One Year On, Youth Voices Echo in Ottawa to Mark Bangladesh’s July Uprising
OTTAWA, 5 August 2025: A year after the streets of Dhaka erupted in chants for equality, justice and non-discrimination, echoes of that uprising reverberated in Canada as youth voices gathered in Ottawa to reflect, remember, and reaffirm their commitment to change.
Bangladesh High Commission in Canada, in association with the University of Toronto, hosted a panel discussion titled “Monsoon Rising: Celebrating Youth Resilience – One Year After” to mark the first anniversary of the July Uprising in commemoration of the defining moment in Bangladesh’s path toward equality, justice, freedom, peace and development. Bangladesh High Commissioner to Canada Nahida Sobhan inaugurated the event by paying profound tribute to the July martyrs and to all those who stood their ground in the face of violent repression. “We remember with reverence” and “we move forward with responsibility”, she said.
Messages from the Honourable President and the Honourable Chief Adviser issued on the occasion of the July Uprising Day were read out to the audience. One minute silence was observed in memory of the July martyrs and a video documentary on the July Uprising was also screened.
The hybrid panel discussion that followed brought together academics, journalists, activists, and youth leaders from both Bangladesh and the diaspora. he panel featured Mustahid Husain (author and anthropologist, University of Toronto), Prapti Taposhi (student leader and feminist activist, Jahangirnagar University), Rafid Hossain (producer, BBC Eye Investigations), Srijoni Rahman (public servant and PhD researcher, York University), and Tanha Tanjila (refugee rights advocate and youth leader, Dalhousie University), and was moderated by Shuchita Husain (international education specialist, York University). The panellists examined the roots and highlighted the aspirations culminating through the Uprising. A lively question-and-answer session followed the discussion, engaging both in-person and online participants.
The event ended with a solemn determination to honour the supreme sacrifices of the martyrs by building a Bangladesh where “tyranny will never rise again.”
The programme drew participation mainly from foreign diplomats, students, youths, academics, and the Bangladeshi diaspora.
