Governor General of Canada to Visit Slovenia, Croatia, and Greece

OTTAWA — At the request of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, will make an official visit to the Republic of Slovenia, from October 21 to 22, a State visit to the Republic of Croatia, from October 23 to 27, and a State visit to the Hellenic Republic, from October 29 to 31, 2009, during which she will be accompanied by her husband His Excellency Jean-Daniel Lafond.

“Slovenia and Croatia are young democracies whose roots reach back through centuries of history. Canada is young, but it has one of the oldest democratic traditions, and we who call this country home have a duty to encourage their vision of openness, as they try to fully assume their role in the international community,” said the Governor General. “I also think it is serendipitous that this trip ends in Greece, considered the cradle of democracy and Olympism. It is there that the Olympic flame, the foremost symbol of solidarity and reconciliation between peoples, will be passed to us, in preparation for the upcoming Winter Games in Vancouver,” she added.

The purpose of the official visit to the Republic of Slovenia is to recognize that country’s efforts towards democratization and to celebrate its integration into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union. The visit will also underscore the importance of the trade and cultural ties that Canada and Slovenia share. The Governor General will hold discussion forums with young people, women’s associations, cultural representatives and citizens, all of whom are concerned about social cohesion and peace in that country. In December 2008, the Governor General had to cut short her visit to Slovenia and return to Canada because of the political situation in Parliament.

During the State visit to the Republic of Croatia, the Governor General will commend the country’s recent membership in NATO, as well as the proactive and exemplary role Croat officials are playing in promoting security in the region and elsewhere. Her Excellency will hold a number of discussions with members of civil society on, among other things, cultural diversity, heritage preservation, and reconciliation efforts after years of conflict that divided communities.

While visiting the Hellenic Republic, the Governor General and His Excellency Jean-Daniel Lafond will attend the official ceremony in which the Olympic flame will be passed to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, at the Panathenaic Stadium, in Athens. Their Excellencies will listen to young Greeks during a dialogue and to the cultural milieu on the occasion of an Art Matters Forum. The State visit will also highlight Greece’s and Canada’s commitment to bringing peace and security to Afghanistan.

A delegation of Canadians representing a variety of fields—including diversity, arts and culture, civic engagement and youth—will interact with their Slovenian, Croatian and Greek counterparts as well as play an active role in Their Excellencies’ meetings with civil society. Information about members of the Canadian delegation will be available at www.gg.ca.

State visits by a governor general play an important role in Canada’s relations with other countries. They are the highest form of diplomatic contact, and they mark further developments in bilateral relations and exchanges among peoples.

The public can follow the official visit to Slovenia and the State visits to Croatia and Greece through the speeches, photos and videos available daily at www.gg.ca. Blogs written by Their Excellencies and the delegates will be posted on www.citizenvoices.gg.ca.

NOTE: The following is a letter sent in response to the announcement of the Governor General of Canada’s visit to Slovenia and Croatia by the SERBIAN NATIONAL SHIELD SOCIETY OF CANADA and VOICE OF CANADIAN SERBS.

Her Excellency Michaelle Jean
Governor General of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario

Your Excellency:

We learned of Your Excellency’s upcoming visit to Slovenia and Croatia during the next few days. We wish to draw to your attention a number of recent public occurrences in Croatia which demonstrate that Croatia has far to go on the road to democracy and human rights, particularly in relation to its treatment of its few Serbian citizens. Those Serbs had the courage to return to their homes in Croatia where they had lived for centuries after some 250,000+ of them were “ethnically cleansed” from their land in one weekend in August 1995 during Operation Storm.

Your Excellency’s meeting with Mayor Zeljko Kerum of Split is of particular concern. As late as one month ago, Mayor Kerum was making racist and discriminatory public statements against the Serbian people and against journalists who are following his questionable practises and public outbursts. The general feeling in Croatia is that he will not be penalized or removed from office for his repeated offensive statements.

Croatian cities, including its capital Zagreb, have tolerated the racist music of the rock band Thompson whose lyrics repeat the phrase “Kill the Serbs” and inspire Croatian youth at their concerts to sing those racist lyrics punctuated with Nazi salutes. That band was prevented from entering Canada some years ago and has evoked repeated protests from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and other Jewish groups.

Just last week at Varazdin, a town not too far from Vukovar, when a visiting Serbian junior soccer team played against a junior Croatian team the Croatian fans kept fervently repeating those same words “Kill the Serbs”! At numerous games played in Croatia there have been physical attacks against the Serbian athletes. These are not the signals of democracy or tolerance and this behaviour runs contrary to those virtues of democracy and tolerance which are the hallmarks of our country Canada.

En route to Vukovar, which had a large Serbian population before the 1990s war, it is unfortunate that Your Excellency is not scheduled to stop at Jasenovac to pay respect to the hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascist Croats who were massacred ruthlessly by the Croatian Ustashi (Nazis) at the Jasenovac death camp, known as the Auschwitz of Yugoslavia.

In both World Wars Croatia fought against the Western Allies. In fact, in December 1941 the wartime Croatian Ustashi government declared war on the Allies, including Canada. No peace treaty was ever signed! Now Canada is making a state visit to a country which has fought against Canadian soldiers in those wars and even attacked Canadian soldiers at the Medak Pocket in the 1990s. On the other hand, Canada and the Serbs were Allies in both World Wars.

The Holocaust against the Jewish nation is well recognized and the Jewish people will never forget the Holocaust perpetrated against them. By the same token, the Serbian people cannot forget the massacres of hundreds of thousands of our forefathers at the hands of the Croatian Ustashe. The Serbian children and grandchildren of those victims, many of whom live in Canada, will always remembr our Serbian Holocaust.

We realize that the political scene has changed, but we must acknowledge that the historical facts remain. It is truly sad that the Serbian contribution to the Allied cause has been forgotten and dismissed and that our Canadian government is not condemning the official and non-official anti-Serbian statements and actions in Croatia even today.

Yours respectfully,

Bora Dragasevich, President Emeritus
Alexander Pantelic, President

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