March 15 celebrated at the renovated Hungarian House in Edmonton

One of the most important achievements of the March 15 revolution 175 years ago was that it forged national unity, János Árpád Potápi, the state secretary in charge of policies for Hungarian communities abroad, said in Edmonton on Sunday.

“The unity of the nation, the understanding that we can rely on one another and the mother country, gives us strength even in the hardest of times, when our most important values are under threat,” he told a commemoration of the revolution’s anniversary.

The message of 1848 is that “even when outnumbered, we are able to achieve our goals if we join forces,” he said.

Hungarians acted together also last year when the war broke out in Ukraine and 150,000 ethnic Hungarians came under direct threat, with Hungarian communities around the world organising donation drives, he added.

Potápi said the revamp of the Hungarian House of Edmonton also demonstrated the success of joining forces, with the contributions of the local community supplemented by financial help from the Hungarian government when this was needed for the completion of the project.

At the event, Potápi presented the Gold Cross of Merit of Hungary to Sándor Vörös, artistic director of Edmonton’s Csárdás Hungarian Folkdance Ensemble, in recognition of his efforts to promote Hungarian folk dance culture in Canada.

As we wrote before, this is how Canadian Hungarians celebrated the revolution of 15 March, with details and PHOTOS.