FOREWORDIt all started in the 1995 Fall session at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE/UT). The paper I wrote for the 'Ethnicity and the History of Canadian Education' course was later to become the core, the fermenting element for my Major Research Paper, a Master of Education degree requirement. Why did I choose the Armenian community as a topic in particular? I had grown up in the Armenian community back in Lebanon and had been an active member there until I settled in Ontario in June 1991. Therefore, researching about the roots of my community in Ontario was going to be a unique learning experience. Moreover, the encouragement I received from my professor made the task worth undertaking.
Although the topic of my final research is the hundred-year-old Armenian community in Ontario, the thought of having it published never crossed my mind. It was an academic requirement that I had completed and had got a personal satisfaction not comparable to any material reward. However, as the preparations for the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Armenian Apostolic Church in North America were under way, the Primate of the Canadian-Armenian Diocese, His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian found out about my research. After reading it, he proposed to have it published, considering the topic appropriate for the occasion.
My research is in no way exhaustive, and it was not intended to be one. Moreover, for the purposes of this publication, I have revisited my original research, altered a few sections, but have tried to keep the spirit intact.
For the final product I am deeply indebted to Archbishop Hovnan Derderian for his encouragement and appreciation of a work that was intended to stay in my files and those of the OISE/UT. I also would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Harold Troper, for his continued support and advice both during my years at OISE/UT and the days preceding this publication.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this humble contribution of mine to the Armenian Apostolic Church in North America, as well as to all those Armenian women, men and children who resisted all sorts of hardships on a land far away from their homeland, in order to preserve and cherish their heritage and to create a better life for their children, who would, one day, pass on the torch. May their struggle, perseverance and sacrifice inspire every Armenian with the determination to continue the sacred mission that started a hundred years ago.
May 1998
