Immigrating to new countries has been a common practice for centuries; people have left their homelands because of war, poverty or famine. In Canada there have been numerous waves of immigration to avoid these problems…Two separate but equally significant mass immigration waves occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth century. One dealt with the Irish potato famine which occurred in the 19th century while the other dealt with the large movement of immigrating Vietnamese people known as the ‘boat people’ in the 20th century. These two ethnic groups had different experiences when moving to Canada, including reception, their settlement and the impacts they had on their new communities. Whether they were welcomed or not both the Irish and the Vietnamese contributed greatly to the Canadian society we have today.