More than 5,000 Armenians of Toronto, as well as representatives of various communities, including Pontic Greeks, Assyrians, Jews, Kurds, Rwandans and Cypriots participated in a thousand-man march and commemorative event held as part of the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, reports the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Canada to “Armenpress”.

Among the guests of honor were Prime Minister of Ontario Kathleen Wayne, Minister of National Defense and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney, Mayor of Toronto John Tori representatives of Canada’s state and federal governments; RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Canada Armen Yeganyan; diplomats; Bishops Abgar Hovagimian and Meghrig Barikian, as well as other clergymen and members of community organizations. The keynote speaker was famous Canadian-Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan.

The speeches by the guests of honor were followed by the Unity March from Queens Park to the Metropolitan United Church of Toronto where a Solemn Inter-Community Collective Prayer ceremony was held. The inter-church ceremony commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide was organized by the interdenominational body of Armenian Churches of Toronto, the members of which are the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, the St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church, the St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Catholic Church and the Armenian Evangelical Church. The ceremony included performances by the choirs of the above mentioned churches. The crowds of faithful people filled not only the church, but the churchyard as well. Senior Priest Zareh Zargarian of the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church spoke on behalf of the Interdenominational Body of the Armenian Churches of Toronto. He welcomed RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Canada Armen Yeganyan, as well as the representatives of Canada’s state and federal governments and the guests of honor. He also gave special thanks and expressed his appreciation to spiritual leader of the Catholic community of Toronto, Cardinal Thomas Collins; leader of the Toronto Diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Collins Johnson; leader of the Ghpti Orthodox Church of Misisaga and Vancouver, Bishop Mina, as well as the high-ranking clergymen of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod of Ethiopia in Canada, the St. Marcos Ghpti Orthodox Church and the United Church of Canada and the Council of Churches of Canada. Ambassador Armen Yeganyan spoke on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, and His Grace, Bishop Abgar Hovakimyan and His Grace, Bishop Meghrig Barikian spoke on behalf of the faithful Armenians of Canada. During the ceremony, spiritual leader of the Catholic Community of Toronto, Cardinal Thomas Collins gave a sermon that he dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide. With this ecumenical ceremony, the attendees properly paid tribute to all the innocent victims, encouraging everyone to continue the struggle against all kinds of violence against humanity.