TheBulletin.ca Journal of Downtown Toronto
The Hiroshima Day Coalition is organizing the 72nd commemoration of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the Toronto City Hall Peace Garden on August 6. The theme of the commemoration is “Humanity First: Ban the Bomb!”
The keynote speaker will be the Hon. Douglas Roche, former Senator, MP, and Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament. Mayor John Tory will issue his Hiroshima Day Proclamation and the atom-bomb survivor Setsuko Thurlow will read excerpts from the city of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Declarations.
The annual peace commemoration begins at 6:30 pm with live music by the Isshin Daiko Musical Ensemble and Grammy-nominated flutist Ron Korb. The Pax Christi Chorale and the political satirical group, the Raging Grannies, will also perform. At the close of the commemoration, Ron Korb will lead the audience to a lantern ceremony in the city hall reflecting pool. Community information tables and Origami paper crane and lantern making will begin at 4:30 pm.
From August 3 to 9, the Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition will also be holding a large exhibit of paintings by survivors and photographs of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings inside the Toronto City Hall Rotunda, 100 Queen St. W. For further information, visit the website www.hiroshimadaycoalition.ca
Thank you for posting the information about the August 6 Hiroshima Nagasaki commemoration at the City Hall Peace Garden. With North Korean ICBMs within striking distance of North America and Russian and Chinese nuclear missiles targeting Canadian cities, the need to pursue peace and nuclear weapons abolition becomes all the more urgent. Shame on Canada for boycotting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted by 122 countries at the UN on July 7.