April 24th is Armenian Genocide Memorial Day. Beginning on April 24, 1915, the Ottoman government arrested and murdered hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople as part of the first phase of the Armenian Genocide. This brutal regime expanded into massacres of the male Armenian population across Ottoman lands and the deportation of Armenian women, children, and the elderly into the Syrian Desert. The Armenian Genocide would see more than one and a half million Armenians killed—roughly 70 percent of the total Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire. Armenian Genocide Memorial Day is held annually to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. In Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, hundreds of thousands of people walk to the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial to lay flowers at the eternal flame. On this day, we pay tribute to those who unjustly suffered and lost their lives as a result of this tragic period. We also honour their descendants, including Canadians of Armenian heritage who have contributed so much to strengthening our country as well as commit to building a world where everyone can feel safe from discrimination and persecution.