Attendance at the Peace Memorial Ceremony, Montreal
On August 5, 2016, Ambassador Monji and Madam Etsuko Monji, along with Mr. Hideaki Kuramitsu, Consul-General of Japan in Montreal, and his spouse Mrs. Kumi Kuramitsu, attended the 19th Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, which was held in the Japanese Garden at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. The event was organised by the City of Montreal, which enjoys a sister city relationship with Hiroshima City.
In his remarks, Ambassador Monji said that 2016 marked the G7 Foreign Ministers’ ‘Hiroshima Declaration on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation’, which was adopted during the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Hiroshima. The Ambassador also mentioned the visit this year by the Honorable Barack H. Obama, President of the United States of America to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims after his attendance at the G7 Ise-Shima Summit. Ambassador Monji commented that there has been rising momentum in the movement towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. From this perspective, he noted that the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony in Montreal has deep significance and that he thanked the City of Montreal and all those involved for their efforts. The Ambassador expressed that he foresees the continuation of this meaningful ceremony into the future.
The ceremony was attended by various dignitaries including the Honourable Denis Coderre, the Mayor of Montreal. Other guests included Ms. Christine St-Pierre, Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie as a representative of the Government of Quebec, Mr. Marc Miller, M.P. on behalf of the Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, a number of Japanese-Canadians, and cultural exchange officials from the City of Hiroshima.
In the solemn atmosphere, at exactly 7:15 p.m., corresponding with the time when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima (8:15 a.m., Japan time), the peace bell in the Botanical Garden’s Japanese Garden was rung. This was followed by remarks by Mayor Coderre and Ambassador Monji. A peace declaration was read out in three languages, English, French and Japanese. Finally, a message from Mr. Kazumi Matsui, the Mayor of Hiroshima was presented to Mayor Coderre. The ceremony came to an end at 8:20 p.m.
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Mr. Henri-Paul Normandin, City of Montreal Director for International Relations and former Canadian Ambassador greets Ambassador Monji |
Mayor Coderre and Ambassador Monji at the Japanese Pavilion |
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Ambassador Monji delivering remarks |
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Performance of classical music |
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Representatives from Hiroshima City, Mayor Coderre, Ambassador Monji and guests |
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