On Saturday September 22, 2018 the Lebanese community began what would be a weekend long celebration, with the unveiling of a statue on the Halifax waterfront celebrating the Lebanese emigrant, the first of whom landed on our shores over 130 years ago.
The event was made even more special for the large Lebanese Maronite Catholic community, as celebrating the occasion with them was the head of their church, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai. Cardinal Rai then spent the rest of the day in our community of Fairview Clayton Park, first bestowing a blessing on the new church being built on Clayton Park Drive, celebrating mass at Our Lady of Lebanon Parish on Joseph Howe Drive and spending the evening with community members at a dinner in the church hall.
The weekend continued with the planting of a cedar tree in memory of the Lebanese victims of the Titanic who are buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery here in Halifax as well as visit to the Diman Lebanese Center on Kearney Lake Road. It was an honour for me to meet his Eminence and to be able to celebrate with my community in such a memorable way.
