The Honourable Melanie Joly and Prelate Tcharian discuss Artsakh War and Canada response

During an official phone call, on Thursday, February 4, 2021, His Eminence Archbishop Papken Tcharian and the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, discussed the 27 September to 9 November, 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) War.

The Honourable Mélanie Joly has shown great dedication towards the needs of the community since being first elected as Member of Parliament in Ahuntsic-Cartierville in 2015, most notably by being Minister in charge of La Francophonie during her attendance of the XVII Francophonie Summit in Yerevan with Prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2018.

Archbishop Tcharian raised the issue of the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and emphasized that Armenia and Artsakh with a combined population of three million, face an existential threat from Azerbaijan, a country of 10 million, aided by Turkey, a country of 82-84 million.

Prelate Tcharian expressed his concerns for Canada’s reaction which has been underwhelming at best, especially to the drone permits, which were issued in Spring 2020. Minister Joly underlined that Canada is working together with the OSCE Minsk Group to refrain parties from taking actions that risk exacerbating the crisis.

His Eminence thanked the Honourable Minister for taking the time and listening to the concerns of the Armenian Community, with the hope, that humanitarian assistance from the Government of Canada can be provided to Armenia and the vulnerable population of the displaced people of Artsakh. In return, Minister Joly expressed her willingness to relay Archbishop’s concerns to the Ministers of the cabinet.