Thank you all for coming on such a short notice. Those of you who don't know me, I am Delwar Jahid, President, Bangladesh Heritage & Ethnic Society of Alberta-BHESA...a Bangladesh born journalist, I am wondering... how could I introduce myself, saying only the name? saying the position ? or saying the language, saying the religion? or saying the country, where I was born? where I were?.and where I am!...I recall a quote from Bernard Shaw, saying-"I am of the opinion that my belongs to the community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can..." that's why we are here, trying to do...whatever we can for the community...

Fellow friends,

I am very much honored to have that privilege this evening and talk to you...I told you that I was Editor of a weekly newspaper, which was banned in 1988 after 6 years of its successful publications. I could not exercise my freedom of thought in Bangladesh! however, I belong to this profession for more than 32 years. I could not walk away from my profession, from this community, & from this passion to serve the community. Journalism has gone through multiple transformations in last 3 decades of time and the young journalists came forward with new technologies and ideas, I am proud to say that each time journalism sustained through your great commitment, values and best practices..

Fellow Friends,

We're going to celebrate International Mother Language Day  on 21st of February in the premises of MacEwan University, for us it is not only a day...one of the aim of this news conference is to request you to assist our society at large to participate in this great struggle to be in a "one human race" respecting every language, every religion, and every skin colors. it is a very difficult to give correct answer  to the question that “How many languages are in the world?” Probably, in the world there are more than 2,700 languages spoken and with over 7,000 dialects. When different cultures meet and mix together new languages & cultures are developed. To me, it is not important to count the numbers, I believe it is an inventory of human knowledge and manifestations of our spirit. 

Fellow Friends,

I am proud to be a Bangladesh born Canadian, . In Bangladesh, the 21st February is a commemoration in recognition of a historic campaign of 1952 to have Bangla recognized as a national language. The day represents that historic day, police shooting and killed protesters in the present capital of Bangladesh.

During the British colonial rule the present nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh were part of undivided India. From the mid-19th century, the Urdu language had been promoted as the lingua franca of Indian Muslims by political and religious leaders, such as Sir Khwaja Salimullah, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk and Maulvi Abdul Haq. Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It developed under Persian, Arabic and Turkic influence. With its Perso-Arabic script, the language was considered a vital element of the Islamic culture for Indian Muslims; Hindi and the Devanagari script were seen as fundamentals of Hindu culture....

It's a long history....but our point is crystal clear and concrete, in the community there are work to be done, there are some wounds to heal, from the immigrants communities to first nation people of Canada, majority of population are struggling with languages. The right to mother-tongue education continues to cause protests across eastern Europe. Discussion on  linguistic majorities and linguistic minorities continues to be a problem in many countries of the world.

Let me say  a  quote from great leader -Nelson Mandela " If you talk to [someone] in a language [he or she] understands, that goes to [the person's] head. If you talk to [somebody] in [his or her] language, that goes to [the] heart....and I am certainly trying to touch your heart.

We are not raising concern only to celebrate a day, we are drawing your attention to the core point of the issue  that need to be addressed.  It is to be accepted in international law that has not yet been tried in any court, those few rights that exist in mother tongue medium education and in learning the mother tongue as a subject, would also apply to Indigenous children in various revitalization programs, and to Deaf children. We have to concentrate in our Canadian society that rights to mother tongue not denied  or ignored...Due to the process of globalization and neo-colonialism, economically strong languages dominating other languages.

On International Mother Language Day the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UN agencies participate in events that promote linguistic and cultural diversity.  International Mother Language Day was created in 1999 when the United Nations General Assembly called on members to “promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world.”  Since the day was established, it has been celebrated across the globe from the time of February 2000.

In honor of this important day Canadian House of Commons introduced a Private Member's Bill C-407: International Mother Language Day Act, An Act respecting an International Mother Language Day. It will come into force when it receives Royal Assent.

UNESCO launched the IMLD celebration 2013 with an event at its Paris Headquarters on the theme of the Day: “Mother tongues and books - including digital books and textbooks”. The event is organized in collaboration with the Delegations to UNESCO of Hungary and Bangladesh.

