From: [email protected]
Subject: British Columbia Legislative Assembly Recognizes Armenian Genocide
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
OTTAWA, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Legislative
Assembly of British Columbia unanimously adopted a Private Member’s
Motion 59, recognizing the Armenian Genocide and to designate April
24th of every year as a remembrance day for the 1.5 million Armenians
who fell victim to the first genocide of the 20th Century. The debate
on the Motion, which was sponsored by Member of the Legislative
Assembly (MLA) Adrian Dix (Vancouver-Kingsway), commenced at 11:00
a.m. on April 3 and was voted upon at the end of the allotted one hour
according to Private Member’s Motion rules. MLAs Adrian Dix
(Vancouver-Kingsway), Rob Fleming (Victoria-Hillside), Randy Hawes
(Maple Ridge-Mission), Dave S. Hayer (Surrey-Tynehead), John Horgan
(Malahat-Juan de Fuca), Maurine Karagianis (Esquimalt-Metchosin),
Leonard Krog (Nanaimo), Kevin Krueger (Kamloops-North Thompson), John
Nuraney (Burnaby-Willingdon), Michael Sather (Maple Ridge – Pitt
Meadows), and John Yap (Richmond-Steveston) spoke in support of the
Motion. Since last August The Armenian National Committee of Canada
(ANCC), The Armenian National Committee of Canada – West (ANCCW), and
The Armenian National Committee of Vancouver (ANCV), have worked
closely with the MLAs Dix, Hawes, Sather, and Hayer to build
non-partisan support for Motion 59. The ANCC, ANCCW and ANCV delegates
had numerous meetings with various MLAs to brief them on the Motion’s
importance as a universal human rights issue. In addition, the
delegates presented historical overview of the Genocide and supporting
documents. The executive director of The Armenian National Committee
of Canada Aris Babkian, on behalf of the Canadian-Armenian community,
thanked MLAs Adrian Dix (NDP) and Randy Hawes (Liberal) for their
leadership role in the successful adoption of the Motion. Furthermore,
Mr. Babikian thanked members who spoke in favour of the Motion and the
members who voted to adopt it. Mr. Babikian said: “This is a historic
day for our community in Canada and in British Columbia. The steadfast
suppor! t and the unanimous vote of the MLAs demonstrates once again
that the Turkish Government’s denial policy and rewriting of history
will not succeed. We call upon the Turkish Government to be
constructive, to come to terms with its dark history and to
acknowledge its predecessors’ guilt and extend a hand of atonement and
reconciliation to the Armenian People.”