Vietnam Leader To Lam Visits Canada in First State Visit

As To Lam visits Canada for the first time, Vietnam's most powerful politician arrived in Ottawa on Thursday for the first state visit to the country by any Vietnamese leader, according to the Prime Minister's Office itinerary published September 23. Tô Lâm holds both the presidency and the general secretary post of the Communist Party of Vietnam, which makes him the top figure in the country's political system.

The schedule is packed. At 9:35 a.m., Governor General Louise Arbour greeted Lâm at Rideau Hall with military honours, where he inspected a guard of honour and both leaders delivered brief remarks. A courtesy call followed at 10 a.m., then a tree-planting ceremony at 10:30 a.m., a Canadian tradition marking friendship between nations. At 11:10 a.m., Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed Lâm at the Mackenzie Doors of West Block on Parliament Hill, with a welcome ceremony at 11:15 and a private meeting at 11:20. The Prime Minister's Office says the greeting and ceremony are open to media coverage, with pooled photographers at the start of the meeting. Carney's day continues with Question Period at 2:15 p.m. and a cabinet meeting at 4:15 p.m., and at 6:30 p.m. he attends a state dinner hosted by Arbour in Lâm's honour.

Why Canada wants Vietnam closer

Canada has spent the year looking for new trading partners as U.S. tariffs squeeze key sectors and threaten investment and hiring, and Vietnam is a natural fit. Carney has been on a diplomatic tour to shore up new partnerships. Both countries belong to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Pacific trade pact that already gives Canadian exporters tariff-free access to Vietnamese markets.

"We have had visits by the prime minister but never by the leader of Vietnam," said Vina Nadjibulla, co-founder of the Centre for Strategic Statecraft, a geopolitics think tank. She said Vietnam, like Canada, is a trade-dependent country trying to avoid being pushed around by larger powers, and its current goals closely match Canada's own: building economic resilience, diversifying partnerships, and staying independent of any single coercive power.

The two countries have had an agreement covering diplomacy, investment, economic development, defence and academia since 2017, and both sides are now looking to upgrade it to a strategic partnership. That upgrade could mean deeper cooperation on maritime security and supply chains, plus more Canadian energy exports to Vietnam. Vietnam also belongs to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a bloc Canada is negotiating a free-trade agreement with. Carney hopes to sign that agreement during a planned November trip to the Philippines, which could include a stop in Vietnam.

The uncomfortable part of the visit

Not everyone is treating the visit as a celebration. On September 23, Human Rights Watch called on Carney and Arbour to press Lâm on Vietnam's human rights record, saying the country's pledges to Canada have not improved how its government behaves.

"The Vietnamese government's intense crackdown on freedom of speech and association flies in the face of its human rights pledges to Canada," said Patricia Gossman, senior Asia associate director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. The group said Vietnamese courts convicted and sentenced at least 28 activists in the first nine months of 2026, including bloggers Hoang Thi Hong Thai and Huynh Ngoc Tuan, while police arrested at least 39 more people for criticizing the government or joining disfavored religious and political groups. Human Rights Watch puts the total number of political prisoners in Vietnam at more than 160.

The group also pointed out that Vietnam promised Canada it would ratify International Labour Organization Convention No. 87 on workers' rights by January 2024, a pledge it says was never kept. Human Rights Watch wants Canadian leaders to raise the issue in person and make clear that failing to reform will damage the relationship, including on trade. Canada is betting that closer ties with middle powers can shield it from economic coercion, and To Lam's visit to Canada marks the highest-level meeting between the two countries yet, and Vietnam wants the same cover in return. But a trade push with a one-party state brings questions activists say should be asked directly, and a state dinner is a rare moment of leverage to ask them.

Sources: the Prime Minister's Office itinerary for Sept. 24, the Governor General's state visit advisory, and Human Rights Watch.