Africa Mission Heads Celebrate Africa Day 2023 in Ottawa
By Joy Osiagwu
Members of the African Diplomatic Corps in Canada celebrated the 2023 edition of the annual Africa Day at the University of Ottawa in Canada on May 25.
The celebration, which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Organisation of African Union, now AU, focused on issues that will deepen Africa’s economic engagement with Canada, especially in the context of the mutual and untapped benefits and potential that are inherent in Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA)
The Deputy Dean of the African Group of Ambassadors and High Commissioner of Nigeria to Canada, Ambassador Adeyinka Asekun called on Canada to deepen its engagement with Africa, as AfCFTA presents a gateway to strengthening trade relations with African nations. “It opens avenues for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and investment in mining, agriculture, energy, and infrastructure sectors”, he noted.
A departure from previous celebrations in Ottawa, the African Mission Heads had a lecture with a panel of discussants to examine the critical issues, especially about Africa-Canada relations to enjoy the dividends of partnerships of equals. Canadian Government officials, diplomats, the diaspora community, and university officials attended the event.
On May 25 in 1963, 32 Heads of independent African States met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, along with leaders from African liberation movements to craft a way forward for Africa’s complete independence from imperialism, colonialism, and apartheid.
The outcome of the meeting was the creation of Africa’s first post-independence continental institution, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
The OAU was formed as a manifestation of the pan-African vision for an Africa that was united, free, and in control of its destiny, and this was solemnized in the OAU Charter, which was adopted on May 25 as Africa Day, 1963.
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Joy Osiagwu is a Project Officer with Black History Ottawa. She has over two decades of experience as a broadcast journalist in Nigeria and North America. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Cumbria in the United Kingdom, plus a post-graduate diploma in Broadcast Performing Arts from the Columbia Academy, Vancouver, British Columbia.