Browse Tagged “Human Rights” from the Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society archive, library and community collections.
She belonged to a middle class She had a husband and six children. Her husband as always was in the Macedonian villages of Florina-Lerin. He was working there, painting. She was home in bed sick She had a high fever and a pain in the stomach. And that day, as always, the door opened with a kick The Greek policemen entered, and they were staring them with hate. Her children, as every morning, were praying to the Lord ...
My memory goes back To those years that I had no speech. I loved the Macedonian songs. The unmerciful Greeks forbade our culture. Why, why, they took away The customs which belonged to us? Why, why, they took away The language and the scripts which belonged to us? Discrimination is a mortal disease. It poison's the mind and the soul. We search for human rights We obey the Holy Word. Rise, O, Macedonian children To ...
The writings of the heartless Greek Politicians, on previous and present books Were and are describing the extermination of the Macedonian Ethnicity. Mortal hatred for the Macedonian people I wonder how they have no fear of the Lord! The Macedonian people are sensitive people. For their freedom, they fought the Turks. The heartless Greek politicians after the division of Macedonia in 1913 They decided Macedonian ...
The Glorious Macedonia Was divided in 1913 to four pieces. The Great powers were given one piece to Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania And the biggest piece from all, were given to Greece. In Macedonia where we were born We were not familiar with Vergina. Now where apart of Macedonia is a free and a peaceful Nation The Greeks stir up to confuse the world That Vergina is a Greek Symbol. Alexander the Great was a ...
In his 1993 interview with Nickey Alexiou for the CMHS, Father Nikodim Tsarknias detailed his transition from a respected Greek Orthodox priest to a leading human rights activist for the Macedonian minority in Aegean Macedonia. He provided a firsthand account of the systematic Hellenization efforts in the Florina (Lerin) region, describing how the Greek state and church hierarchy worked to suppress Macedonian religious customs, linguistic heritage, and ethnic identity. Expelled from his post in 1991 for openly declaring his Macedonian roots, Tsarknias used the Toronto platform to appeal to the global diaspora, framing his struggle not as a political conflict, but as a fundamental fight for the right to religious freedom and the preservation of a culture being marginalized within Greek borders.
This landmark 1993 CMHS lecture provides a comprehensive analysis of the Macedonian human rights crisis during the early 1990s, featuring expert testimony from Michael Craig of Amnesty International and Trian Dimitriou of the Macedonian Canadian Human Rights Committee. The presentation meticulously documents the "human rights vacuum" in the Balkans, highlighting the imprisonment of ethnic Macedonians as prisoners of conscience and the systematic "cultural genocide" characterized by forced toponym changes, identity theft, and state-sponsored denationalization strategies. By integrating historical cartography dating back to 1477 with reports from international diplomatic missions in Helsinki and Moscow, the speakers elevated the Macedonian struggle to the global stage, while simultaneously addressing the local challenges of political harassment faced by the diaspora in Toronto. Ultimately, this archival record serves as a vital primary source that bridges the gap between historical erasure and the modern pursuit of international recognition and minority rights.
The Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society’s 1992 lecture, "The Plight of the Macedonian Refugee Children of the Greek Civil War," served as a profound historical and personal testimonial to the tragedy of the 30,000 Begalci evacuated in 1948. Through the detailed accounts of George Bukovski, Mary Roseova, Chris Carilo, and Risto Chovi, the event traced the arc of the Macedonian struggle from the systemic linguistic and cultural suppression under the Metaxas dictatorship to the harrowing mountain exodus and subsequent exile across the Eastern Bloc. The speakers highlighted a dual tragedy: the physical displacement of a generation and the ongoing "casualty of truth," as survivors faced political indoctrination in host countries and continued legal exclusion from their ancestral homes by the Greek state. Ultimately, the report positions the Begalci not merely as victims of war, but as a resilient global community whose advocacy for human rights and property restitution remains a vital pillar of Macedonian national identity and historical justice.
