The Vietnamese have settled in Toronto in three distinct periods in the last two decades. Between 1950 and 1975, there were a handful of Vietnamese students and professionals who were either in the process of completing their studies or who chose to stay after graduating. Between April 1975 and the end of 1978, the first group of Vietnamese refugees, who arrived after the North Vietnamese communist regime seized the Republic of South Vietnam, numbered 1,500 in Ontario and 1,000 in Metro Toronto.

In 1979, Canada decided to accept 50,000 Indochinese refugees, who were also known as the boat people. Approximately 300,000 died - they were drowned, starved, or murdered in their flight to freedom. By 1980, about 2,000 had arrived in Metro Toronto. By 1982, the number grew to 12,000. Between 1983 and 1986, this population expanded to 30,000 largely through secondary migration.

Like most immigrants, the majority of the Vietnamese settled in predominantly urban settings, such as Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Toronto. Toronto has the highest concentration of Vietnamese in Canada. This population can be further identified as roughly 70 per cent of ethnic Vietnamese origin and 30 per cent Vietnamese of Chinese origin. In the 1986 census, the number of people in Canada who were born in Vietnam was 82,760, of which 32,255 resided in Ontario. In the 1991 census data, the total population had risen to 113,595 in Canada, of which 51,025 resided in Ontario. The 1991 census also indicated that in Metro Toronto, 20,170 of this population identified their ethnic origin as Vietnamese.

Except for those who arrived prior to 1975, the Vietnamese refugees and immigrants obtained their status of entry under family unification, non-government, or government sponsorship.

The majority of the Toronto Vietnamese have settled in several downtown areas: Bloor Street and Jane, bounded by the Humber River on the west and Dundas on the north; between Dufferin and Bathurst, from St Clair Avenue north to Eglinton; and north of Eglinton between Keele and Dufferin. Other pockets are scattered in different areas in Metro Toronto and York Region. In the last few years, there has been a gradual increase of the Vietnamese presence in Mississauga.