Thousands of Montrealers headed to Ottawa on Sunday morning to mark Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

They joined other Armenians on Parliament Hill before marching to the Turkish Embassy, where they protested Turkey's continued refusal to acknowledge the mass execution of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks as a genocide.

"It's sort of a pilgrimage," said Lory Abrakian, a member of the Armenian National Committee of Canada.

"Every year we gather in Ottawa. It's our way to pay our respects to the victims of the Armenian genocide, and also to show that Armenians are still alive and that we still demand justice be served for the victims."

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman authorities during and after the First World War, beginning with a purge of intellectuals on April 24, 1915.

Though the modern-day Turkish state disputes referring to the massacre as a genocide, Canada is among dozens of countries worldwide to do so.