Cambodian rallye at the Canadian Parliament

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Cambodian rallye at the Canadian Parliament and in front of the Viet embassy in Canada

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pb0TchBSWw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5-xEFLfAWM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_xujeOQa90

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EayEk3ixdJw

1991 Paris Peace Agreements Rally at the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa

Cambodian Community Seeks Help from Canada

Protesters from Canada's Cambodian communities in Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto gathered on Parliament Hill Monday asking the Canadian government to intervene in what they describe as Cambodia's deteriorating human rights situation. (Matthew Little/The Epoch Times)

Oct 24, 2011
By Matthew Little
Epoch Times (Canada)

“On the contrary, forced land evictions have forced hundreds and thousands of families from their homes,” said Pretty.

PARLIAMENT HILL—Waving banners warning of an end to democracy in Cambodia, a group of protesters marched on Parliament Hill on Monday asking the Canadian government to step in.

Sunday marked the 20-year anniversary of the Paris Conference where Canada, along with 17 other countries, the UN, and Cambodia’s main political parties, signed an agreement that was to chart a path forward.

But according to the crowd of approx 100 that gathered, that hasn’t come to fruition.

“They signed that agreement to help Cambodia but nothing can help Cambodia,” said Sarom Om, a Cambodian woman who came to Canada with her family when she was 5.

1991 Paris Peace Agreement - Solidarity March & Rally in Ottawa, Canada

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We encourage you all to participate to the ceremony of the 20th Anniversary of Paris Peace Accord at the temple Buddhasatharam in Montreal and the public demonstration at the Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Please note that the public demonstration is not only about politics, it is about freedom, about peace, and human rights in Kampuchea. In Canada we are lucky to have freedom and justice, why not helping Khmer people to reach that level. March for peace and freedom, march for reconvening the Paris Peace Accord of 1991. Please invite all your relatives and friends for this public demonstration. Get yourself ready, tell your boss you will take a day off, or tell your director that you will not attend class the 24th of October 2011. People will only respect you more when they see that you love your country and that you are doing this to help others.

Promote peace & freedom.


Organizer Committee

Joint rally at the parliament Hill-Ottaw​a 24 October 2011 - PUBLI​C INVITATION

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Please be informed that as political leaders and concerned Cambodians, we are planning a joint rally in front of the Parliament Hill, Ottawa on October 24, 2011. This manifestation is to call for a reconvening of the Paris Peace Accord of 1991 as guarenteed by all the signatories. It is their obligations to ensure that Cambodia remains a pluralistic and yet democratic society. Futhermore, to call for an end to land seizure in violation of human rights and dignity, and ensure our territorial integrity through international verifycation.

We are encouraging people to show up in support of this important gathering. Please contact your local organizers for additional information, i.e. transportation, time of departure so on and so forth.

Contact:

Montreal
Mr. Ma Pretty (450) 712 4998
Mr. Son Sonthor (514) 376 3741
Mr. Samnang Om (514) 995 3619
Mr. Samnang Chuop (514) 543 1479
Mr. Kuy Phyrom 514 618 1022

Ottawa : Mr. Kolvath Som (819) 210-4568

Toronto
Mr. Kim Horn ( 416) 739 9452
Mr. Peng Kry (647) 272 5970
Mr. Mat Phat (289) 500 7240

Support Letter for Protest Against Thai Invasion by Cambodian Community in Ottawa, Canada

Dear Team,

On behalf of Cambodian-American Communities in State of Washington, I have sent a Support Letter to Khmer Community in Ottawa, Canada for their protest which will be held on February 18, 2011 against Thai Invasion into Cambodian sovereignty.

Please see the attached file for detail.

Please help spread your words and send them your strong support.

Bravo! Khmer Community in Ottawa, Canada.

We are so proud of you! We strongly support you!

Best regards,

--

Hang, Sokmakara

Email: hangsokmakara@gmail.com

Demonstration in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, against the Thai army's aggression

Manifestat​ion à Ottawa au Canada contre l'agressio​n de l'armée thaïlandai​se

Chers (ères) compatriotes,

Suite aux récentes agressions de l'armée thaïlandaise dans la région aux environs de Preah Vihear, nous, la communauté cambodgienne du Canada, fera une manifestation pacifique devant la Colline du Parlement Canadienne et devant l'Ambassade de la Thaïlande à Ottawa, au Canada.

