Celebrating Europe Day in Canada
To celebrate 9 May Europe Day, H.E. Marie-Anne Coninsx, Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Canada, hosted a reception at the EU Official Residence in Ottawa. It was also an occasion to mark the special EU-Canada friendship on this 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. Guests included the Hon. Catherine McKenna, Canadian Environment Minister, MPs and senators as well as members of the diplomatic community in the National Capital Region.
Every year on 9 May, Europeans worldwide mark the historic 1950 Schuman Declaration that proposed a new vision for a united and peaceful Europe, one based on true solidarity among European nations. In a speech in Paris on 9 May 1950, Robert Schuman, the French foreign minister at the time, outlined his idea calling for a new form of political cooperation in Europe, which would make war between Europe's nations inconceivable. His proposal set the wheels of European integration in motion, which eventually led to the European Union as we know it today - the most successful peace project in our history.