News

January 13 is the Freedom Defenders’ Day, dedicated to remembering and honoring the heroes who defended the independence of Lithuania from the military aggression of the Soviet Union in January 1991 and gave their lives for our freedom. Lithuanian communities in Canada from the Atlantic to Pacific coasts have joined civic campaigns dedicated to Freedom Defenders’ Day.

Lithuanians in Canada took part in the virtual commemoration run/walk "The Road of Life and Death", the "Meadows of the Forget-Me-Nots" initiative, and on the morning of January 13 lit candles of unity and remembrance in the civic action "Memory is alive because it testifies".

To commemorate the victims of Bloody Sunday, on January 8, 2022, the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Canada invited Lithuanians and friends of Lithuania to Canada to a tribute run "The Road of Life and Death" in Ottawa. The participants of the run covered the symbolic distance of 9 kilometers - the distance from the Antakalnis cemetery, where the heroes who fought for the freedom of Lithuania are laid to rest, to the Television Tower in Vilnius.

A group of Lithuanian hikers from the province of British Columbia organized a hike to the summit of Pump Peak in Seymour, North Vancouver, to commemorate the defenders of freedom and the victims of January 13. The hikers covered more than 10 kilometers and raised the historical flag of Lithuania at the top of the peak.

In Toronto, participants of the “The Road to Life and Death”, organized by the Canadian Lithuanian Youth Association, walked 9 kilometers from the Lithuanian park in western Toronto (Roncesvalles), stopping along the way for places of both historical and current significance to the Lithuanian community (retirement home “Vilnius Manor”, credit cooperative “Parama”). The tribute walk was completed in the courtyard of the Lithuanian Resurrection Parish (Etobicoke).

At these events, Lithuanians often used the blossom of Forget-Me-Not flower as a symbol of remembrance and gratitude to those who fell in the struggle for Lithuania's freedom. Lithuanians in Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, and other Canadian cities have created “Forget-Me-Not Meadows” for the Freedom Defenders’ Day in private spaces or public spaces of community importance. Those killed on January 13 were honored at the Church of the Good Shepherd's Mission in Wasaga Beach, where local Lithuanians paid tribute to a minute of silence at a stand prepared to commemorate the victims of the January events.

Photo album for Freedom Defenders’ Day events in Canada: https://ca.mfa.lt/ca/lt/gallery/listing/id.472