To celebrate the National Independence Day of Greece, it is always vital to think of the people who came before us, who worked so hard and struggled for us, offering their lives to secure a future. We went to lay flowers at the Cenotaph in Laval. A thoughtful and serene ceremony was shared between our students, drummers and flag bearers, the eldest of our veterans, Mr. Ménélaos Pavlides and the members of the Hellenic Community of Greater Montreal, including President, Nicholas T. Pagonis, and the two vice-presidents, Zoi Batsis and Andreas Crillis.
The political representatives also present were Mary Deros, Councilor of Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension, Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Member of Parliament for Saint-Laurent and Nicolas Sigalas, Consul General of Greece in Montreal.
Le défilé
The day of the parade, the sun was beautiful but it was colder than other years. People of all ages and from everywhere, musicians, politicians, scouts, mascots, moms, dads, and, above all, many children came to celebrate the joy of the Independence of Greece.
Quebec Finance Minister, Carlos Leitão, honored the event by accepting to be the Grand Marshal. He was accompanied by his colleague, Martin Coiteux, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also there and delighted the crowd.
The Socrates-Demosthenes School was represented with energy and good humor by all our students from all campuses and from our high school, including teachers and administrative staff.
Nous voulons exprimer toute notre reconnaissances à tous les élèves, parents et, bien sûr, toutes les équipes-écoles pour avoir si magnifiquement représenté l’École Socrates-Démosthène.
Our drums were obviously proudly noticed! A big thank you to their animators, Odysseas Falagaras and Alex Fragakis and to all our musicians.
Our photographers, Harry Babaroutsis, Jacques St-Louis and, once again, our drummers generously shared their photos: thanks a thousand times!
See you next year!
The Socrates-Demosthenes School
