By Tessa Manuello

MONTREAL, Canada – Toronto’s Kurdish House, a place for the city’s large Kurdish diaspora to gather, is becoming more popular as the number of Kurds in Canada continues to grow.

“Toronto is one of the major and important cities in Canada politically and geographically and also where the largest Kurdish diaspora resides from all four parts of Kurdistan,’’ Sartip Kakaee, chairman of the Kurdish House, told Rudaw.

“As the Kurdish diaspora is growing generally in Canada and specifically in the Toronto area, I think it is very important for the Kurds away from home to have a place or a center in which all members can get together for activities and to promote the Kurdish language and culture,” he adds.

Kurdish House was established in 2006 to gather local Kurds and preserve Kurdish culture. Kakaee says that to gather all Kurds under the same umbrella, it has been essential to keep the center neutral and unaffiliated with any political party or group.

“We have kept the doors of the organization open as a home for all Kurds,” says Kakaee, himself a Kurd.

The center survives on donations and help from its members, Kakaee explains, but received support from the office of Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) office in Washington in the first years.

Kakaee says that alongside cultural events, the Kurdish House also focuses on political, education and health issues. The Halabja and Anfal commemorations as well as Kurdish New Year celebrations have been running annually for the last seven years.

Kakaee says that more services are planned, particularly for seniors and children.

“It is really a big challenge to run such an organization like the Kurdish House, especially when you have Kurds from four different parts of Kurdistan and with different political party supporters,” laments Kakaee. “I know it is not easy to make everyone happy with what you do; but our doors are open and new ideas and suggestions are always welcomed.”

To ensure that Canadians know about the Kurdish people and their history, government officials are also invited to events.

“Most of our main events are attended by federal and provincial officials as well as city councillors and police representatives,” Kakaee says. “I think it is very important for the Kurdish House to continue these relations and strengthen them as we, Kurds, still have a cause and we need to make sure that others hear our voices.”

Kakaee says that he and his predecessors Fereydoon Rahmani and Vice-Chairman Khaled Majidi have tried to also build a link between Canada and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

“In August 2009, I accompanied Canadian MP Jim Karygiannis to Kurdistan on an official visit for the first time, which resulted in passing a motion at the Canadian House of Commons to recognize the chemical attack on the city of Halabja and the atrocities by Saddam’s regime as crimes against humanity’’ says Kakaee.

One of the consistent goals of the Kurdish House, says Kakaee, is for the Canadian government to officially recognize the Anfal campaign as an act of genocide against the Kurds.

Kakaee says, the Kurdish House keeps strong relations with all Kurdish centers in Canada, and that his center also tries to attract other ethnic groups to its events.

The Kurdish House is now turning to the future and focusing on young Kurds in order to build a strong Kurdish community in Toronto.

“What I would like to push forward though the Kurdish House is to involve our youths in the organization and support them to participate in the Canadian political process, urging them to become MPPs or MPs,’’ Kakaee says.

RUDAW