ANCT hosts reception for His Holiness, Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, Canadian Political and Ecumenical Leaders

TORONTO, ON – The Armenian National Committee of Toronto (“ANCT”) and St. Mary’s Apostolic Church hosted a formal reception to honour His Holiness, Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia and welcome him to Toronto. The reception was held at the Armenian Community Centre’s Haroutyoun Manougian Library, on the evening of Friday, September 30, 2005. Also invited to the reception were various Canadian political and religious figures.

Among the distinguished guests who welcomed His Holiness were the Hon. Jim Karygiannis, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport; Yasmin Ratansi, MP for Don Valley East; Lui Temelkovski, MP and Chair of the Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group; the Hon. Stephen Harper, MP, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada; the Hon. David Caplan, MPP, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal who also delivered a message from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty; the Hon. Gerry Phillips, MPP and Minister of Government Services and Brad Duguid, MPP. Also present were Toronto City Councillors Shelley Carroll (Don Valley East) and Mike Del Grande (Scarborough-Agincourt).

As a special gift, Mr. Karygiannis presented His Holiness with a copy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms translated into Armenian and invited His Holiness to meet with the Prime Minister of Canada in Ottawa on Tuesday, October 4, 2005.

Religious figures in attendance included His Emminence Archbishop Khajag Hagopian, Prelate of the Armenian Prelacy of Canada; Rev. Samuel Albarian, Pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church; Fr. Yeghia Kiredjian of the Armenian Catholic Church; Rev. Yessai Sarmazian as well as representatives of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Danish Lutheran Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church and the United Church of Canada.

At the conclusion of the reception, His Holiness addressed the guests and spoke about Canada’ s “special place in the world” due to its strong, God given values of “diversity” and “mutual understanding” and stressed the importance of preserving these values.

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