On November 17, 2015 in Montreal, Karel Velan received the Jan Masaryk Commemorative Medal from Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Martin Pros. Velan’s son, Tom Velan, was present on this occasion along with Pavel Hrnčíř, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Canada and Jaroslav Kantůrek, special representative of the MFA for expatriates.

The silver Jan Masaryk Commemorative Medal is an award presented annually by the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Canada to a remarkable representative of Czech community on the anniversary of November 1989 events.

Karel Velan helped a tremendous number of members of the Czech community by offering them employment in his company upon their arrival to Canada. Selecting Karel Velan as this year’s recipient was influenced by his most recent award the Gold Medal Award, which is the engineering profession’s highest honour.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC9efpTHElI&feature=youtu.be