History

The First General Assembly of the Ontario Romanian Canadian Association took place on February 2nd, 2012, at the Vernisage Banquet Hall, a popular restaurant in the Romanian community that inspired us to the realization that it was time to unite business establishments in the community like the Vernisage with other small and medium business owners.

The chairman of the meeting was Bogdan Stanescu. Speeches in favor of ORCA were made by Cristi Banaru, Florin Pirjol, Razvan Drancea, Octavian Radu, Cristi Stancovici, Viorel Neamtu, George Vasilache, and Richard Dohi. By show of hands, a vote establishing ORCA received unanimous approval, and on February 15th, 2012, the Ontario Romanian Canadian Association was officially born with the signature and acceptance of the incorporation documents. Shortly after, ORCA members engaged in the task of writing a set of bylaws and translating these bylaws into English.

Mission

ORCA’s sole mission is to enhance the sense of community among Romanian-Canadians living or working within Ontario through the support of local businesses and members.

Values

The core reason for the founding of ORCA is to build a more united, stronger and visible Romanian community. Our message must be positive, that we CAN make change. With a passionate, optimistic message, we can change minds and move mountains. ORCA will support all decisions that provide the best end result for the highest number of our partners, the clients they serve, the issues they address, and the future of our community. All parties to any decision will be treated with respect, dignity, compassion, grace, integrity, honesty and humanity.

ORCA believes that it can accomplish significant change when the whole community works together, focusing all of the community’s varied resources towards improving our community’s quality of life. We believe the whole community must share ownership of our problems and our solutions.

Affiliations

At present, the following clubs and associations are found under the umbrella of the ORCA:

• Romanian Richmond Hill Soccer Club
• Romanian North York Soccer Club
• Poli Toronto Soccer Club
• Lumina 2000 Soccer Club
• ORCA Charity
• ORCA Mentorship for Newcomers
• ORCA Entertainment
• ORCA Immigration