Another great week in Montreal. Art exhibition (Aslanian) and book reading/ conference.
Last night I attended Dr. Lorne Chirinian’s book reading of “Quest for Closure”. This book deals with the issue of the Armenian Genocide and the Canadian government. It starts with some stats from the early 1900’s until more recent times. He has identified the first Armenian in Canada to be --- in 1896. Something interesting I learned yesterday was how Armenians were considered Asians and therefor confined to a legislation that restricted Asian immigration to Canada. This is one of Canada’s ugly chapters that most Canadians today are ashamed of. Some of you may know the situation of the Asian men who came to Canada to build the railroad tracks and were poorly treated by the Canadians and the government. Well, to keep it short, Armenians weren’t welcome to Canada during 1915-18 because of this legislation. Another interesting fact: although today’s government will not recognize the event as a Genocide (I won’t go into details as to why), in 19-- the government of the same country allocated up to 300 000$ to the refugees from Van, --- and –. They considered their status as exiled refugees from Turkey’s extermination of their people.
Lorne is a great personality. His forte is in literature but he also tackles socio-political issues and issues that deal with cultural identity. I’ve met Dr. Chirinian during the Generations Genocide colloquium I had organised in 2000 at Concordia University, commemorating the 85th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. He is a professor in Ontario. One of the most interesting and genuinely nice people I have met.
Weather: March 20, we had the pleasure of welcoming spring with an extra 15 cm of snow. Over one week, we received about 35 cm of snow in Montreal… finally, winter!
My squash has definitely improved. However, I am not Olympics material yet. Come to think of it, why isn’t squash an Olympic game? After all if “curling” is a qualified then I think squash should be too!
PS: Someone write back and informed me that Roupen Hakhvertian is coming up with a new CD. Can’t wait.
nkarts@hotmail.com
Last night I attended Dr. Lorne Chirinian’s book reading of “Quest for Closure”. This book deals with the issue of the Armenian Genocide and the Canadian government. It starts with some stats from the early 1900’s until more recent times. He has identified the first Armenian in Canada to be --- in 1896. Something interesting I learned yesterday was how Armenians were considered Asians and therefor confined to a legislation that restricted Asian immigration to Canada. This is one of Canada’s ugly chapters that most Canadians today are ashamed of. Some of you may know the situation of the Asian men who came to Canada to build the railroad tracks and were poorly treated by the Canadians and the government. Well, to keep it short, Armenians weren’t welcome to Canada during 1915-18 because of this legislation. Another interesting fact: although today’s government will not recognize the event as a Genocide (I won’t go into details as to why), in 19-- the government of the same country allocated up to 300 000$ to the refugees from Van, --- and –. They considered their status as exiled refugees from Turkey’s extermination of their people.
Lorne is a great personality. His forte is in literature but he also tackles socio-political issues and issues that deal with cultural identity. I’ve met Dr. Chirinian during the Generations Genocide colloquium I had organised in 2000 at Concordia University, commemorating the 85th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. He is a professor in Ontario. One of the most interesting and genuinely nice people I have met.
Weather: March 20, we had the pleasure of welcoming spring with an extra 15 cm of snow. Over one week, we received about 35 cm of snow in Montreal… finally, winter!
My squash has definitely improved. However, I am not Olympics material yet. Come to think of it, why isn’t squash an Olympic game? After all if “curling” is a qualified then I think squash should be too!
PS: Someone write back and informed me that Roupen Hakhvertian is coming up with a new CD. Can’t wait.
nkarts@hotmail.com
posted by Raffi N at 12:53 AM
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