Goldie Ghamari - In memory of the Danforth Shooting victims

00:00:00.000 It is with a heavy heart that I rise today in the House.

00:00:09.080 Like many, I am shocked and saddened by the tragic, horrific and senseless shooting on

00:00:13.520 the Danforth last night.

00:00:15.160 The Danforth is one of Toronto's most vibrant and diverse communities, and it happens to

00:00:20.220 be North America's largest Greek neighbourhood.

00:00:23.320 The families and people dining at Christina's and Dimitri's last night and the pedestrians

00:00:27.780 walking along Logan Avenue were doing what any of us would have been doing last night,

00:00:32.280 and that's why it hits so close to home. Epictetus, a famous Greek philosopher, once said,

00:00:38.420 it is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. And so, Mr. Speaker,

00:00:43.880 in the face of last night's horrific action, I wish to react to this senseless act of violence

00:00:50.760 by taking some time to celebrate this beautiful and vibrant community that holds a special place

00:00:56.700 in all of our hearts i'd like to take a few moments to share a few quick memories my best

00:01:02.860 friend marie constantine who now lives in greece first introduced me to the danforth years ago as

00:01:08.300 a university student she worked at athens pastries and they have the best spanak spanakopita and

00:01:14.060 lucumatis in the area with her i learned to eat sushi on katsu sushi which is located on danforth

00:01:20.220 near logan and she introduced me to messini's which has the best euros and just a few weeks

00:01:25.340 ago I celebrated with my family at Mussini's. Mr. Speaker I also want to take the time to thank

00:01:31.580 the men and women of Toronto's paramedic services and Toronto firefighters, the nurses, the doctors

00:01:37.420 and our Toronto police force for everything that they've done and I wish to remind everyone that

00:01:42.380 in the face of tragedy we should always respond with love and we should respond by celebrating

00:01:48.140 the diversity of our community.

00:01:49.740 Thank you very much.

Goldie Ghamari - July 23, 2018