On June 29, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan received Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Canada, Archbishop Babken Charian.

Greeting the guest, Minister Hranush Hakobyan attached importance to His Holiness Babken’s pro-national activities and his efforts aimed at consolidating the Armenian community and preserving the Armenian identity.

The Minister of Diaspora presented the programs and activities of the Ministry, touched upon the upcoming programs and the organizing of the 6^th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference.

His Holiness Babken expressed gratitude for the cordial reception and talked about the Canadian-Armenian community’s successes and achievements. He proudly mentioned that the bust of famous Canadian-Armenian photographer Yusuf Karsh was placed in the Confederation Grove in central Ottawa through the combined efforts of the Canadian-Armenian community, Armenian organizations and the Armenian Ambassador and is the gift of the Armenian people to the people of Canada and symbolizes the strong friendship between Canada and Armenia. His Holiness also touched upon the participation of the Armenians of Canada in the marches dedicated to the anniversary of the First Republic of Armenia in Montreal and Toronto and stated that it was the ideas of human rights protection, genocide prevention, independence and renaissance that had united the Armenians.

“We Armenians must be the frontrunners so that we can lead the army.  The Armenians of Canada have created a Unified Committee to celebrate Armenian holidays together and solve the community-related issues together,” Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Canada, Archbishop Babken Charian added.

Issues on consolidation of the Armenian communities of the Diaspora, the establishment of a coordinating body for participation in the solution to priority issues of all Armenians and the organizing of support to borderline villages in Armenia were discussed during the meeting.