Mr. Speaker, in 2007, the United Nations declared today, February 21, as International Mother Language Day. This was initiated by Mr. Rafiqul Islam, a Bangladeshi Canadian, to pay tribute to the 1952 martyrs of the Bangla movement, where Bangladeshi freedom fighters fought and died for the language of Bangla to be recognized as an official language.
Today, at 12:01 a.m., I paid tribute at a shaheed minar that was specially built by Mr. Shah Bahauddin and his team of the Bangladesh Canada Association of Ottawa Valley.
Last Saturday, I attended an event at Ottawa City Hall, organized by Dr. Monjur Chowdhury and his team of Bangla Caravan and PEACE.
I will be attending, on International Mother Language Day, the Bangladeshi movie Fagun Haway, organized by Tanjib Chowdhury and his team of Bangladeshi Canadian--Canadian Bangladeshi.