Annual Get Together Event.Remarks by Thomas S. SarasDECEMBER 11, 2015 Hon. Madam Premier, Your worship Lord Mayor of Toronto, Honorable and distinguished Guests of the Head tables, Sisters and Brothers in the Ethnic Press and Media, Ladies and Gentlemen:It is with pride that we take part in this event today, a celebration of our rights as citizens and at the same time an acknowledgement of our social responsibilities as servants of the community, as we are celebrating for one more time the impact that the ethnic communities have on our Canadian society. I want to express the appreciation of the members of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, to all members of the head table and special to you Madam Premier and Mayor Jon Tory, for your kindness to be with us for one more year. This is a special honour for this organization and its members, but also to the entire multicultural community of this great country of ours. We are grateful to you, for this gesture and also to your staff for their help. Your presence here, today, signifies your concerns, care and recognition of the social realities and trends of this great country, and at the same time the importance of the multicultural communities for the development of the Canadian cultural mosaic. Thanks go also to government of Ontario and the members of the Legislative Assembly for the support they provided every time to us. This evening’s event it is our acknowledgement of our appreciation for what the members of this organization offered to community and also achieved with their work, and at the same time wish them luck and encourage them to continue these efforts in the future. Finally, I want to express our gratitude to all participants in today’s event, as they contributed to most to tonight’s success with their presence. Today, we are celebrating the best of our cultures as we are honouring the men and women in the ethnic press, dedicated themselves in the service of the dignity of the human race. By recognizing the ethnic newspapers tonight we thankfully acknowledge the importance of freedom of expression and the freedom of information has to our democracy, principles so important to the National Ethnic press and Media Council of Canada. In the pursuit of these principles, our editors, writers and publishers work really hard to spread the knowledge of the world’s happenings, from their neighborhood to every corner of the planet, to every citizen of Canada. With their outstanding efforts they managed to bring change and progress in our society, they proved that multiculturalism in Canada works. Hon. Madam Premier, my friend John Tory, Lord Mayor of this great city what the world should be seeking and what we in Canada continue to cherish, are not concepts of racial or religious or Linguistic uniformity, but rather human values as compassion, love and understanding so that we prevent any form of oppression, injustice or hatred, which can attack our peace-loving society. Our standards in all our activities based always on excellence, but our routes to its achievement may be numerous as there are so many Canadians who pursue them. For thirty five million Canadians committed to live together, there is no subject of discontent that we cannot resolve in our efforts to build this country with honour, justice and respect for our diversity. This is the reason I feel an honor and great privilege tonight as I welcoming you to our annual Get together event. The celebration of the annual recognition of the impact of the members of the Ethnic Press and Media are having in our Canadian society as well as the one of the multicultural communities. Taking this opportunity please allow me to report that earlier this afternoon I received a telephone call from Ottawa, from the PMO on behalf the R. Hon. Justin Trudeau, the young and brilliant man we all are looking for a better future. I have been told that unfortunately the very last moment they had to chance the traveling plans due to special circumstances, and as a result the Prime Minister will not be able to join us tonight. I received assurances so far, that on our next event which is the celebration of the Press Freedom day, the 3rd of May, He will join us. On your behalf I thank the PMO for the honour of this call. With this celebration today we salute their contribution and recognize their struggles for respect of human rights, for equal opportunities, for their cultural heritage, the Arts, the Letters, for Peace and understanding among the Canadians, and respect for the dignity of every human being and all humanity. Finally, and before closing I want to express our deep condolences to our Vice President Ned Blair, for the recent passing of his mother, we understand his feelings for the great loose and wish her memory to be forever. Thank you all for your presence and participation
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