Many Vietnamese nationals in Canada have gained success and made significant contributions to their second homeland.According to the Canadian statistics agency, about 180,000 Vietnamese people were living in the country in 2006, many of them holding key political positions.Some young Vietnamese have risen to fame because of their creativity and innovations in Canada. Paul Nguyen, 33, was awarded the 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his great contribution to community development. Paul is a journalist and filmmaker, as well as a public speaker and commentator on race, crime and youth issues. His influence on multiculturalism has been recognized by political leaders across Canada.In 2004, Paul created the Jane-Finch.com website to create closer links among the local community and boost cooperation between different regions.InnovatorsFashion Designer Nguyen Minh Thien, 36, is another case in point.Thien moved to Windsor city, Ontario, in 1989 to pursue his studies in fashion design. He graduated from the International Academy of Design and Technology in 1998 and was awarded for the “Best Evening Wear Design”.He officially introduced his Thien Le label in 1999 with a variety of styles, from golf wear to red carpet couture that have been internationally praised and featured at several fashion fairs.The National Post newspaper spoke highly of Thien Le’s creativity, saying that he often crouches on the cutting table in his cramped workroom, labouring over the construction of a kimono.Thien Le's work is most notable for recalling what he refers to as “The Elegant Period” of the 1930s, 40's and 50's. He is known for his signature long, flowing colourful gowns featuring fine tailored elements and details that reaffirm his trademark.His 2002 “Victorian Captive in the Modern Age” collection, composed of a range black silk and satin pieces, was one of his darkest collections showing grief and passion.Thien Le is often asked to take part in media projects and fashion shows across Canada and has become known for channeling his creativity into projects out of his comfort zone. For one such project he tailored an entire wardrobe for a video by the Canadian band The Abrams Brothers, which required a lot of research in order to deliver what the band requested.Computer game designer Le Minh, born in 1977, is a Vietnamese-Canadian game developer who co-created the popular Half-Life mod Counter-Strike game with Jess Cliffe in 1999, and has become widely known online as Gooseman.Le was later employed by the Half-Life developers, Valve Software, as a programmer, modeler, and designer of small-team games. He is currently working on a multi-player first-person shooter Tactical Intervention game.In 2000, Valve bought the rights to Counter-Strike and hired Le and Cliffe to work with them in Bellevue, Washington (USA) where Le continued to work on Counter-Strike and related games. During this time he was engaged in developing Counter-Strike , but has put this project on hold indefinitely.After Counter-Strike 2 was shelved, Minh left Valve to work on his own project with a small team. After two years, he moved to the Republic Korea in 2008 to work with a business called FIX Korea, which provided funding for further development.In 2003, a GameSpy editorial cited Le Minh as the most important reason Half-Life was still popular five years after it was released, and placed him 14th in the “Top 100 Game Creators of All Time” list.Well-known martial artistNinth degree black belt taekwondo Grandmaster Tran Trieu Quan was credited as being President of one of the three International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) groups from mid-2003 until his death in the 2010 Haiti earthquake.Born in Hanoi in 1952, Quan began studying taekwondo when he was twelve years old. He attained black belt status at the age of 17 and taught taekwondo under his instructor, Kim Bong Sik.He emigrated to Canada in 1970, studied mechanical engineering at Lavel University and established the first taekwondo school in eastern Canada.In addition to his extensive martial arts activities, Quan also operated Norbati Consultants Tran & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in supervising building standards and managing projects for the construction sector.Quan was promoted to seventh degree black belt in 1990, eighth in 2000, and ninth in 2008, and was appointed President of one of the three ITF organizations in 2003. His death in the Haiti earthquake tragically ended his burning desire to make greater contributions to the taekwondo community.VOV