Pierre Akkelian
The grandson of Armenian genocide survivors, Akkelian has taken what was once a small family business and turned it into a nationally acclaimed company that reaches a global market. Today, Canadian GEM is known as Canada’s largest pearl distributor and has earned the reputation of being, as the company’s tagline states, “Canada’s most trusted pearl specialists.”
Canadian Gem jewelry |
Akkelian attributes his success in both business and philanthropy in large part to being Armenian.
Khatoun Kassparian Voskerichian Akkelian. Photo: Vartan Derounian |
Bedros Akkelian. Photo: Vartan Derounian |
This scenario is paradoxical, considering the fact that Ottoman authorities killed Bedros Akkelian’s first wife and four children in 1915.
Bedros and Khatoun Akkelian with their children Karnig, Araxi and Angel. Photo: Vartan Derounian |
Akkelian’s maternal grandfather, Stephan Megerdichian from the Cilician town of Yarpouz (near Adana, south of modern-day Turkey), owed his life to his employers: company owner Edward Salem, an Arabic speaking man with Greek Orthodox roots, and to company managers Khawaja Elias Certain and Khawaja Abbdo Gharelias. He was saved near Maskanah (322 kilometers east of Hasake), the town where he worked at a company that shipped licorice root to United States, as secretary and bookkeeper, thanks to his proficient language and accounting skills. His mother and siblings stayed with him, while other family members perished on a death march to Der ez-Zor in the Syrian deserts.
Stephan Megerdichian |
Megerdichian eventually became one of the founders of the Armenian community in Raqqa, northern Syria, where a church and a school were established. He ensured that the school maintained a good reputation and provided a quality education despite limited resources. He and his wife also owned two successful businesses in Raqqa.
Stephan Megerdichian (left in lineup) in Raqqa |
Akkelian’s maternal grandmother Katerisa Mekenissian was from Kayseri. Her father, Garabed Mekenissian, a mechanical engineer by profession, moved around the Ottoman Empire installing industrial machinery. When Katerisa’s father felt that the situation was about to deteriorate, he decided to place Katerisa at the Shalom Centre, a school for women run by German nuns in Marash.
Katerisa Mekanissian and her brother, who was hanged a few weeks after this wedding photo was taken, with Shalom School German Missionaries. |
Garabed had seven sons, all of whom perished during the Genocide. One of them was hanged in Marash on a number of falsified charges – one of the 20 Hunchakian martyrs executed by gallows on June 2, 1915. After all his family members were massacred with the exception of Katerisa, Garabed joined General Antranik’s Armenian volunteers fighting against Ottoman army as an artillery expert.
Garabed Mekenisssian sits to the left of General Antranik |
Pierre Akkelian at the Tsitsernakaperd Genocide Memorial in Yerevan on April 24, 2015 |
Akkelian himself is living testimony to survival and prosperity. Besides being president of Canadian GEM, he is also a co-founder of Nishi Pearls Hong Kong. Over the past three decades, Akkelian has significantly contributed to shaping the Canadian jewelry industry, particularly through his involvement with the Canadian Jewellers Association (CJA). His vigorous efforts were recognized when the CJA presented Akkelian with the 2015 Chairman’s Award.
Pierre Akkelian receives the Canadian Jewelry Association’s 2015 Chairman’s Award. |
The “Treasures of Western Armenia” catalogue |
Syrian Armenian students with Pierre Akkelian at the Montreal Gemological School. |