The Bulgarian community in Montreal and BTA have agreed that Bulgarians in Canada's second most populous city will use the news agency to provide more information about themselves to their homeland.
The matter was discussed at a meeting of the board of trustees of the St John of Rila Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Montreal, the church choir, school officials and dance company representatives with BTA Director General Kiril Valchev. The idea was placed in the broader context of reporting news from expatriate Bulgarians worldwide and feeding them on news from Bulgaria via BTA's BG World service since a legislative amendment in 2021 provided universal free access to the national news agency's content.
About 100,000 Bulgarians live in Canada, according to a 2023 estimate by BTA's References Department. Between 20,000 and 25,000 of them live in Montreal, said the board of trustees of the St John of Rila Church. Other sources give lower numbers.
The mission of the church and the institutions associated with it (a school, a library and dance groups) is to preserve the language, the history and the tradition of the Bulgarians in Montreal, so that they are prepared for a possible return to their homeland one day, said Vladimir Vassilev, the board leader. According to him, Bulgarians in Montreal are typically well-educated people with good jobs, who speak at least two foreign languages, English and French, which are the official languages of Canada.
Vassilev and Georgi Lazarov, the conductor of the 15-member church choir, showed the BTA chief around the St John of Rila Church. It is a former Catholic house of worship which the local Bulgarian community acquired in 2011 using its own resources and continues to maintain today. Lazarov presented the guest with a CD of songs by the church choir.
Sixty-eight children attend the local St Kliment Ohridski Sunday School, which has a preschool group, separate classes from first to fourth grade and a mixed group of fifth to 11th grade, headmaster Galya Tsvetkova said.
Valchev attended a rehearsal of the Trakia Folk Dance Club, which was practicing for an October 28 concert to mark 10 years since its establishment. The concert will be staged at College Jean-de-Brebeuf. Other Bulgarian dance companies from Montreal and groups from Toronto, Chicago and Boston will join the show.
Valchev vowed that BTA will cover the concert and will popularize the activities of the Trakia Folk Dance Club.
On Wednesday, the BTA chief will have a meeting with the head of a Bulgarian association in Ottawa, arranged by Bulgarian Ambassador to Canada Plamen Georgiev.
Valchev is meeting with Bulgarian organizations in Canada during a visit whose main highlight is the 35th Conference of MINDS International, an association of 25 leading news agencies worldwide. BTA joined MINDS in April 2022. During the conference, BTA signed cooperation agreements with the national news agencies of India, Latvia and the Netherlands and discussed partnership with the Canadian Press.
/RY/
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