2024 Canada Day celebrations to help raise cancer awareness in Taiwan

Taipei, June 12 (CNA) An annual festival to celebrate Canada's national day in Taipei will join hands with a Taipei-based cancer foundation to promote awareness of the disease, event organizers announced on Wednesday.

Speaking during a press event that unveiled this year's "Celebration Canada," an outdoor festival featuring Canadian music and food that regularly attracts around 10,000 participants, Canada's representative to Taiwan Jim Nickel said the office wants to give back to the local community.

"In addition to celebrating Canada's 157th birthday, we also want to have a community event that makes a contribution back to the community here in Taipei and in Taiwan more broadly," said Nickel, the executive director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT), the de facto Canadian embassy in Taiwan.

By partnering with the Formosa Cancer Foundation, the office will therefore be contributing to Taiwan during this year's celebration, Nickel told reporters.

Formosa Cancer Foundation deputy head Jane Tsai (蔡麗娟) said at the press event that her foundation was founded in 1997 to promote awareness of cancer and how to prevent it.

Cancer has been Taiwan's leading cause of death since 1982, she said, adding that she is happy to see this year's Canada Day celebrations will be promoting her foundation's cause.

The CTOT said it will sell donation packages worth NT$899 (US$27.79) online to raise money for the foundation.

The goal is to sell 1,000 packages and help the Formosa Cancer Foundation continue its work, the CTOT said.

According to the CTOT, this year's festival will be staged on June 29 at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in downtown Taipei.

The one-day family-friendly festival will kick off at 11 a.m. and run until 9 p.m., featuring band performances, puppet shows, a poutine eating contest, belly dancing, DJ shows, and a raffle draw, with the biggest prize to be a round trip ticket from Taiwan to Canada.

Formerly known as Dominion Day, Canada Day marks the anniversary of the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867 following the passing of the British North America Act. At that time, three British North American provinces -- Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick -- were united into a single dominion called Canada.