Calgary, 25 January 2024 – Consul General Zaldy B. Patron welcomed the signing of the partnership agreement between the Airdrie Public Library (APL) and the Knights of Rizal - Airdrie Chapter that will pave the way for the naming of a meeting room in the new building of the APL that is set to open in June 2025.

Under the agreement, the Knights of Rizal - Airdrie Chapter will help the APL raise funds in exchange for the naming right of a meeting room after the Philippine national hero.

Mr. Dan Nelles, Chair of the APL Board, and Sir Mark Quintin, Chapter Commander of KOR Airdrie, signed the partnership agreement on 19 January 2024 at the existing APL.

“I laud the APL and the KOR Airdrie Chapter for coming up with this noble project that will further increase the community’s awareness about Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippines, and the Filipinos,” said Consul General Patron.

Rizal is the Philippine national hero whose writings invoked nationalism among Filipinos during his time that led them to wage a national revolution against their Spanish colonizers.

“A Rizal Room in the new APL will complement the installation of the Dr. Jose Rizal Monument in Nose Creek Regional Park in Airdrie,” Consul General Patron added.

The Dr. Jose Rizal Monument was a project initiated and led by the Philippine Consulate General in Calgary and undertaken in partnership with the Airdrie City Council, Filipino Airdrie Association, Rizal Monument Project Team, 46 major sponsors, and 201 brick donors. It was unveiled to the public on 23 October 2021.