Liebe Gäste.

Good afternoon, honoured guests, Grüss Gott, Gruezi, Sally, Servus, Guten Tag, ich glaube, ich habe alle deutsch-sprechenden Gegenden erfasst.

Schön dass Sie alle kommen konnten.

Ladies and Gentlemen: herzlich willkommen.

On behalf of the German Canadian Congress and its provincial organizations across the country, I like to bring you greetings and congratulations to the third annual "German Pioneers Day".

Ontario is the first Province to officially recognize the contributions of the German Pioneers to this province, to this country. The Ontario Government must be congratulated for passing this Private Members’ Bill introduced by Mr. Wayne Wettlaufer.

I also like to congratulate "The Record", our local newspaper, for bringing an excellent piece on the history of our city Berlin-Kitchener last weekend, on its German heritage.

This has been a major step in correcting a certain lack or oversight in the teaching of this country’s history.

Who, of today’s students knows, that German settlers under the guidance of Berczy-Moll and Governor Simco, founded York or as it is now known Toronto.

Who knows, that the first couple of miles of Yonge St. were cleared and built by those Germans. They were not even mentioned at the 200-hundred year celebration of Yonge St. recently.

Who knows, why the Town of "New Hope" was renamed Hespeler in 1859 at it’s incorporation?

Who knows, that Mr. Wilhelm Hespeler, the younger of the two brothers was essential in the settling of the Prairies? He brought in 7000 German Mennonites from Russia at the risk of his life, to settle in Manitoba. They proved to future newcomers that the Prairie could be viable agricultural land.

Thanks to the efforts of the German Canadian Congress, the Federal Government, too, has now recognized the contribution of Mr. Hespeler and provided for a monument in Manitoba, with inscriptions in English, French and German.

The German Canadian ethnic group not only makes up 10% or 3 million of the Canadian population, but it also has been part of Canada’s history from the very beginning.

The first documented arrival of German settlers goes back to 1664 in Quebec.

They have been part of this country’s development ever since.

Hessian troops fought alongside the English during the War of Independence 1776-1783 under the command of Baron von Riedesel. After this war, thousands of those troops and United Empire Loyalists of German origin, came north to settle in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and along the St. Lawrence river as well as the Niagara Peninsula.

In 1788 the newly founded territory of Upper Canada under King George III was divided into the four districts of Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Hessen and Nassau, to recognize its German population. (We are right now in Hessen).

Three of the founding fathers of the Confederation of Canada were of German background.

This is but a small part of the German-Canadian history in this country.

We are proud of this history and hope to continue to be a major contributor to the future of this country.

Meine verehrten Damen und Herren, wir können stolz sein auf das, was unsere Vorfahren in diesem Lande geschaffen haben. Lasst uns fortfahren in ihren Fussstapfen, dass auch unsere Enkel stolz auf uns sein können.

Danke and Thank you.