The BHESA introducing Ekushe Heritage Medal of Honor Awarded for the personal acts of the ability & willingness  to work in the fields of education, social-work, and community services in Alberta. Those who have made outstanding contributions to those fields or to other significant organizational endeavors.

The recipients of award for this year are:

Mohd. Siddique Hossain: For his participation in the Language Movement of 1952 in former East Pakistan, he joined that movement advocating the recognition of Bengali language as an official language of Pakistan. The movement that reached climax when police killed student demonstrator that day...he was a hero who survived... He was ex- president of  Bangladesh Canada Association of Edmonton (BCAE). Siddique Hossain is well respected in the community for his contribution to the society for over 4 decades of voluntary work, who stated his life as school teacher in Bangladesh.

Dr. Mohd. Nurul Islam (Education) Is an educationalist, serving MacEwan University since July 1998,  prior to that he taught many other universities i.e. Dhaka University,  National University of Singapore, Dalhousie University, Memorial University, University of Northern British Columbia . He was ex- president of  Bangladesh Canada Association of Edmonton (BCAE) and founder of Edmonton Bangla School. member of the board of trustee in Edmonton Islam Academy from January 2008 to November 2010.Continue contributing to our community with dedication and sincerity.

Dr. M Hafizur Rahman (Community Service)
Former President of Bangladesh of Canada Association of Edmonton (BCAE), serving the community more than 18 years with devotion to social work.

Tajul Ali, Ex President of BHESA –( 2013), Ex Vice President of BHESA (2012),Ex- Chair of Bangladesh Cultural Association of Edmonton, Ad-hoc Committee, Ex-Chair of Bangladesh Pavilion at Edmonton Heritage Festival –( 2013) and Serving the Community over 17 years.

Mohammad Ismail
Ex- Vice President of BCAE – Year 2010, Ex- Vice President of BCAE – Year 2011, Serving Community with devotion over 25 years.

Shahid Hassan
Founder President of Bangladesh Cultural Association of Edmonton-BCAE that renamed to Bangladesh Heritage & Ethnic Society of Alberta-BHESA, Three Terms – President of BCAE/BHESA - Since 2010 -2012.Ex-Chair of Bangladesh Pavilion at Edmonton Heritage Festival – (2011).Past Additional Director of PC party – Edmonton – Ellarslie – (2010 -2013), Serving Community near 10 years with his strong ability to organize and dedication to volunteerism.

Third Monday of February each year considered as Heritage Day has long been advocated by Heritage Canada The National Trust for adopting the day as national holiday... celebrating Historic days like Intl. Mother Language Day & Heritage Day together we (BHESA) are trying to make our best for the community. Our children have always been drawn to the outdoors to play no matter what the season is,  places are designed and treasured based on the need of the community.

For almost 62 years,  we are celebrating our identity, our culture and our heritage, knowing that our nationalism enshrines the principle of equality and justice. We voiced that no one culture has more validity than another. Our diversity has indeed become our strength and got the recognition of the world through the IMLD. Our heritage born from our struggle of language, struggle for freedom and struggle for our liberty and progress. Our inheritance from the generations of freedom fighters that went before is the freedom to exercise the rights of our citizenship. The freedom to vote. The freedom to get involved in peaceful politics. The freedom to contribute in our culture, in our society. With these rights and freedoms, comes the possibility of harmony, social cohesion, unity and peace.

This year, month of February we have chosen theme for Heritage Month, "Reclaiming, Restoring and Celebrating Our Living Heritage" and Appealing to UN & Govt. of Canada the following:

1. BHESA appealing UN to adopt Bangla Language as official language of UN

2. BHESA appealing Canadian Govt. to adopt  IMLD as national holiday.

3. BHESA appealing Provincial Govt. to adopt and recognize Bangla language in the services of the province i.e. health, driving test and others.

4. BHESA appealing The Govt. to help and assist to establish a heritage museum and martyrs monument in Alberta.

and finally BHESA will be observing IMLD with the support of MacEwan University, Students' Union and other stakeholders...The program will be starting in the morning at the Downtown Registrar Office premises of MacEwan and evening at 5 pm there will be a seminar followed by  cultural program.

If you have any question...please go ahead....Thank you.