Embassy of Japan in Canada

Ambassador Ishikawa’s Official Visit to Ontario

On April 7, Ambassador Ishikawa conducted an official visit to the province of Ontario visiting Toronto, the capital of the province. Upon the invitation of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the Honourable Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario, Ambassador Ishikawa addressed the Provincial Parliament as well as paid individual courtesy calls to the Honourable David Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and his wife and the Honourable Steve Peters, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

In his address to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Ambassador Ishikawa spoke of the Great East Japan Earthquake and future relations between Japan and Ontario. In attendance were the Honourable Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario; the Honourable Steve Peters, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario; Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Mr. Tim Hudak; Ontario New Democratic Party leader Ms. Andrea Horwath; members of the Provincial Cabinet; and many Members of the Provincial Parliament. According to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, this was the second time in its history that theOntario Legislature received an address from a representative of a foreign country. The first foreign address was made 25 years ago by Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa in 1986. 

In the opening remarks by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as well as in addresses by the premier of Ontario and the leaders of the opposition parties which were delivered after Ambassador Ishikawa delivered his speech, messages of heartfelt condolences to the Japanese people in the affected areas were delivered. Each of them repeatedly expressed warm words of encouragement They also reaffirmed that the thoughts and prayers of all Ontarians are with the people of Japan, and expressed confidence that Japan will be boldly rebuilt.

For video of Ambassador Ishikawa's remarks, please click here.
For Ambassador’s speech, please click here.

After Ambassador Ishikawa delivered his speech, a press conference was held where he was interviewed by various media outlets such as CBC TV, Radio Canada, CTV, Sun TV, CHTV, City TV, OMNI TV, Fairchild TV (Chinese community TV), Toronto Sun, Toronto Star, The Nikka Times.

While Ambassador Ishikawa paid individual courtesy calls to the Honourable David Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and his wife as well as the Honourable Steve Peters, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, he explained the current situation at the disaster-hit areas, including the Fukushima Daiichi power plant and the recovery efforts. He further explained that a number of children and their family members who have lost their homes require continuous support. Both the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario as well as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario offered heartfelt condolences to disaster victims and expressed a strong sense of solidarity between Japan and Ontario.