Date: vendredi le 18 février 2011

Point de rencontre: Colline du Parlement à 11h

Pour les gens de Montréal, rencontre au Centre d’achat PLACE VERTU, en face de ZELLER, à 8:30 am. Transport par Autobus gratuite.

-------

Following the recent aggressions by Thai army, we, Cambodian community across Canada, will demonstrate in the front of Parliament Hill and Thai Embassy in Ottawa, Canada.

When: Friday, February 18th, 2011

Where: Parliament Hill at 11AM (Meeting Point)

For people in Montreal, please meet at Shopping Center PLACE VERTU , in front of ZELLER, at 8:30am. Free shuttle bus.

Pour toutes informations, veuillez contacter / For further informations, please contact :


BUNKORN YUN : 514-825-8180
LYAUN HAY : 514-983-9838
PONG MUY LEN : 514-256-1837
SUN SINTHO : 514-376-3741
SOPHORN CHEA : 514-898-4737
SUY SAROUN : 514-374-4092
SAMNANG OUM ; 514-995-3619
SEANG HO KIN : 514-909-9090

"Hun Sen is a murderer and a traitor": Cambodian-Canadian Demonstrators in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

23 October 2010

Cambodian community in Canada organize the 19th anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement  in front of the Parliament Hill, Ottawa.This manifestation is to call for a reconvening of the Paris Peace Accord of 1991 as guarenteed by all the signatories.

CHUOP Samnang

Montreal, Canada

Cambodian demonstrators in front of the Canadian Parliament building in Ottawa, Canada (All Photos:  Samnang Chuop)

"Hun Sen is a murderer" reads the sign held by this Cambodian-Canadian lady

Buddhist monks and several children also attended the demonstration

"Hun Sen is a traitor" can be read behind these Chhayam drum players

Demonstration to support the 19th Anniversary of the Paris Agreements in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

What:

Demonstration to Support the Paris Peace Agreements

When:

Saturday 23 October 2010

Meeting starts at Noon

Rally starts at 1PM

Where:

Canadian Parliament

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Contact:

Mr. Sokha Ly (514) 217-9827

Vénérable Thi Thi Thammo (905) 920-3320

Mr. Tuon Yukda (514) 808-5077

Mr. Sin Sinthor (514) 376-3741

o - o - o

Communiqué de presse

À tous Compatriotes, Médias et Ami(e)s,

Les Cambodgiens d'origine Canadienne de tout horizon et différents organismes de partout au Canada organisent conjointement avec les Cambodgiens de quatre coins du globe, une manifestation mondiale pour commémorer le 19 e anniversaire de l'Accore de Paris (23 octobre 1991), demandant gouvernement Canadien aussi qu'au pays signataires de réexaminer et déployer tous les moyens nécessaire afin que cet accord soit respecté par le gouvernement Cambodgien et ses voisins dont ils sont signataires.

Il est à noter qu'au Canada il y aura une seule organisation commune pour cette manifestation, qui aura lieu officiellement:

Lieu:

Devant la Colline Parlementaire (Ottawa)

Heure de rencontre:

12:00 (Midi)

Heure de commencement:

1:00 PM

Date:

Samedi 23 octobre 2010

Pour ceux qui viennent en autobus de Toronto, de Québec, de Montréal, nous vous invitons de contacter avec votre organisateur local, à moi-même (514) 217-9827 ou les personnes ressources suivantes:

• Vénérable Thi Thi Thammo (905) 920-3320
• M. Tuon Yukda (514) 808-5077
• M. Sin Sinthor (514) 376-3741

Merci

Sokha Ly

Demonstration to support the 19th Anniversary of the Paris Agreements in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Click on the announcement to zoom in

Sam Rainsy backers protest abroad

Supporters of opposition leader Sam Rainsy wave placards during a demonstration against the “deterioration of democracy in Cambodia” on Parliament Hill in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, on Monday. Hundreds gathered to protest against the Cambodian government’s alleged mistreatment of opposition politicians. (Photo by: Photo Supplied)

Tuesday, 01 December 2009
Irwin Loy
The Phnom Penh Post

SUPPORTERS of embattled opposition leader Sam Rainsy gathered in North American capitals this weekend to protest what they called the deteriorating state of democracy in Cambodia.

