Memory and citizenship in diaspora: remembering the Armenian Genocide in Canada

This article explores how two public commemorations, the ‘March for Unity’ in Toronto and the ‘Thank you Canada!’ rally in Ottawa, have remembered the Armenian Genocide. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of field notes, speeches, and symbols, it argues that these mnemonic events illustrate the transnationalization of the Armenian Genocide around the overarching theme ‘I Remember and Demand.’ At the same time, these mnemonic events reveal the ways in which transnational memories of the Armenian Genocide are rearticulated in Canada through the prevailing narratives of memory and citizenship. Overall, these commemorations demonstrate that memory is central not only to the construction of Armenian ethnic identity within the constituents of ‘the Armenian Centennial Committee of Canada,’ the organizer of both events, but also to these groups’ and actors’ interpretations and practices of citizenship such as claims-making and public visibility.