ANCC readies motion to declare April Genocide Remembrance Month

March 27, 2015 - 10:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) is working closely with Mr. Brad Butt, Member of Parliament for Mississauga – Streetsville (Conservative) on a motion to declare April as Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month and, among other things, to mark April 24 of each year as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day.

The ANCC urges all Canadians dedicated to the cause of preventing future genocides and properly recognizing past genocides to make their voices heard by writing or calling their Members of Parliament and asking them to vote for this motion, Horizon Weekly reports.

ANCC President Dr. Girair Basmajian said “This motion reaffirms Canada’s commitment to the important cause of genocide prevention and recognizes that the first step to prevention is to ensure that we remember and condemn past genocides.”

Dr. Basmajian further stated: “We are very grateful that this motion designates April 24 as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day so that all Canadians can join with the Armenian community to work to prevent future genocides, which is especially important in light of the religiously and ethnically motivated violence against minorities currently taking place in Iraq and Syria.”

The Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month motion was published on the Notice Paper, which is the first step that must be taken before the motion can be introduced in the House of Commons and then brought to a vote. It is expected that the motion will be formally introduced in the House of Commons next week by Mr. Butt. It is also expected that other Members of Parliament will speak in favor of the motion at that time. It is not yet clear when the motion would be approved, Horizon Weekly says.

The Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month motion recalls that Canada has officially recognized four genocides (the Holocaust, the Holodomor, the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide and the Armenian Genocide) and that three of these genocides have a memorial day in April, so it is appropriate to designate April of each year as Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month. The ANCC notes that the designation of April 24 of each year as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day in this motion is the first time that any Canadian federal government body has formally recognized April 24 as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.