Strengthening the Bond between Canada and Italy: Prime Minister Announces New Youth Centre for Earthquake-Shattered L'Aquila

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Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

I’d like to thank you all for joining us today. 

I’ve just completed a tour of some of the areas hardest hit by the Abruzzo earthquake. 

The damage and devastation I saw serve as a stark reminder of how truly fragile life can be. 

Although the epicentre was thousands of kilometres away, the earthquake caused tremendous worry and grief in Canada, home to nearly one and a half million citizens of Italian descent. 

Your tears, ladies and gentlemen, were our tears too.

We also mourned the nearly three hundred men, women, and children who died that day. 

We too offered prayers for the tens of thousands of others who lost their homes. 

We too were distraught over the destruction of so many cultural treasures. 

And we wondered what we could do to help the victims of L’Aquila and the surrounding villages. 

Today I’m pleased to announce that Canada’s contribution to the reconstruction effort will be a new youth centre here in L’Aquila.

This facility will include a gymnasium, a library, computer facilities, and multipurpose rooms featuring, wherever possible state-of-the-art Canadian energy-saving and anti-seismic technologies.

The centre will be built on the campus of the University of L’Aquila, which was particularly hard hit by the earthquake.

The hub where L’Aquila’s great young minds come to learn, the University plays a significant economic and social role in the region.   

The Government of Canada chose this project because it will invest in the youth of today, thus lay the groundwork for greater prosperity tomorrow.

I’d like to thank Prime Minister Berlusconi and the Italian Government for the role they played in developing this project.

Without the strong, cooperative relationship that exists between our two countries, today’s announcement simply wouldn’t have been possible.

This centre will honour the memory of those who perished in the earthquake.

It will provide athletic and educational opportunities for future generations. 

And it will serve as a testament to the enduring bond between Canada and Italy, a bond, I’d like to add, underscored by the generous private donations so many Canadians have made to the relief effort.   

This bond is most exemplified by the Italian-Canadian community.

From the very first explorers of Canada, Giovanni Caboto and Giovanni da Verrazzano, Italians sailing under the flags of England and France, Canada has been immeasurably enriched by the contributions of Italy’s sons and daughters.   

But whether they have distinguished themselves in business, the arts, sport, science or politics those Canadians have not forgotten their roots.

Nor their pride in their culture.

Today, modern transportation and communication technologies are helping Italian-Canadians strength their bonds with the mother country.

And those bonds will be proudly reinforced again today by Canada’s contribution to the reconstruction of L’Aquila.

Thank you.

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