The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia recognises the Armenian
Genocide
ArmRadio.am
06.04.2006 12:48
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia unanimously adopted a
Private Member’s Motion 59, recognising 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 p.m. 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), Murine Karagianis
(Esquimalt-Metchosin), Leonared Krog (Naniamo), Kevin Krueger
(Kamloops-North Thompson), John Nuraney (Burnaby-Wellingdon), Micheal
Sather (Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows), and John Yap
(Richmond-Stevenston) 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 Babikian, on behalf of the Canadian-Armenian community, thanked
MLAs Adrian Dix and Randy Hawes 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 support 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.”