On Saturday, July 1st 2017,

It’s the biggest Canada Day party with multicultural Canadian communities at Parc-Extension Montreal. Thousands of people attended with their children dressed in red and white traditional costumes that crowded onto the lawns of Place de la Gare Jean-Talon in front of Provigo, a super market on top of metro Parc, on Saturday July 1st to celebrate Canada’s 150th Confederation birthday.

Canada flags fluttered in the wind while the local community sang the Canadian national anthem with the presence of children.

For the 14th time and hosted by National Bangladeshi-Canadian Council (NBCC), the Canada Day celebration at the Gare Jean Talon Parc began around 12 p.m. till 9 p.m. There was live music with free hot dog barbecue and a 6-feet long Canada Day-themed cake designed by Provigo’s bakers. The cake was cut by Parc-Ex Canada Day Celebration coordinator Monir Hossain with local community leaders, business professionals, senior citizens and children that were present in the event.

It’s a chance for us to show our pride and origins of Canadian history to our new Canadian generation as well as setting a bridge from now to the future to our generation of multicultural Canadian community here in Canada. 

Performances were Sinha Danse’s ”Montrealywwood” danse performance, which is based on Bollywood, as well as the storytelling duo Mangala Gao. Agua Sala ha, a Columbian band, delivered a performance full of cumbia songs and dance. Children were thrilled with activities of trivia and an art competition. The young participants were ”happy to celebrate Canada Day” with their friends and families, creating fun memories

Monir Hossain, the president of the NBCC and coordinator of the Parc-Ex Canada Day Celebration-2017, told the audience that “this is what the National Bangladeshi-Canadian Council is trying hard for integrating multicultural-Canadian communities into the Canadian and Quebecker social systems.”

He said as well that “this is for the children and youth” And indeed, children and youth were the central force to our community’s strength and they have a role in the future as Canadian citizens. Many of them were accompanied by their parents to know about Canada’s great history. Many first time participants told that this is ”all new and exciting” and parents are ”content that children are learning more about their country”.

The National Bangladeshi-Canadian Council would like to thank its sponsors and its administration. This could have not possible without the help of our sponsors and importantly the help of our community. We would like to thank our sponsors the Government of Canada, Heritage Canada, Loisirs du Parc, City of Montreal Villeray – Saint-Michel – Parc Extension borough, Provigo, Pharmacie Dimitra Alevetsovitis and Wissam el-Chayeb inc, History of Parc-Extension, and Autour du Monde. We would like to thank the local media community: Parc-Extension News, Journal Métro, Progrès Villeray, Bangla Kagoj Montreal, Bhorer Alo Montreal, and Nawa Pakistan. We would like to thank our performers: Sinha Danse, Agua Sala ha, and Mangala Gao. Our final and special thanks go to Jason Ouellet, Provigo de la Place de la Gare-Jean-Talon, Nelson Ossé of Loisirs du Parc, Pablo, Quartier Nourricier, Chris Adamopoulos, Borough of VSMP Maggy Patry, Ville de Montréal, Borough of VSMP André Opzoomer, Borough of VSMP and the local community in Parc-Extension that supported the realization of this event and will continue to do so in the future for our upcoming events. The host coordinator says their goal is to hold a bigger and better celebration of Canada Day next year.