The National Congress of Italian Canadians, The Order of Sons and Daughters of Italy and the National Federation of Canadian Italian Business Professional Association have been working tirelessly, for close to 40 years, towards an official and formal apology from the Government of Canada with respect to the treatment of Italian Canadians during the Second World War. Together, these three national organizations represent 1.6 million Italian Canadians.
On June 10th, 1940, over 17,000 families of Italian origin were declared enemy aliens and required to report at least once a week to the RCMP or authorized government reporting centers including men, women, and children. This caused irreparable damage and a grave injustice with many being interned in camps across the country. 6000 were arrested and over 600 were imprisoned; some for up to 3 years, without ever being charged. The entire Italian Community was humiliated by the unjust elements of discrimination and harassment.
To this day, descendants of these individuals continue to come forth, for some sort of closure. Acknowledging the historical injustices that those of Italian origin endured in Canada during this dark time in Canadian history, creates a path towards closure and a final chapter to the endless story of these families. The Internment caused irrevocable harm and hardships not only to the families but to whole communities who suffered ongoing discrimination.
On behalf of the many families and the Italian Canadian communities affected and its respective memberships, the National Congress of Italian Canadians, the Order of Sons and Daughters of Italy, and the National Federation of Canadian Italian Business Professional Associations, graciously accept this formal apology by the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Canada and the Government of Canada.
Let us now embark on the task of educating Canadians about these events thereby ensuring that they are never repeated.
Roberto Colavecchio,
président | president
National Congress of Italian-Canadians
Never consulted…
Dear editor,
The residents of the following streets in Chomedey, Korman, Webb and Ridgewood were not consulted on a major project from the Ville de Laval which will reduce the overall quality of life. Under the guise of replacing the decades old sewers and water pipes, which we are in full support since they have been doing it to other streets around us, they had another agenda. The other sneaky project is to increase the width of the sidewalks on both sides of the street BUT eliminate completely one side of parking completely.
This will be a nightmare in the winter since where will the citizens push the snow to, with no parking lane … on to oncoming traffic? Where can you stop to drop off groceries for 5 minutes? This also presents a problem with several handicapped people that require a parking spot in front of their house. This also presents a hazard for pedestrians walking on a sidewalk (full of cracks to trip on) so close to traffic, without the parking lane buffer should someone take a fall or slip. We really believe that the decision from whomever at Ville de Laval was not well thought out in practice. It appears these 3 streets are the guinea pigs for what will eventually happen to all of Laval.
The quality of life will go down as well as the value of properties on the side of no parking. I stress again, we were NEVER consulted on this part of the operation. The outgoing mayor Demers and his team of engineers do not even want to hear us. Our City councillor for Chomedey, Aglaia Revelakis, is desperately trying to fight for us. We are also looking for a lawyer since this made up in the courts.
Emmanuel (Manny) Axais
Chomedey Resident
CRTC’s Chairman should resign
Dear editor,
As the largest independent internet service provider in Quebec, employing more than 450 people and serving over 130,000 clients for 23 years-, EBOX is calling for CRTC ’s Chairman resignation.
In a stunning reversal, CRTC has decided to backtrack on their 2019 decision that was lowering internet rates for Canadians. Evidence was found in a 3-year-long process that highlighted rates being inflated by large providers.
In a multi-year court process following 2019 decision, the Federal court of appeal concluded that the case brought up by large telecom providers were of dubious merit. However regardless of what the court of appeal and supreme court of Canada said, CRTC decided to do a 180-degree stunt and rollback on old tariff essentially selling out Canadians to the big telecoms and throwing competitors under the bus.
The CRTC chair and ex-Telus VP have a clear bias towards large telecom providers’ facilities-based competition. The appearance of a conflict of interest due to pressure from the major providers, the incompetence, as well as the inefficiency in handling this case are simply too great to be ignored.
Jean-Philippe Béïque BAA, MIS
Ebox Chief Executive Officer
