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ORT Montreal's 26th Annual Benefit Gala |
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ORT Montreal held its 26th Annual Benefit Gala on Monday, November 16, 2009 at Place Des Arts.
Raymond Chrétien honoured by ORT for public service
By JANICE ARNOLD, Staff Reporter
Thursday, 26 November 2009
![Former Canadian ambassador Raymond Chrétien accepts a token of appreciation from ORT Montreal president Edita Friedman at the organization’s benefit gala. [Howard Kay photo]](includes/images/Raymond_Chretien_and_Edita_Friedman.jpg)
MONTREAL — ORT, which runs a network of mainly vocational and technical schools in Israel and around the world, recently honoured retired career diplomat Raymond Chrétien.
He was honoured for his 38 years of distinguished public service on the world stage by ORT Montreal at its recent 26th annual benefit gala held at Place des Arts. Chrétien, a nephew of former prime minister Jean Chrétien, was ambassador to Washington, D.C. between 1995 and 2000 and Paris between 2000 and 2003, before his retirement. Earlier, he was the top Canadian envoy in Belgium, Mexico and Congo He is now a partner with the law firm Fasken Martineau, and is chair of the Centre for International Studies of the Université de Montréal.
In September 2008, he was a member of the Quebec government trade mission to Israel, led by then Economic Development Minister Raymond Bachand.
ORT Montreal president Edita Friedman said Chrétien has lived in many parts of the world, some of them served by ORT, and witnessed over the years what very few Canadians have seen. It is Mr. Chrétien’s vision and recognition of the importance of educating young people that connected us to him. He understands that education is one of the best ways to help young people achieve their dreams and become participating members of their communities,” she said.
ORT is a 130-year-old non-profit organization with schools and training programs in more than 100 countries, including many in the developing world. Approximately 300,000 students, both children and adults, are enrolled every year on a non-sectarian basis.
“I am humbled by this recognition,” Chrétien said. “I decided to accept this honour because it is being given by an extraordinary and important worldwide organization that believes in the future of young people…ORT is doing tremendous work to help developing countries prepare girls and boys for life.” He also took the occasion to recall his friendship with lawyer Gordon Echenberg who he first met in 1964 while they served in a World University Service of Canada project in Algeria.
Colleague Peter Villani cited Chrétien’s role in the negotiations toward the North American Free Trade Agreement and the resettling the two million refugees from the Lebanese civil war. He noted that, more recently, Chrétien represented the law firm in talks between the Quebec government and the Grand Council of the Cree nation that led to the signing of a historic accord.
The guest speaker was Be’er Sheva-born Sonia Gomes de Mesquita, head of World ORT’s international liaison department in London. She said that in Israel, ORT is present in 33 municipalities in the most needy areas of the country.
“Our Smart classrooms, with their interactive white boards, data loggers, computerized laboratories and modern educational methods, all supported by extensive teacher training programs, motivate both students and teachers to achieve results that previously they could only dream of.”
ORT’s Kav Or (Ray of Light) project installs computer and communications equipment that allow children being treated in any of Israel’s hospitals to keep up with their schoolwork and in touch with family and friends.
ORT is once again active in the former Soviet Union, where ORT was established in czarist times, and the Baltic states in 35 locations, including such remote places at Tatarstan and Kyrgystan. ORT is thriving in Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy and France as well.
ORT is going strong throughout Latin America. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, ORT has two complexes serving 7,000 students. “The demand for places is so intense that we have begun building a new facility that will house a further 700 students,” she said. When the Argentine government closed all schools this year because of the swine flu, ORT students were able to carry via an online “virtual campus,” she added.
The ORT University in Uruguay is ranked among the 10 best on the continent, she said. ORT even has a small operation in Cuba today.
In Africa, over a million people have benefited from ORT over the past 50 years, she continued.
“We work with international agencies such as the World Bank to deliver essential programs in a variety of areas from mother and child care to vocational training, transportation development and even democracy building.”
ORT has survived and flourished over 130 years in so many diverse settings because of its adaptability, she said. “In 1880 [in Russia] manual skills were in demand, and that is what we taught; in 2009, the need is for technology training in all its forms, and that is where we concentrate our efforts.”
The requirements of each country can be different. “In France we have responded to the need to train orthodontic technicians and optometrists; in Uruguay the curriculum includes cinematography, in Israel we are helping to train engineers for the air force.”
Gomes de Mesquita offered to personally arrange a visit by Chrétien to any of ORT’s projects.
The evening’s entertainment was the Classical Mystery Tour performing a tribute to the Beatles, accompanied by a full orchestra from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. The audience at Théâtre Maisonneuve was on its feet swaying to the songs which ranged over the quartet’s repertoire. They were brought back to the stage for two encores. Part of the funds raised will go to support the school. ORT Montreal raised nearly $400,000 this year, Friedman said, and recently became the beneficiary of a $100,000 bequest.
Click here to view photos from the ORT Montreal 26th Annual Benefit Gala.
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