At the invitation of Institute National de Recherché et de Scientifique (INRS) - Canada, a high-level delegation of VASS, headed by Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, Member of the Party Central Committee and President of VASS, visited Canada from June 25th to July 1st, 2013. The visit had two goals: i) to hold a discussion with INRS (Canada) on expanding research and training collaboration within the social sciences; ii) to study and learn about ethnic minority policies in Quebec.
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President of VASS presenting a souvenir to Director-General of INRS, Canada |
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Attending the discussion with the VASS delegation were high-level officials of INRS: Dr. Daniel Coderre, Director-General; Mr. Yves Bégin, Director of Sciences; and the Heads of Departments and Research Centers of INRS. In his speech at the meeting, Dr. Daniel Coderre praised the fruitful cooperation between INRS and VASS, whereby INRS has received more funding for research projects. INRS wishes to promote more research collaboration with Vietnam, especially on issues related to the social sciences and humanities and interdisciplinary studies between natural sciences and social sciences with a focus on relationships between the environment and human beings.
Prof. Thang also praised the collaboration between VASS and INRS, emphasizing that although both sides had just signed the collaborative agreement a year ago, even after six months of deployment it had brought significant results. A clear demonstration of this is the “Youth-friendly public spaces in a context of rapid urbanization” project, conducted jointly by the Institute of Sociology (under VASS) and the Research Center for Urbanization, Culture and Society (under INRS), which is already making good progress. Currently, VASS is interested in many new issues, including the roles of communities, ethnic minorities and religion in national and regional sustainable development. Prof. Thang suggested that both sides think of expanding the partnership and areas of collaboration with special attention to the close scientific collaboration currently existing between VASS and the Royal Academy of Cambodia and Lao National Institute for Social Sciences in the field of social sciences, and the Global Green Growth Institute (Korea) on the topic of green growth and climate change. The study of ethnic minorities could also present new research opportunities and directions in Southeast Asian and other countries.
At the meeting, Mr. Yves Bégin, Director of Science (INRS), gave a brief presentation on Quebec history, economic development policy, Canadian federal and Quebec state policies toward ethnic minority people, and issues related to ethnic minorities living in Quebec. The details and specific ideas, comments, and suggestions raised at the meeting greatly strengthened the VASS delegation’s understanding of these issues.
With the facilitation of INRS, the delegation of VASS visited the homes of ethnic minority people in Wendake (Quebec). The delegation was warmly received by Mr. Konrad Sioui, headman of Huron (Wendat) tribe. Mr. Kornad Sioui openly shared his opinions on what Huron people faced in the development process of Quebec specifically and Canada in general. Also, in Wendake, the delegation attended a discussion about ethnic minority issues with researchers/experts from INRS, Concordia University, Laval University, and other associations. The field trip helped members of the delegation learn many lessons on ethnic minority issues, especially on policy planning for ethnic minority regional development following the principle of the bottom-up approach.
Also as part of the mission to Canada, the high-level VASS delegation paid a visit to the Vietnam Embassy in Ottawa.
Dr. Vu Hung Cuong
