The Ukrainian Canadian community today expressed its thanks to the Government of Canada for recognizing officially that the 1932-1933 famine in Soviet Ukraine was genocidal. Bill C-459 established a Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day in Canada, marked annually on the 4th Saturday of every November, recalling the many millions of Ukrainians who perished during a famine orchestrated by the Stalinist regime of the USSR.  Commenting, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said: ” It is now widely understood that many millions of Ukrainians perished during the genocidal Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet […]

Magyar kivonat/Hungarian Abstract: A történészek számara, Manchester a világ egyik első olyan városa, melyet az ipari forradalom alapvetően átalakított. De a zene kedvelők inspirációt találhatnak abban is, hogy Nagy-Británnia harmadik legnagyobb agglomerációja a zenéről és a kulturáról is világszerte ismert. Ádám Christopher, a Kanadai Magyar Hírlap főszerkesztője és az ottawai Carleton Egyetem történelem professzora múlt héten beszélt Rupert Hill angol szinésszel, valamint Jonny Booth zenésszel. Mindketten a Yellow Dog (Sárga Kutya) nevet viselő együttes tagjai. A Ruperttel és Jonnyval készült terjedelmes interjú során elmondták Christophernek, hogyan alakult meg az együttes, beszéltek a kortárs brit zene, művészet és kultúra helyzetéről, valamint […]

According to a report in Hungary’s Magyar Nemzet daily newspaper, Malév Hungarian Airlines is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Some of the flag carrier’s most important partners and creditors are reportedly waiting for Malév to provide payment for services rendered, including Budapest Airport (BA), the privately-owned company that operates the Hungarian capital’s Ferihegy International Airport. Malév relies in large part on a firm affiliated with BA for the refueling of its airplanes. When Magyar Nemzet contacted BA, the airport authority’s spokesperson reportedly noted that the firm was „flexible” in its dealings with Malév, but the paper discovered that Hungary’s […]

Four Canadian historians are set to present at an international conference to take place in Lublin (Poland), entitled „Secret Weapon or the Victims of the Cold War–Central and Eastern European Émigrés.” Lubomyr Luciuk of the Royal Military College in Kingston (Ontario) will present a paper about Anglo-American perspectives on the Ukrainian question, covering the years from 1938 to 1955. Christopher Adam of Carleton University’s Department of History will present his paper on the relationship between the Hungarian-Canadian communist left-wing and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Budapest from 1956 to 1989, while Chris Kostov (University of Ottawa) will examine the actions of Bulgarian state security against western […]

A Hungarian documentary film entitled Captain Ocskay, the Forgotten Hero will be screened on November 6, 2008, at the Ottawa Public Library. This powerful documentary film tells the story of a Hungarian army officer whose heroic deeds have all but been forgotten. Captain László Ocskay went to extraordinary lengths to save the lives of hundreds of Jews in Budapest. The organizers were very fortunate to have been able to bring Dan Danieli to the screening from California. He is one of the main „characters” in the film; a Holocaust survivor, he was a teenager at the camp about which the film […]

The Hungarian Studies Association of Canada (HSAC) distributed a call for papers earlier this week, as the scholarly organization prepares for its annual conference, to be held on May 29-30, 2009 at Carleton University.  Papers presenting original, unpublished research on any topic or period in Hungarian literature, cinema, art, theatre, music, history, politics, language and language pedagogy are welcome. Papers may be presented in either of Canada’s official languages–English and French–or in Hungarian. HSAC meets as part of the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Canada, organized by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The largest multidisciplinary conference in […]

Montreal’s historic Fraser-Hickson Library, established in 1881, will soon re-open its doors to readers after having closed down last year. The venerable library was forced to sell its iconic Kensington Avenue building in February 2007 due to financial constraints and the inability to secure adequate long-term funding. Fraser-Hickson, one of the most prominent English-language institutions in Montreal, has long served the culturally diverse Borough of Notre Dame de Grâce (NDG) and will resume its mission, once it moves to its new Sherbrooke Street location. The Fraser-Hickson Library’s 105,000 book and video collection will be housed at the Trinity Memorial Anglican […]

