Thursday October 30th, 6:00 pm at the Lieutenant Governor’s suite, Queen’s park, Toronto.

Mr. Saras, Ladies and gentlemen:
I am delighted to join you again in honouring individuals for their sterling service to Canada’s many and varied cultural communities.

Remarks by His Honour David Onley, O.O. Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
at the Awards ceremony of the National Ethnic Press and media Council of Canada.
Thursday October 30th, 6:00 pm at the Lieutenant Governor’s suite, Queen’s park, Toronto.

Mr. Saras, Ladies and gentlemen:
I am delighted to join you again in honouring individuals for their sterling service to Canada’s many and varied cultural communities.
John Diefenbaker, thirteenth Prime Minister of Canada, once likened our nation to a garden, with flowers from many lands. “Each [of these flowers retains],” he wrote, “the best of the qualities for which it was loved and prized in its native land.”
When we look at the flowers in a garden, we see their diversity – the many ways in which they differ. But, when we take a step back and look at the garden, we see those differences blending together to create something that is not just beautiful, but that also shows who we are, and how we care for our garden.
So it is, with this nation and this province of ours. As a whole, many cultures, ethnicities, and faiths make up our free, democratic, and pluralistic society. But their individual strength is drawn from the communities in which their beliefs and identities were formed and nurtured.
Canada’s strong and diverse ethnic media play an important role on both of these processes. While aiding new Canadians in their efforts to adapt to our society, they also help them to retain their roots, providing them with information about events in the homelands from which they came.
As The Queen’s representative in Ontario, I commend the members of the ethnic press and media for your commitment to the multicultural mosaic that is Canada. And I congratulate this evening’s award winners for your outstanding contributions to your communities and to Canadian society.
Thank you.
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