Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address Motion M-73, introduced by my colleague and friend, the member for Kitchener South—Hespeler. This motion seeks to have the House recognize the contributions of Canada's German community and to establish October as German heritage month and the nine-day period starting on the Friday before Thanksgiving as Oktoberfest.
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Our government supports this motion, and I am proud to stand here today to recognize the contributions of the German community in Canada. For all Canadians, German history month will provide a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the German community in Canada and the role it has played in building our country's rich and diverse heritage.
According to the 2011 national household survey, nearly 3.2 million people in Canada have German roots, including nearly 120,000 in my home town of Edmonton. Further, more than 500,000 people indicate that German is the non-official language spoken at home, making German one of the top 10 non-official languages in Canada.
Diversity is an essential ingredient of our Canadian identity. Immigration has played, and will continue to play, a key role in the development of our country. We truly are a country of immigrants, which has made Canada the rich, multicultural mosaic it is today.
German colonies were established from coast to coast. Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, was one of the first. It was named in honour of King George II, who was born in Germany and was also the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
The City of York, now Toronto, was co-founded in 1794 by Johann Albrecht Ulrich Moll, a German immigrant better known as William Berczy. He initiated a major colonization undertaking in Markham, and is credited with clearing the forest to build the road that is now Toronto's famed Yonge Street.
To this day, Canadians of German origin constitute a vibrant and dynamic community. Despite the diversity of their origins, people of German ancestry come together in many ways, including volunteer associations, business and professional networks, and celebrations of German heritage, such as Oktoberfest and other events.
The diversity of the German cultural mosaic is also reflected in its rich heritage. Since the beginning of the 19th century, Canadian artists of German extraction, such as William Berczy, whom I mentioned earlier, and Otto R. Jacobi, have enriched Canadian culture. In literature, Robert Kroetsch won the Governor General's Award, and in the sciences, Claus Wagner-Bartak gained international renown as a space engineer.
It is a pleasure to also recall the close ties of friendship between Germany and Canada. A number of cities across the country have established themselves as sister cities of ones in Germany. For example, Cobourg, Ontario, is a sister city of Coburg in Bavaria. Leduc, in Alberta, just south of my city, is the sister city of Grimma, in Saxony; and Kitchener is the sister city of Diedorf, also in Bavaria.
The strong cultural and social links between our two countries, Germany and Canada, are supported by the German-Canadian Association, founded in 1951. The Canada meets Germany program is another vehicle that works to maintain strong ties. Through this program, young Germans and Canadians from a variety of fields, including business, politics, academia, and culture, meet and exchange ideas. Language and culture are the windows to the soul of the people.
I wanted to understand Germany, its people, and its traditions. That is why, as a 25-year-old student studying at Oxford, I chose German as my first international language to study. I had three classes a week and each
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While I was studying at the Goethe-Institut, with 30 people in our classroom, representing 17 countries, including Jordan, the United States, Australia, Japan, and Denmark, just to mention a few, I realized how much of a crossroads the German republic had become, and it sparked my interest even further to understand its people, its culture, and its language.
Canada has embraced a vast array of German traditions, institutions, and influences. Many have become so accepted that their ethnic origin has been obscured, such as Advent calendars and Christmas trees. Our kindergartens and social security systems are based on models derived from Germany. If we look at the actual word “kindergarten”, it is the place where we keep children, the garden of children. That has become a word we have taken into our own parlance.
The Prime Minister has noted that our enviable inclusive society did not happen by accident and will not continue without effort. The effort required of us is a small one. It is to support this motion to recognize the contributions of the German community to Canada and to declare our support for the establishment of October as German heritage month and the nine-day period starting the Friday before Thanksgiving as Oktoberfest.
Speaking on behalf of Canadian Heritage, it is also important to realize for how many centuries Germany has perfected the art of telling its stories through music, through opera, and through the theatre. Where would our modern society be without Johann Sebastian Bach? Where would we be without Wagner? Where would we be without all the German greats? Modern opera has its roots in the German tradition.
This month is most appropriate, not only for where we are heading as a country but to honour our past and to honour all the people of the world, and in this case the German people, who have come and built our country.
When we are given an opportunity to share our cultures, traditions, and history with others, we are making connections with people with whom we may not otherwise have interacted. German heritage month would provide an opportunity to celebrate our diversity and for the German community to share its culture, traditions, and history with all Canadians.
In conclusion, I want to thank the German community for its contributions to Canada.
Germans have been in Canada for centuries, and they have built a strong, diverse, and pluralistic nation. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.
I invite all members of this House to vote in favour of this motion. I look forward to celebrating German heritage month and to sharing in the tradition of Oktoberfest.
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