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The mission of the CIC is to promote an understanding of international affairs and Canada’s role in a changing world by providing Canadians with a non-partisan, nationwide forum for informed discussion, analysis and debate. Accordingly, the cornerstone of the CIC’s work is our events program. The CIC national office and our branches hold more than 150 events per year in cities across the country. In particular, our branch events give members an opportunity to directly engage with global issues that often intersect with local concerns. The CIC also supports events outside of Canada, often in partnership with other global think tanks, that can introduce Canadian perspectives to global audiences. CIC events take on many different forms, from academic lectures and panel discussions to town hall meetings and pub nights. Please consult our events calendar for a listing of CIC-organized and sponsored events.

If you have an idea for a CIC event, please contact us at info@thecic.org.

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CIC Victoria: Shining Light: A Vietnamese Canadian Legacy

October 10, 2025 @ 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm PDT

When: Friday, 10 October 2025
Where: The Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria: 808 Douglas St., Suite 102, Victoria, BC, V8W 2B6 (near the Union Club and the VIc theatre)
Time: 2:30-4:00 pm (doors open at 2:15 pm)

General information

Join us for a special showing of the outstanding documentary Shining Light (30 minutes).

This year is the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam war which killed millions. It is also said to have been the “first televised war”. Over sixty thousand Vietnamese refugees fled to Canada in the aftermath and the Vietnamese Canadian community is now estimated to be around 270,000 people.

Shining Light is an extraordinary documentary about a mother and daughter’s escape from war-torn Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. Mui Nguyen Bui gave birth to Chieu Anh (“Shining Light” in English) on a sinking South Vietnamese freighter surrounded by 3,600 other Vietnamese refugees. They were all rescued by a Danish freighter and brought to a refugee camp in Hong Kong. In medical distress, Mui and baby Anh were hoisted off the deck by a RAF helicopter and flown to a military hospital in Hong Kong. Their harrowing journey led them to a young Canadian immigration officer on her first overseas assignment and, eventually, their immigration to Canada. 50 years later, they meet the helicopter crewman and the immigration officer in Montreal, the city that welcomed them, to reconstruct how it all happened and reveal who they’ve become today. Anh calls it “bringing together all the pieces of her survival puzzle”.

The event will begin with an introduction of the documentary by former Canadian Ambassador Gary Smith, a co-producer of the documentary. After the documentary is over, there will also be an opportunity for a Q & A with Gary.

The seating for this event is very limited and we only have space for 60 CIC Victoria members.

If you would like to come, please register at cic.victoria.sec@gmail.com by Thursday, 9 October at noon.

There is no fee to attend this event.

If you are not able to come after registering, please let us know as soon as possible.

For our CIC Victoria student members, we have also arranged a separate showing at the UVic Centre for Global Studies on Friday, 10 October from 11:30-1 pm.  The details for this event can be found here: Film Screening – Shining Light: A Vietnamese-Canadian Legacy / Uvic Events – University of Victoria

Details

  • Date: October 10, 2025
  • Time:
    2:30 pm - 4:00 pm PDT

Organizer

  • CIC Victoria