Celebrations are being held across Canada by ethnic Albanians after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, and many urged the Conservative government to recognize Europe's newest state.

Ottawa has not yet made its intentions public, but a spokesman for the department of foreign affairs said the government is still considering a decision.

Albanians who fled Kosovo for Canada in the late 1990s, when late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic took violent action against separatists, held a rally in Halifax.

"Independence for me, for Kosovo, is big," said former refugee Nijazi Muji. "Not just for me, but for the whole nation and for all Albanian people in general. This is the biggest day in history."

Muji was one of about 5,000 Kosovars who came to Canada in 1999, many of them arriving in military airbases in the Maritimes.

"Because of the war, it was not safe," he said. "We went to the next country, Macedonia, to the camps. Canada took people from those camps and I was one of them."

In Toronto, 1,500 people showed up at the front steps to Queen's Park to celebrate with dancing and cheering on Sunday.

Although they were happy to honour the birth of the world's newest country, there was disappointment that Canada has not yet announced its stance on the declaration.

The sentiment was echoed on the grounds of Parliament Hill, where hundreds turned out to voice their support.

Not all Canadians were celebrating on Sunday. Some ethnic Serbians who consider Kosovo the cultural heart of Serbia were angered by the territory's declaration of independence.

Sofija Skoric, former Vice President of the Serbian Unity Congress, told CTV Newsnet on Sunday that Kosovo has overstepped its rights with the declaration.

"According the United Nations Charter and according to the existing international law, Kosovo as a region has no right to separate itself unilaterally," she said.

Skoric fears support by Canada would escalate the level of violence.

"I'm pleading to the Canadian people, to all Christian churches, to the Canadian government and to Canadian Parliament not to get involved and recognize the result -- an unjust state that is organized in this way," Skoric said.

With files from CTV Atlantic and CTV Toronto