Organised as a response to the National Assembly’s decision last month to strip Sam Rainsy of his parliamentary immunity, nearly 200 people protested on Parliament Hill in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, while a smaller group demonstrated in front of the Cambodian embassy in Washington on Saturday, organisers said.

Pretty Ma, secretary general of the Sam Rainsy Party North America, said opposition politicians in the Kingdom face “mistreatment and harassment”.

“The way immunity can be easily revoked from the people’s representatives is something almost unheard of here in the West,” he wrote in an email. “It’s overdone, truly abusive and ridiculous.”

The protesters urged Canada and the US to deny entry visas to “any corrupted official, including any human rights violators”.

Sam Rainsy, who is currently in Europe, was stripped of his immunity last month after an October incident in which he uprooted six wooden posts in Svay Rieng province along the border with Vietnam.

Villagers had claimed the Vietnamese were encroaching on their land.

The Vietnamese government, however, reacted with outrage, and the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the act “perverse”.

Communiqué from the 28 Nov 2009 demonstrators in Ottawa, Canada

COMMUNIQUÉ

Canada, our adopted home, a nation which holds truths to basic principles and values of human rights, freedom and democracy, that we, as Cambodian-Canadian, once victims of past communist regimes, are able to gather to express our views freely as free men. Not in Cambodia, our former country where democracy has merely existed on paper, and in theory - NOT in real life. Freedom of speech and the press has been taken away to a larger extend, so did was our freedom to a peaceful assembly. Today’s demonstration would have landed all participants in prison, if it were held in Cambodia. As such, we could not be free in Cambodia and so the same can be said to an entire population of Cambodia who are currently waking up to a new reality of political oppression orchestrated under the criminalized defamation act.

As Cambodian-Canadian, we come together on this November 28, 2009, to express our deepest concerns to the deterioration state of democracy in Cambodia once enjoyed under UNTAC. Furthermore, to call on our great Canadian government and donors’ countries to put an end to the systemic violation of human rights and freedom orchestrated by the Cambodian authorities. It is the only way to ensure long term peace and stability of the country as well as the region as stipulated under the spirit of signed Paris Peace Accord 1991.

Since the Cambodian executive body has effective control over three branches of the government, it has used the courts to effectively criminalize anyone on defamation charges, placing strict restriction on freedom of speech, the press and expression. Several journalists and other critics of the government have been imprisoned as a result of such practices.

The stripping immunity from elected members of parliament (MP), Mr. Sam Rainsy, Mrs. Mu Sochua, and Mr. Ho Vann, is a way to intimidate and silence opposition critics. It discourages people’s representatives from speaking out critical of government policies. Furthermore, it prevented them from fulfilling their elected roles and responsibilities.

These are the reasons which led to our gathering today:

1. Cambodia has no real separation of powers, only in theory.
2. Cambodian National Assembly functions merely as a rubber-stamp institution
3. Cambodian Courts are systematically biased - NOT an independent body.
4. Legal professionals are subjected to government intimidation as in the case of MP. Mu Sochua vs. PM Hun Sen.
5. Journalists and government critics have been jailed or killed while others remain outside the country, convicted in absentia on bogus defamation charges.
6. Cambodian government has aggressively acted to seal the mouths of its critics and its political oppositions through its highly vague defamation act.
7. On-going land evictions have caused severe hardship on Cambodian victims across the country.
8. International Emergency aids were selectively and intentionally given to only the government’s party members and their families while denying others belonging to an opposition groups (reported on Radio Free Asia).
9. Stripping immunity from elected members of parliament without any regard for the rights or any concerns of the people whom they represented at their districts.
10. Political killings and persecution still remain problematic for those who seek to involve in the process. One opposition activist has been recently axed to death, while many have fled overseas to escape jail times convicted on defamation charges.

