April 27, 2018

This is the day the leaders of South and North Korea met at Panmunjom and shared a historic handshake. This news resonated deeply in Canada as well. As reports began breaking the previous evening, Canada's leading daily newspapers, the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, splashed the news of the inter-Korean summit across their front pages on the morning of the 27th. It is remembered as a moving moment in history when we felt Canada's deep empathy and active engagement regarding peace on the Korean Peninsula—the foremost concern of the Korean immigrant community.

April 28 (Annually):

This is the National Day of Mourning, a time to honor workers who have been injured or killed on the job and to reflect on the importance of occupational safety. Initiated by a proposal from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in 1984, it was formally established as a statutory day of mourning by the Canadian Parliament in 1991. The day originated from a 1983 proposal by Canadian labor activists Colin Lambert and Ray Sentes, eventually becoming the foundation for the global International Workers' Memorial Day. Canada was one of the first countries in the world to officially designate April 28 as a day of mourning, while South Korea similarly designated it as 'Workers' Memorial Day' in 2024.

April 29, 2020

When the world was in deep turmoil due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the defense ministers of South Korea and Canada held a telephone summit. During this call, South Korea proactively shared its military’s crisis management expertise and its successful pandemic response strategies built on openness and transparency. Canada expressed profound gratitude for South Korea's exemplary information sharing, and both nations pledged to overcome the pandemic—a non-traditional security threat—together through robust defense cooperation. It was a moment where both countries felt the strength of mutual support as equal partners.

May 1, 1999

This date marks a monumental turning point in the history of bilateral exchanges between the two countries. It is the day the 'Agreement on Social Security between Korea and Canada' officially entered into force. With the implementation of this mutually beneficial policy, short-term dispatched workers assigned for up to five years were exempted from contributing to the Canada Pension Plan, making it significantly easier for companies from both nations to expand into each other's markets.

As a side note, the Canadian government officially designated May as 'Asian Heritage Month' in 2001 and celebrates it nationally every year. This marked the beginning of nationwide recognition for the contributions of Asian immigrants.