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 commemoration service 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 on World 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.
16 Apr 2005 by Press Office