WITH ABOVE FORE-MENTIONED, WE SEEK INTERVENTIONS FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA AND DONORS’ COUNTRIES TO PROCEED WITH THE NINE-POINTS RESOLUTIONS BELOW:

1. Reconvene on the signed Paris Peace Accord of 1991.
2. Pressure Cambodian government to respect its international obligations signed under the Paris Peace Accord of 1991.
3. Pressure Cambodian government to end the erosion process of civil liberties by calling for an end to its authoritarian policy and practices.
4. Call for an immediate restoration of immunities to all elected members of the National Assembly: Mr. Sam Rainsy, Mrs. Mu Sochua and Mr. Ho Vann.
5. Take all necessary steps to force for an overhaul to the highly corrupted Cambodian judiciary system. It’s a must, since the court itself has been totally corrupted through a well managed patronage scheme - Reward and Punishment.
6. Call for releases of all imprisoned journalists and an end to political persecution.
7. Condemn the flawed defamation law which has been used unconstitutionally to suppress people’s rights and freedom on issues critical to corruption and government’s improper activities.
8. Call for an end to forced land evictions.
9. Revoke as well as NOT providing Visa entries into the country by any corrupted official, including any human rights violators.

On this day, November 28, 2009, on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, we, as participants in this demonstration, with strong belief and conviction to the cause of human freedom and liberties in Cambodia, hereby submitted this petition for your utmost attention and consideration.

Sam Rainsy's overseas supporters to demonstrate against the lifting of his immunity

Please click on the flyers for additional details

26 Nov 2009
By Moeung Tum
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

SRP activists and youths in North America plan to hold a peaceful demonstration to protest against the lifting of Sam Rainsy's immunity.

Ou Chuon Y, a SRP activist in Washington DC, told RFA that: "Our goal is to protest against the Cambodian National Assembly and the Yuons who invade Khmer territories, who encroach on Khmer land and grab rice fields belonging to Khmer farmers! We will demonstrate in front of all the embassies on Saturday 28 November, starting at 11AM. I am in charge of inviting everybody who believes that the lifting of [Sam Rainsy's] immunity is illegal. Please attend the demonstration."

SRP youth members in Canada also plan to hold a peaceful demonstration for the same reason. However, in Canada, the demonstration will be held in front of the Canadian parliament building in Ottawa, and it will also be held on 28 November 2009 starting from 11AM to 3PM, just like the one in Washington DC. The demonstrators will ask the Canadian parliament to help intervene to find justice for Sam Rainsy.

On 16 November 2009, the Cambodian National Assembly decided to lift Sam Rainsy's immunity to allow the Svay Rieng provincial court to investigate the lawsuit case brought up by the Chantrea district authority which accused Sam Rainsy of destroying public properties. On 25 October 2009, Sam Rainsy uprooted border post stakes out of rice fields belonging to Cambodian farmers living in Samrong commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province. The Cambodian and Viet authorities claimed that these are temporary border posts delimiting Cambodia and Vietnam.

Peaceful Demonstration in Ottawa, Canada on 28 November 2009

Click on the poster for additional information

The Sam Rainsy Party of North America will hold a peaceful demonstration in Ottawa in front of the Canadian Parliament Building on November 28, 2009.

Parliament Building of Canada
Parliament Hill
110 Wellington Street, Ottawa
Time: 11:00am to 3:00pm.

For more information, please see the posterabove.

Family, city turn 'new page' after devastating grocery fire

April 22, 2009
By Kelly Egan
The Ottawa Citizen (Ontario, Canada)

This month, in the heart of Chinatown, the Mekong Grocery was reduced to piles of brick and clouds of dust, leaving an audible sigh of relief among the ruins.

The building at 816 Somerset St., a burned-out shell since April 2005, is now gone and buried, the lot returning from whence it came -- to dirt and sky.

"Finally," said Jack McCarthy, executive director of the Somerset West Community Health Centre, located around the corner.

"It was this reminder of a really painful, painful thing that happened. It was time to turn a new page."

Four years ago, on April 5, an early morning fire killed five members of the Thach family who lived above the grocery, an informal hub for the city's Cambodian community.

The ages of the victims only magnified the misery: Gary, 14, Danny, 13, Sunny, 12, and the older sister, Linny, 23, a new mother herself. The children's mother, Coli Yan, also perished.

Three members of the family survived, including Makara, his grandson, Sipheng, and his son-in-law, Bunny Svay.

Just as the building was crushed, so did the survivors rebound.

Makara, the shy patriarch, spent about six months in Cambodia in 2006. Unexpectedly, he came home with a new wife, Vesa, a member of a family that had long been friends with the Thachs.

They now live in an apartment near the St. Laurent shopping centre, with Bunny and the boy, now aged five.

