February 16, 2023
On Dec. 20, 2022, the Honorable Melanie Joly, Foreign Minister of Canada, visited the Alex Manoogian School in Montreal where she met students, staff and grandparents who were present at the traditional Christmas breakfast of the school. Minister Joly was extremely thrilled to greet a full-house crowd with so many families from her riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville. The school’s 130-student choir performed Christmas carols and left the entire hall in awe.
After the event, AGBU leadership met with Minister Joly to raise the urgent situation in Artsakh, caused by the Azeri blockade of the Lachin corridor, a humanitarian crisis in the making. The Foreign Minister acknowledged the urgency to immediately reopen the only road that links Artsakh to Armenia. Discussions also revolved around the opening of the Canadian embassy in Yerevan and its significance to bolstering Canada-Armenia bilateral relations.
AGBU will continue working closely with the Minister to find ways of preventing a humanitarian disaster for the 120,000 population of Artsakh.