PRESS OFFICE
Armenian Holy Apostolic Church Canadian Diocese
Contact; Deacon Hagop Arslanian, Assistant to the Primate
615 Stuart Avenue, Outremont Quebec H2V 3H2
Tel; 514-276-9479, Fax; 514-276-9960
Email; [email protected]
Website;
CANADA’S CAPITAL COMMEMORATES THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
OTTAWA- April 2005 marks the 90th anniversary of the first genocide of
the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide of 1915. To mark this
important date and honor the victims of the Armenian Genocide and the
victims of genocides that have tragically continued since 1915, the
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Canada held an important Ecumenical
and Interfaith prayer and commemorationservice at Notre Dame Cathedral
in Ottawa on Friday night April 15, 2005. This commemoration was
notable and received broad coverage from the media, including CTV
Night News, in depth articles in, The Ottawa Citizen, interviews on
local radio stations and many Ottawa area community newspapers,
including the Ottawa Metro.
Honorable Ed Broadbent, former leader of the New Democratic Party,
first president of the International Human Rights Centre, and current
MP for Ottawa Centre, delivered a powerful speech as the ceremony’s
guest speaker. Mr. Broadbent conveyed to the congregation that “The
massacre of Armenians in 1915 was a clear undisputed act of genocide.
While it is hard to imagine anything worse than war, genocide is,
because people are selected for systematic murder not for what they
have done or for the territory they occupy – but simply for who they
are”.
Spiritual leaders from 28 different Church denominations and
Interfaith groups offered their prayers for the victims of genocide
and all violence. Salutations were also offered by Ven. Dr. Thero
Sirisumana Walasmullage of the Buddhist community of Ottawa, and by
Mr. Pon AdcharaMoorthy of the Hindu Community of Ottawa.
Rabbi Reuven Bulka of the Jewish community of Ottawa provided the
salutation of his community, remarking “As you contemplate the great
evil that was heaped upon your community, you cannot even be offered
the comfort that the world has learned a lesson, and this was the last
genocide. Far from it. The holocaust unfolded not too long after the
Armenian genocide. And most recently, we know all too well what
happened in Rwanda, and what is happening in Darfur, even as we
speak. We need to say a loud, thunderous NO to the slightest bigotry,
the smallest hate, the most minute racism.”
Dr. Imam Gamal Suleiman of the Muslim community of Ottawa provided his
prayer that “We should strive to learn the truth about the past and
learn from it, not to create or perpetuate hatreds or build walls
between us but to learn from history, seek forgiveness, cleanse our
hearts, and love other creations of God as our larger family.”
The Primate of the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Holy Apostolic
Church, His Eminence Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, led the commemoration
service. The Bishop emphasized that “we are here to join our hands
with the people of good will and raise up our voice against those who
perpetrated the Holocaust, the massacres and ethnic cleansings in
Africa, Poland, the Ukraine, Paraguay, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Rwanda,
East Timor, among other countries, and to say: NEVER AGAIN.”
Bishop Galstanian also proudly stated “we are here not to mourn but
rather to celebrate the martyrdom of a people who has finally
liberated itself from the shackles of a victim and emerged from the
ashes as a victorious nation.”
The service exuded a sense of triumph, and an overwhelming feeling of
hope for the future. One of the few remaining Armenian genocide
survivors, Mrs. Hrachoui Brown, provided a touching and poetic
connection to the tragic past. Mrs. Brown expressed her heartfelt
thanks to Canada for accepting refugees and immigrants and providing
them with a safe and free environment in which to grow and flourish.
Mrs. Brown lit the candles of four young members of the new generation
of Armenians, Chatigne Tachdjian (age 6), Raffi Avedissian (age 7),
Rita Dukmajian (age 10), and Arees Aharonian (age 13). This flame of
remembrance was then passed from these young torchbearers to each
person throughout the church, as the lights in the Church were brought
down to create, a beautiful visual portrait and deep spiritual sense
of peace.
The keynote speaker of the evening was the Archbishop of the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa, His Eminence Marcel Gervais.
Archbishop Gervais echoed the theme of memory and forgiveness, stating
that “memory can feed vengeance and hatred and it can also support the
resolution that such crimes should never happen again, “never again”
to anyone, anywhere.” The Archbishop also quoted the words of the
late Pope John Paul II, who wrote in his message onWorld Day of Peace
2002, ‘Peace is essential for development, but true peace is made
possible only through forgiveness. No peace without justice, no
justice without forgiveness.”
The combination of the presence of the participating spiritual
leaders, the thoughtful messages of the speakers, the candle-lighting
ceremony, and the beautiful ancient Armenian hymns, sung by the choir
of St. Gregory the Illuminator from Montreal left the capacity
audience in the large thousand people Notre Dame Cathedral,
contemplating the history of genocide and a renewed hope for the
future. The Diocese was honoured to have among the invitees,
representatives from some 30 embassies and corresponding number of
ethnic community leaders. Bishop Galstanian acknowledged their
participation. Notable among these was H.E. Ara Papian, Ambassador of
Armenia to Canada and his family.
The ecumenical service in Ottawa is part of a Canada-wide
commemoration campaign organized by the Canadian Diocese of the
Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church in association with religious
figures of many denominations and faiths. Similar interfaith services
will be held in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
* * * * * * * * *
Annex
Representatives of many religious denominations offered their prayers
for the victims of genocide, including Rev. Dr. John Gibaut and
Rev. Fr. Graig Bowers of the Anglican Diocese, Rev. Fr. Francois
Beyrouti and Exarch Habib Kowaiter of the Melkite Catholic Church,
Rev. Fr. John Scratch of the Orthodox Church in America, Archdiocese
of Canada, Rev. Fr. Jacques Faucher and Rev. Fr. Jacques Kabangu of
the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Cedric Pettigrew of The
Presbytery of Ottawa, Fr. Alex Michalopoulos of the Greek Orthodox
Church, The Rev. Dr. James Taylor Christie and Rev. Dr. Grant
Dillenbeck of the United Church, Rev. Dr. Barton Beglo of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church, Mgr. Andre Drouin of the Catholic Church,
Rev. Fr. Shenoudu Doss Boutros of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and
Rev. Fr. Roger Steinke of the Anglican Church.
Many embassies accepted the invitation to attend the ceremony,
including: Armenia, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia,
Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Gabon, Greece, Holy See (Vatican),
Ivory Coast, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Macedonia, Netherlands, Poland,
Russian Federation, Rwanda, Slovenia, South Africa, Syria and Uruguay.
Present at the crowded service were members of the Ottawa Armenian
community, MP Marlene Catterall (Ottawa West – Nepean), the Ambassador
of Armenia, Ara Papian, representatives of other foreign governments
from Ottawa’s diplomatic community, members of the inter-faith
community of Ottawa, and other Canadian government officials.
Many countries around the world have had governments, parliaments, and
other legislative bodies recognize the Armenian genocide – Cyprus,
Russia, Greece, Belgium, Sweden, Lebanon, Vatican City, Italy, France,
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, European parliament,
Switzerland, Uruguay, Argentina, Canada, Slovak Parliament, and
Holland.
The Armenian community remains grateful to the Members of Parliament
of Canada who followed their conscience, and voted in favour of
recognizing the events of 1915 as genocide.