It was on the initiative of Petros Foustanellas, Stamatis Orphanos, Chrysostomos Andreadis and the support of the Rev. Philip Ramphos, Stavros Zafiriou and with the cooperation of all the Samians in Ottawa, that a meeting was convened on 1 July 1976 for the purpose of establishing in Ottawa a Samian Society. At this meeting, the Society was named "Polycratis" in honor of the ruler of the island of Samos during 566-522 B.C.,and the first Council was elected with Stavros Zafiriou as President, Konstantinos Karademetriou as Vice President, Emmanuel Orphanos as Secretary and Diamantis Foustanellas as Treasurer, Stavros Deskes, Petros Foustanellas and Demetrios Kouimtzis formed the Auditing Committee and the Rev. Philip Ramphos and Presbytera Eleni Ramphos were elected Honorary Members.

Rev. Phillip Ramphos
One of the founters of the Samian Society "Polycrates"

The Objectives of the Samian Society are support the programs of the Hellenic Community of Ottawa, to contribute to the development of the island of Samos and to preserve their Hellenic heritage and make their children aware of it.

The local Samians are keenly interested in the contributing to the progress of the Hellenic Community of Ottawa. Together with many others, members of the Samian society have volunteered to work on various Community projects. It is very important to add that about 20 members of the Samian Society take part and help in Greek Summer Festival in August every year.

The first President of the Samian Society "Polycrates" Stavros Zafiriou and his wife Sofia.

The Society donated to the church an electronic bell system valued at $6,000, presented the Community with cheque in the amount of $2,500 for the building fund, and cheques in the amount of $300.00 to $400.00 in support of the Community Library, the purchase of an icon for the church, the building of a Meeting Room, the decoration of the Board Room and for several other projects. The Samians also participate in the humanitarian projects of the Community, such as financial support for the earthquake victims of Southern Italy in 1981.

The Samians living in Ottawa maintain, as do most expatriate Samians, a vivid mental image of their island and preserve the connecting link with their beloved island intact. Their love for Samos has been repeatedly demonstrated by their significant financial contributions in support of the Home for the aged, the Samos Philharmonic Orchestra, the reforestation of regions destroyed by fire and the furnishing of churches in several villages.

To preserve their heritage in their adopted land and make their children aware of it, Samians have established a number of activities which are carried out on significant dates throughout the year. Among these are the Christmas party with Agios Vasilis (Santa Claus) distributing presents to the children, the "tsougrisma" of red stained eggs at Easter and the 6th of August doxology on the celebration of the Day of Samos.