Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney and Armenian Canadians

Turkey: Turkey, however, denies the deaths constituted genocide and says the death toll has been inflated, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Related Items Articles Harper transparency wearing thin OTTAWA - Defence and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney told Armenian Canadians gathered Friday on Parliament Hill that the memory of their homeland genocide will never be forgotten in this country. Armenians on Friday marked the centenary of what historians estimate to be the slaughter of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks, an event widely viewed by scholars as genocide. Kenney dramatically affirmed that controversial position — one vehemently opposed by Turkey, Canada NATO ally — to hundreds of Armenian Canadians gathered on the east section of the Hill lawn. Kenney remarks comprised an explicit expression of support for the Armenians on the eve of a weekend featuring separate First World War 100th anniversary commemorations in Armenia and Turkey. "We are here today as proud Canadians because we believe in memory," Kenney said. "This is why we gather on this centenary of the first genocide of the 20th century, to call prayerfully to mind the souls of all of those whose lives were taken in a campaign of brutal violence." Also Friday, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander was in Armenia to lay a wreath at a commemoration of the 1915 massacre, in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed at the hands of Ottoman Turks. As he did so, hundreds of Turkish Canadian protesters were gathered just metres away on the lawn west side, separated from their Armenian rivals by temporary steel barricades and a few metres of broad Parliament walkway. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.