to cut it and whatnot. So it’s a tradition if you want to put it this way.”
A message for the new year
As the festival continued into the afternoon with performances, exhibitions and food stalls open to the public, Nguyen said the celebration was meant to extend beyond the Vietnamese community.
“I want everyone to remember that it’s the beginning of a new year, Lunar New Year. It’s not within the Vietnamese community, but to everyone. So it’s celebrate, having fun. Despite the cold weather, there’s something to celebrate for. And I want to wish everyone a happy New Year.”