The Montréal Hungarian community’s annual commemoration of the 1956 Revolution in Hungary, and its eventual suppression by Soviet forces, is quite possibly the most important yearly observance for Hungarian Canadians. The majority of Canadians with Hungarian heritage trace their roots back to 1956, in one way or another. Most members of the older generation arrived in Canada as refugees following the revolt, while many younger Hungarians have a parent or grandparent who fled Hungary following the Soviet re-invasion of 4 November 1956. Organized by the Hungarian Committee of Montreal, this year’s commemoration of the revolution is set to take place […]

The Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko will be administering a $10 million endowment fund aimed at exploring and commemorating the experiences of Eastern Europeans and members of ethno-cultural communities in general, who were interned in Canada during World War I. Jason Kenney, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, announced the establishment of the fund earlier this year. Christopher Adam, a lecturer in history at Carleton University, president of the Montreal Hungarian Historical Society and secretary of the Canada Hungary Educational Foundation (CHEF), has been appointed to serve on the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund’s Advisory […]

After receiving more than 300 complaints from viewers, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has issued an apology for an online opinion piece published on the CBC News website, which concluded that Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin looked like a „porn star.” Written by prominent freelance writer Heather Mallick, the column argued that Palin was chosen by Presidential hopeful John McCain, in order to appeal to the Republican Party’s „unlettered” and „white trash” wing. Yet of all the not-too-subtle innuendos and smears, Mallick’s attack on Palin’s family sparked the most outrage. „Seventeen-year-old Bristol has what is known in Britain as […]

A new essay competition launched by the Canada-Hungary Educational Foundation (CHEF), aimed at examining the experiences of immigrants, refugees and minorities, offers students a great opportunity to have their work published and win one of six cash prizes. Entitled „Becoming Canadian: A Celebration of Refugee and Immigrant Experiences in Canada,” the competition welcomes not only Hungarian topics, but essays that examine any aspect of Canadian multiculturalism. This can include a look at the preservation of heritage languages in Canada, the issue of multiple identities, what it means to grow up as a second generation Canadian, as well as a range […]

Professor Katalin Kürtösi, a visiting Scholar from the University of Szeged, will be giving a talk on Canadian culture in Hungary at the University of British Columbia (Buchanan Tower, room 599), on Friday, September 26th from 4:00 – 5:00pm.  Admission is free. Entitled „Voices and Visions of Canadian Culture in Hungary after the Political Changes,”  the paper will examine how a European „small nation’s” cultural life is responding to a „less-known” culture. The research project is a follow-up of a systematization of the Hungarian translations of Canadian literature between 1920 and 1985. This time the main areas of interest are: How the changes in cultural policy […]

Two young, talented artists from Hungary will delight us with their special multi-media program about Miklós Radnóti, the great Hungarian poet. Miklos Turek, prize-winning actor will perform a dramatized piece about and using the works of Radnoti; Kornel Nagel, visual artist will exhibit 25 graphic works he recently created inspired by Radnoti’s work. This program is the premiere of a North American tour by this team; Ottawa is leading the way! What: Literary-drama presentation in Hungarian by/about/inspired by Miklos Radnoti, performed by Miklos Turek; accompanied by an exhibition of graphic works by Kornél Nagel. Words of Introduction by our Ottawa […]

Professors Charles Reiss and Linnaea Stockall, and their research assistants Alexis Wellwood and Michael Gagnon, of Concordia University are conducting a study to determine how speakers of Hungarian recognize the words of that language. Participation pays $10, and involves 10 minutes of explanation and signing of a consent form, followed by 20 minutes of listening to pairs of Hungarian words through headphones and indicating a judgment on each pair with a button press. There are no known health risks associated with this kind of experiment. Testing will take place at the downtown campus of Concordia University, at 1455 de Maisonneuve […]

The annual Hungarian Night, a hugely popular tradition in Montreal West, is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 6pm, at Davies Park, located on Westminster Avenue, just south of Sherbrooke Street. The event has been spearheaded by Barbara Tekker, a local Montreal West resident and an active member of the Hungarian community. The event has a reputation of being an exciting evening for all ages, with an outdoor BBQ dinner for only $8 and with live Hungarian entertainment. Additionally, it is the only ethnic night where the town gets a liquor license so you can bring your own wine or beer. Bring some lawn chairs! It’s a great way to start the summer! Hungarian Night […]