"It's very touching and beautiful to see you learn the language that is part of us. You can be a third, fourth generation Croat and not know the Croatian language, but to speak and master the Croatian language is a big deal," Milanović told the pupils.
He is on a working visit to Canada and the United States on 16-24 September as part of which he will attend a session of the UN General Assembly.
In Canada, Milanović is visiting the Croatian community in Ontario and institutions that assemble Canadian Croatians.
He told the pupils today they should continue to learn Croatian and to try and teach it to their future children.
"Language, some signs of identity, these Croatian football jerseys you are wearing. That's recognisable all over the world and our people are very proud of that because it's something behind which is quality, work and successes."
The president is visiting Canada with his wife. After visiting the school, he visited one of the most important Croatian parishes in Canada, the Queen of Peace Croatian Franciscan Centre in Norval.
According to data of Canada's statistical office based on the 2021 census, 130,000 Croatians live there as Canadian citizens and about 11,000 also hold Croatian citizenship.
The largest number of Croatians and their descendants live in Ontario, mainly in Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, Burlington and Norval.
In Burlington today, the president met with Gregg Ruhl, CEO of Algoma Central Corporation, whose fleet includes ships built in the 3. Maj shipyard in Rijeka. They discussed the corporation's business cooperation with Croatia given its interest in commissioning more ships from 3. Maj, which is currently building and equipping one ship for Algoma.