Bulgaria Day at the Canadian Parliament
06 March 2018 News
To mark the National Day of Bulgaria, the 3rd of March, the Canadian Parliament held the first of its kind Bulgaria Day. The event commenced with a showing of the film ‘This Is Bulgaria’ and the opening of the exhibition ‘The Power of Civil Society’, dedicated to the rescue of Bulgarian Jews in WWII.
The festive evening continued with a music program in several parts. First, there was a concert of classical music pieces for violin and piano, performed by Ralitza Cholakova, Naya Ganon and Steven Ruble (violin) and Amélie Langlois (piano). This was followed by the Bulgarian folk dance medley of Monika Miteva, Desislava Simeonova and Tsvetelin Naidenov, while Stanimir Litsanov gave a kaval (flute) concert, in which he was joined by singer Reni Stamatova.
The guests at the event received video greetings from Bulgarian folk troupes based in Vancouver, Brampton, Calgary, Victoria and Montreal.
The co-chair of the Canada-Bulgaria Friendship Group in the Canadian Parliament, Senator Yonah Martin, greeted the guests at the event while also dwelling on the importance of contacts among people and the role of the community for the promotion of ties between Bulgaria and Canada. In her congratulatory address the Senator noted the important contribution of Bulgaria as rotational President of the Council of the EU.
The acting Chief of Mission at the Bulgarian Embassy in Ottawa Svetlana Stoicheva-Etropolski thanked the Friendship Group and Senator Yonah Martin in person for their exceptionally fruitful cooperation and partnership in the creation of successful platforms for the exchange of ideas, contacts and experience. She spoke about the Embassy’s goal of expanding the presence of Bulgarian culture in Canada while paying tribute to the enormous role of the Bulgarian community in that country for the attainment of this goal. The diplomat marked the 3rd of March, the National Day of Bulgaria, as one of the symbols of Bulgarian national identity, a source of self-esteem and dignity, and wished the attending fellow nationals to keep building a living bridge between Bulgaria and Canada. ‘In Canada we celebrated this day among friends, with whom we share the same goals and values,’ she said.
Svetlana Stoicheva-Etropolski highlighted the important role of Bulgaria, in its capacity as rotational President of the Council of the EU, and its ability to build consensus on foreign policy matters of strategic importance. She devoted special attention to the 75th anniversary of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews during WWII and presented the exhibition ‘The Power of Civil Society’, which will hopefully familiarize as many Canadian parliamentarians as possible with that seminal episode in Bulgarian history.
The Chairman of the Bulgarian Society in the national capital region of Ottawa–Gatineau Anton Minkov also greeted the guests.
The event was honoured by a large number of senators and members of parliament, as well as by officials of the Canadian Foreign Ministry, members of non-governmental organizations, the media and representatives of the Bulgarian community.
All guests were welcomed, according to Bulgarian custom, with a chunk of bread sprinkled with salt and red pepper, and decorated with martenitsas hand made by Dr. Burya Dimitrova, a patriotic Bulgarian woman and an eminent member of the Bulgarian community in Ottawa. At the end of the event, the guests had a chance to sample traditional Bulgarian dishes and Bulgarian wine.
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