Armenian National Committee of Canada
130 Albert St., Suite 1007
Ottawa, ON
KIP 5G4
Tel. (613) 235-2622 Fax (613) 238-2622
E-mail:[email protected]
PR ESS RELEASE
August 18, 2006
Contact: Roupen Kouyoumjian
(613) 235-2622
ANCC Participates in Gen. Romeo Dallaire Genocide Institute Sessions
Ottawa, August 18-The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC)
participated in Gen. Romeo Dallaire Genocide Institute’s 2006 teachers
genocide training sessions held between August 14 to 18 at the University of
Western Ontario in London, Ont.
The aim of the institute’s annual sessions is to train teachers about the
moral lessons learned from the Holocaust, the Armenian, and the Rwandan
Genocides. This year the institute hosted 40 teachers from various Canadian
provinces.
On the first day of the weeklong sessions, Prof. Frank Chalk of Concordia
University of Montreal, Que., one of the pioneers on genocide studies,
looked at genocides from a historical perspective and addressed their
social, political and economic roots. During his presentation, Prof. Chalk
screened a documentary of which 20 minutes were devoted to the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 to 1921.
The rest of the week was devoted to the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust,
and the Rwandan Genocide. Morning sessions focused on building historical
framework of genocides while afternoon gatherings stressed classroom
application. There were four special sessions: genocide intervention, which
was facilitated by Gen. Romeo Dallaire; a session with a survivor of the
Holocaust; a session with a survivor of the Rwandan Genocide; and a session
on the Darfur calamity.
On Tuesday, August 15, Prof. Lorne Shirinian from the Royal Military College
in Kingston, Ont. presented the historical background of the Armenian Cause
and the Armenian Genocide, starting at the Congress of Berlin (1878), the
Hamidian Massacres of Armenians (1894 to 1896), the reform movement, the
Young Turks’ coup d’etat, the Genocide of 1915, the Allied Powers’ promises
and betrayal, and finally the Turkish Government’s denial policy.
In the afternoon Dr. Sima Aprahamian, also from Concordia, lectured on the
pedagogy of teaching the Armenian Genocide and the applicability of its
lessons to today’s genocides. Dr. Aprahamian screened a documentary on the
Georgetown Boys, a state of California prepared classroom documentary on the
Armenian Genocide and finally, Araz Artinian’s "The Genocide in Me"
documentary which address the psychological effect of the genocide denial on
Canadian-born Armenians.
Pamphlets and literature related to the Armenian Genocide, among them a
special resources book prepared by "Facing History and Ourselves" were
distributed to the teachers.
During a reception on August 13, Aris Babikian of the ANCC (a partner of the
institute), welcomed the teachers and emphasized the importance of their
"noble mission to carry out the lessons learned from various genocides and
to spread the message of hope, tolerance and respect to human being,
regardless of their religion, race, or colour." Babikian, ANCC’s executive
director, said that he was confident that the teachers would be the torch
carriers who would stamp out future genocides and "help avert other nations
from suffering racism, hatred, and xenophobia that the Armenians, Jews, and
Rwandans experienced."
In addressing the other partners of the institute, Babikian said ANCC was
delighted to "see so many genocide victim organizations joining together and
cooperating to make Gen. Romeo Dallaire Institute such a success." He said
that it is "imperative that various victims of genocides stand together in
solidarity, to support each other and to send a clear message to the rest of
the world that the victim nations are standing on guard, and that they will
not stand by and let other nations fall victim to mankind’s most heinous
crime."
It is vital that victim nations stand together and fight against the last
act of all genocides: the denial aspect, said Babikian. "Victim nations
should also be alert to notions of dividing the victims and of creating a
hierarchy of suffering among them thus shattering the solidarity of the
victims," the ANCC representative concluded.
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