Canadian Stories: Shared Experiences Over 150 Years

HREC was a co-organizer with the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) of a one-day conference to examine common experiences of genocide among Canada’s ethnic communities, Canada’s historic responses to genocide, Canadian values of diversity, tolerance, and multiculturalism, and Canada’s pivotal role in international human rights today. The conference, titled “Canadian Stories: Shared Experiences Over 150 Years,” took place on December 3, 2017, simultaneously at the Armenian Community Centres of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, which were connected via live broadcast.

The program featured renowned scholars, politicians, journalists, and activists from across Canada, including Jagmeet Singh (leader of the federal NDP), Arif Virani (Liberal MP for Parkdale-High Park), Jonathan Kay (National Post), and Dr. John Young (President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg). Dr. Frank Sysyn of HREC/CIUS joined Dr. Isabel Kaprielian-Churchill (California State University, Fresno) and Garnett Genuis (MP for Sherwood Park – Fort Saskatchewan) on a panel discussing Canada’s response to genocides of the 20th century, including the Holodomor and the Armenian Genocide. Frank Sysyn discussed the Canadian response to the Holodomor, referring to the recent work of Serge Cipko, whose book Starving Ukraine: The Holodomor and Canada’s Response (University of Regina Press) was published in 2017. The conference was endorsed by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR), the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), the Canadian Hellenic Congress (CHC), and the Rwandan Humura Association.