Macedonian Human Rights Movement International President, Bill Nicholov, met with Elizabeth Anderson, Senior Advisor for International Security to Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly and Mary-Liz Power, Senior Policy Advisor to Foreign Minister Joly and called for Canada to seek the immediate release of Macedonian political prisoners and to denounce the forced Macedonia name change and continued forced revision of Macedonians' identity and history.

Nicholov explained the US-backed regime in Macedonia's brutal suppression of dissent and imprisonment of Macedonians for opposing the forced name change into the highly derogatory "North Macedonia", a name insisted upon by Greece in exchange for lifting its veto of Macedonia's US-imposed NATO membership bid, and specifically designed to negate Macedonians' identity and history.

Bulgaria followed suit with a ramp-up of its demands in exchange for lifting its veto of Macedonia's Western-imposed EU membership bid.

Both countries publicly announce and celebrate that their goals are the complete denial of the Macedonian nation as a whole, and specifically the large Macedonian minorities within their borders. Yet, the West, Canada included, chose to support Greece and Bulgaria, instead of supporting Macedonia's self-determination and human rights — and in direct violation of multiple international human rights conventions.

Bulgaria's current demands include the revision of Macedonian history to deny that Bulgaria was an ally of Nazi Germany during World War II, that it committed mass murder and heinous war crimes against Macedonians, including the expulsion of over 7,000 Macedonian Jews to the Treblinka death camp in Poland, and that Bulgaria be referred to as a "liberator" instead of an occupier of Macedonia.

Canada and the West would condemn — and hold the involved accountable— for any attempt to revise history to refer to Nazi Germany as a "liberator" of France, Poland or the Netherlands. Nicholov called for equal treatment for Macedonians.

Nicholov discussed the case of the aforementioned Macedonian political prisoners, jailed for dissenting against the regime and forced name change, and their imprisonment based on blatantly false charges — a point even admitted by the US-backed president of the regime, Stevo Pendarovski — and which includes "committing violence" at an event in which many were not even in attendance.

Further, Nicholov highlighted the abhorrent prison conditions in which they are subjected to, and highlighted the several lawsuits, aimed at aiding and freeing the political prisoners, launched by Macedonian Human Rights Movement International, including those in the European Court of Human Rights, and the garnering of support from the international community, human rights organizations, and political parties, including the European Free Alliance in European Parliament.

Nicholov called on Foreign Minister Joly to follow suit, and reiterated MHRMI's call for Canada to apply pressure on the regime in Macedonia, to seek the immediate release of political prisoners, and to defend the rights of all Macedonians to their own name, identity, and history.

Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) has been active on human and national rights issues for Macedonians and other oppressed peoples since 1986. MHRMI demands respect for Macedonia's name, identity and human rights for oppressed Macedonians in the Balkans. For more information: 1-416-850-7125, info@mhrmi.org, mhrmi.org, twitter.com/mhrmi, facebook.com/mhrmi, instagram.com/MacedonianHumanRights #OurNameIsMacedonia