Speech of Walter Stechel, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany at the German Pioneers Day Kitchener, October 14, 2014 Check against delivery
Members of the House of Commons and the Provincial Parliament of Ontario, Mayors, Dignitaries, Ladies and gentlemen, Liebe Landsleute, Welcome and greetings to you all on German Pioneer s Day 2014! Three weeks ago Joachim Gauck, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, visited Canada. In Toronto he focused on Immigration and Integration. This issue is of ever more relevance to Germany because of our demographic challenges. We need immigration and we need to learn how to successfully integrate immigrants into Germany s society. There is much we can learn from Canada in this respect. Canada succeeded in integrating immigrants from diverse backgrounds, many of them Germans, into its society just as a mosaic is composed of many small but very distinct stones. In preparation of the President s visit I looked a bit into statistics. According to Statistics Canada, in 2006 3.2 Mio Canadians or about 10% of the population claimed to be of German, 670,000 of exclusive German origin. Germans are the largest ethnic group behind those who call themselves Canadians, and behind immigrants of British/Irish and French origin. According to the 2011 census, about 450,000 Canadians have German as their mother tongue. Out of the 1.1 mio Canadians of German origin who live in Ontario 147,000 have German as their mother tongue. What do these numbers tell us? They tell us that Germans are the largest non- English, non-french immigrant group in Canada and Ontario. But Germans are also less likely to speak their mother tongue than Chinese, Spanish, Punjabis, Filipinos Portuguese or Arabs. In fact, the retention rate of German speakers is the third lowest among the 22 main immigrant mother tongues, ahead of only Ukrainian and Dutch. All the numbers that I just presented point to one fact: Germans who emigrate to Canada want to become Canadians, they want to integrate into the Canadian society quickly and they want to communicate in Canada s official languages as soon as possible. This is of tremendous benefit to Canada no integration problems, no communication problems, no conflicts. But it also comes at a cost. The visibility of German contribution to Canada is not commensurate to its quantitative and qualitative significance. And the German heritage is not sufficiently leveraged for the
future. This is why German Pioneers Day is so significant. It is one of the occasions when we stop a moment and consider Canada s German heritage this morning at Queen s Park, now in Kitchener. Let me use this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Wayne Wettlaufer and his co-sponsors for establishing German Pioneer s Day! German Pioneer s Day is of tremendous importance but it is not enough. We cannot just look back at the German contribution in the past but we have to think about its contribution to the future. Much is being done. I think of the German language schools that help to keep the German language alive among the children and grandchildren of German immigrants. I think of the German business community that is thriving across the province, particularly around Kitchener-Waterloo. I think of the German associations, the sports clubs and choirs. They perform excellent and important work and my thanks go out to all the volunteers who do the actual work and keep these associations going. I would like to take this opportunity to honor one of these volunteers without whose work and dedication the German community would be much less strong and much less visible. Let me ask Gerhard Griebenow to join me on the stage. Gerhard Griebenow is multi-talented and with his many talents he has contributed very significantly to the German community. Mr. Griebenow is a teacher by profession but after emigrating to Canada in 1969 he not only taught English, sports and science at a Canadian school, but since 1976 he also volunteered as a German teacher and later director at the German Language School Concordia in Kitchener, the biggest of its kind in Ontario. He chaperoned many students to the German language diploma, organized exchange programs and kept the interest of the students in the German language alive. Since 2006 he is a member of the jury of the Bitzer Award, an important distinction awarded by the German-Canadian Education Fund for outstanding achievements in studying German. Gerhard Griebenow has also contributed his skills and dedication to a number of German clubs and associations in Kitchener-Waterloo the Schwaben-Club and the Oktoberfest-Verein, the Deutsch-Kanadische Jagd- und Fischerei-Verein and the choir of the Transylvania-Club, the Deutsch-kanadische Gedenkstiftung von Kitchener-Waterloo and at a broader level the Kanadischen Verein Deutscher Sprachschulen and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der deutsch-kanadischen Clubs von Kitchener-Waterloo. In these German clubs and networks he promoted German
language and culture and presented the picture of a modern Germany. Mr. Griebenow, with his integrity, natural authority, and communicative skills is a vital, indispensable link between Canadian institutions and the German community. Many if not all of you are friends and associates of Gerhard Griebnow. I am therefore particularly happy that in this circle I can present to Gerhard Griebenow the certificate and insignia of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany that President Joachim Gauck bestowed on him. Let me read from the certificate: XXX - in recognition of the particular service rendered to the Federal Republic of Germany In Gerhard Griebenow we are honouring a shining example of the German community. Unfortunately we cannot clone him at a point in time when we would need many Gerhard Griebenows. Like him the immigrants of the 1950s and 1960s have already retired from their professions and they are gradually stepping back from functions in clubs and associations, from German language schools and choirs. But clubs and associations have difficulties everywhere at a time of social networks that exist in cyberspace rather than in the club houses of the Donauschwaben or the Siebenbürger Sachsen. We therefore need to think about innovative ways of translating the heritage of the pioneers into a distinct and visible German contribution to Canada s future. We have to find young and enthusiastic Canadians of German background who are comfortable with today s German culture and today s social networks. But we need to think broader. Instead of being a heritage language, German must be recognized as an access tool to the biggest economy in Europe and one of the most attractive educational destinations in the world. CETA opens the door to European markets but culture and language savvy business people are needed to walk through this door! Germany won this year s soccer world championship. Could German clubs benefit from this boost by adding soccer sections? The German club in London/Ontario is doing just that and is mobilizing enthusiastic interest beyond the immediate German community.
German Pioneers Day is a welcome opportunity to look back at, indeed, millions of Germans who came to Canada over the centuries and linked their fate to the fate of their adopted homeland. But it would be sad if we looked only at the past and the achievements of our ancestors. I would therefore like to end my remarks by encouraging you all to think about innovative ways of achieving our common goal recognizing the German heritage in Canada and making it relevant for Canada s future! Thank you very much! Vielen Dank! Happy German Pioneers Day!