It is a tiny place, a second-floor walkup. There are big bags of rice stacked in a corner, toys scattered about, a couple of visible laptops, fat Linux textbooks, a small Buddhist prayer area.

There is, too, an abundance of smiles.

The boy, nicknamed CoCo, seems to be thriving. He likes to play with cars and trucks and is scheduled to begin kindergarten in September.

His father, Bunny, told him his mother, Linny, "went up to the sky." When it rains, said Bunny, the boy sometimes asks if his mother is sending some kind of message.

Bunny has a hectic life. He is studying computers at Algonquin College, cares for his son and works three shifts a week in a bowling alley.

About three weeks ago, he became a Canadian citizen. He is here to stay.

Thach, meanwhile, has started his own cleaning business, with a mix of commercial and residential clients, and has a handful of employees.

He works long hours, evenings and weekends.

"He's never forgotten," said friend Vuthy Lay, acting as a translator. "They are always on his mind, 24 hours a day, unless he is sleeping."

Thach keeps the ashes of his lost loved ones in a temple in Montreal. Every year, at a date in April close to the anniversary, he travels to the temple for "a special ceremony."

Thach has avoided the Somerset Street area since the fire and had no strong reaction to the news of the demolition.

His dream is to help create a community centre and cultural hub for area Cambodians. But he has neither the means nor the plan to make it happen.

"We were trying to get a community centre built where the store was," said Lay, secretary of the Cambodian Association of the Ottawa Valley.

A meeting was held with then-mayor Bob Chiarelli, he said. "We came this close."

In the weeks following the fire, two Citizen reporters, Andrew Duffy and Hayley Mick, put together a remarkable history of 816 Somerset, tracking every owner to 1897, when a lumberman first erected a house.

One house, one patch of ground, told of much.

It burned in The Great Fire of 1900, which swept across the Ottawa River from Hull and laid waste to much of the neighbourhood.

In 1901, a new brick structure was erected and a dozen years later, 816 begins its long history as a storefront, with residences upstairs.

It was a grocery store, a tobacco outlet, a pool room and Italian coffee shop. Its owners were butchers, fruit and vegetable vendors, grocers, tab-keepers and almost always immigrants.

The common thread among the shopkeepers was a story of survival in the face of war or poverty or persecution in their homelands. So it was for the Thachs, who fled Cambodia via Thailand, arriving in Canada in 1990.

The owner of the lot at 816 said he's yet to decide what to do with the property, one of seven or eight vacant along the strip.

Grace Xin is the executive director of the Somerset Street Chinatown Business Improvement Area, which has 120 members. She, too, was glad to see the building come down.

She said the structure had become an eyesore, not just because of its derelict condition, but because of the work of vandals and graffiti-makers who attacked the boarded windows.

"Not just for the BIA, but the whole neighbourhood. It's a sad memory."

Contact Kelly Egan at 613-726-5896 or by e-mail, kegan@thecitizen.canwest.com

Sam Rainsy meeting with party members supporters in Canada

Monday, April 21, 2008
By Hassan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Sam Rainsy, SRP President, is currently meeting with party members and supporters, as well as other Cambodian people living in Canada, starting from yesterday until today.

Sem Thin, vice-President of the SRP party in the US and Canada who is leading the meeting in Ottawa, Canada, said that more than 200 party supporters from Montreal, Canada, met with Sam Rainsy yesterday, and they have collected funds to help the SRP prepare for the upcoming election also.

Sem Thin said: “For us in Ottawa, we are (holding a meeting) in Ottawa. First, we have organized a commemoration ceremony for our compatriots who died and dedicated their lives for our Cambodian lands, in particular for the SRP which is bravely fighting for everything. Second, we want to seek funding for the upcoming 27 July 2008 election.”

Sem Thin added that, the meeting in Ottawa is organized to provide the opportunity for the SRP leader to answer to questions raised by party members regarding the recent party events, and this meeting is almost as large as the one held in Montreal also.

Sem Thin said: “In Ottawa, the meeting is held in the morning, we have a religious commemoration for those who died, as well as those from the SRP… Secondly, we want to strengthen the SRP policy which in the past had some minor disturbances. There is no evening program, the (SRP) President is invited to a dinner with all our compatriots and discuss with each others.”