In 2015, on the occasion of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the exhibition entitled “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh” (based on the novel “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh”) was held for the first time in Montreal with the support of the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada and the Embassy of Canada in France.

Hayern Aysor, citing Canada’s Horizon Weekly, reports that two years later, on November 1, the opening of the exhibition was held at Toronto Central Library and attended by many foreign guests. The exhibition was organized by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Canada Committee and the Sara Corning Centre for Genocide Education, in partnership with the Jewish Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre. The event was held ahead of the Holocaust Education Week, which is a series of events held in the first week of November every year and in which the Armenian National Committee of Canada and the Sarah Corning Centre participates with a special invitation.

The opening of the exhibition was performed by the Library’s administration, and the Master of Ceremonies was Levon Sarmazian, one of the administrators of the Sara Corning Centre for Genocide Education. The representative of the Jewish Holocaust Centre expressed remarks on the occasion of Genocide and Holocaust Education Week.

The main guest of the event was Mayor of Toronto John Tory. In his speech, Tory stressed the importance of remembering historical facts and the commitment to raising a new generation that will fight for human rights and against discrimination in order to prevent future genocides and human rights violations in not only Canada, but also other parts of the world. The mayor highly appreciated the Armenian community of Toronto for its awareness that was particularly manifested over the past two years when members of the community received Syrian-Armenian migrants with generosity.

John Tory highly appreciated the Armenians’ diligence, humanism and their will to renew and continue their lives, just like in the wake of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and during the Syrian and Iraqi wars.

Levon Sarmazian introduced the oldest Armenian resident of Musa Ler Kristapor Gazanjian as a representative of the generation of the rebellion and called Chairman of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Ontario Committee Krikor Shitilian to the stage. Shitilian briefly presented the activities of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Canada Committee and affirmed that the Battle of Musa Ler was one of the several rebellions that the Armenians organized in Van, Svaz, Urfa, Zeytun and Aintab during the years of the Armenian Genocide. Afterwards, on behalf of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee, Shitilian expressed gratitude to the Sara and Chaim Nuberger Holocaust Education Centre for providing the opportunity to introduce the history of the Armenian Genocide during the “Forty Days of Musa Dagh” event through Sar Corning Centre for Genocide Education.

At the end of the event, the mayor of Toronto received the new book “Forget-Me-Not Book”, which features the events that were held on the occasion of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide in Toronto and Southern Ontario.

The exhibition will run until late November.