Armenian National Committee of Canada press release – April 3, 2006 – Ottawa – 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.”
The text of Motion 59 is as follows:
Be it resolved that this House recognise the genocide of the Armenians as a crime against humanity.
Be it further resolved that this House urge the BC government to designate April 24th of every year hereafter throughout BC as a day of remembrance for the 1.5 million Armenians who fell victim to the first genocide of the 20th Century.
Yorumlar kapatıldı.