About Us
EDUCATION
RESEARCH & RECOGNITION
ARTS & CULTURE PROMOTION
FESTIVALS
LEADERSHIP
POLITICS
REMEMBRANCE
GCRS - Our Strategic Approach
- EDUCATION
To educate and increase the public’s understanding of German culture and heritage and the contributions of German Canadians to Canada, and their importance by offering courses, seminars, conferences and meetings and by collecting and disseminating information on those topics. - RESEARCH & RECOGNITION
To conduct research relating to the contributions of German Canadians to Canada and to publish and to otherwise disseminate the results of such research. - ARTS & CULTURE PROMOTION
To educate and increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of German culture by providing performances of an artistic and cultural nature in public places, senior citizens' homes, churches, community centers and educational institutions, and by providing seminars on topics relating to such performances, and relating to matters of German culture and heritage and the contributions of German Canadians to Canada. - FESTIVALS
To produce German cultural festivals for the purposes of educating and advancing the public’s understanding and appreciation of German culture and heritage and the contributions of German Canadians to Canada and to encourage artistic participation in such festivals. - LEADERSHIP
To establish chairs and lectureships, and to provide scholarships, bursaries, and scholastic prizes in furtherance of the within stated objects. - POLITICS
To educate the Canadian public about the Canadian political process so as to encourage the involvement of all Canadians in the political process and to encourage all Canadians to ensure that all ethnic Canadian groups enjoy the same recognition and positive image as other major ethnic groups, who have also contributed to Canada, and to work separate and together with other ethnic and socially minded organizations to make this country fair and just for every Canadian, regardless of race, religion, origin, gender, age or beliefs. - REMEMBRANCE
Our mandate is also to remember the suffering Germans had to endure during and after the two World Wars. We also remember the German soldiers who died for their country on the battlefield and in captivity.
The Letters Patent, Canada Corporations Act.
2002Wayne Wettlaufer’s second reading to implement German Pioneers Day German Pioneers Day (watch video).
(Note: German Pioneers Day Act, Bill 28-1999 was passed, the Bill proclaimed that in Canada the day after Thanksgiving Day each year as German Pioneers Day.)
The Glockenspiel located at Benton & King Street, Kitchener, was unveiled in 1976. It arrived from Holland and has played to happy crowds of sneezy kids and sleepy parents for 33 years. In 2015 it received a $400,000 rebirth, with the City of Kitchener picking up half the tab and Oktoberfest and GCRS picking up the rest.
2015October 11, 2016 - GCRS worked together with the Arbeitsgemeinschaft under the leadership of Gerhard Griebenow, to create the annual German Pioneers Day in the Rotunda at Kitchener’s City Hall. The official program includes recognition of achievements, music by Transylvania Brass Band, exhibits by various clubs from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, German organizations and messages from dignitaries.
2016November 13, 2016 - Ernst Friedel, Gerhard Griebenow and GCRS worked closely with the German Consulate in Toronto to organize Volkstrauertag, the German Day of Remembrance to honour the 187 German Soldiers of the 1st and 2nd World War who are buried in Woodland Cemetery German War Graves Section. Wreaths were placed by the Federal Republic of Germany, representatives of Federal, Provincial, Regional and Municipal Government; members of the Canadian Armed Forces as well as many representatives of German-Canadian clubs and organizations. Music and presentations by Transylvania Brass Band, Concordia Choirs, Alpine Club and Hubertushaus. Many volunteers made this first annual event possible.
2016Anna Tuerr Memorial (watch video) ~ Paul Tuerr, Founder of GCRS, created this memorial in memory of his wife Anna.
2016In recognition of KW Oktoberfest's 50th Anniversary Celebrations, 18-bell Carillon, timeteller and its interior were restored and upgraded. It was originally constructed and dedicated in 1984. (Read news article.)
2018In 2019, a grant from Ontario Trillium Foundation for 8 New Huts and 8 Accessible Bavarian Eating Stands for Kitchener's Christkindl Market was made possible by GCRS working together with the Christkindl Market Committee. (Read the Press Release)
2019In 2020, the German Pioneers Day event was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic. German Pioneers Day ceremony traditionally honours those who helped shape Canada into the land we live in and look with confidence to our shared future.
2020Thank You
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