Staff Reporter
Virtual meeting of Tibetan Associations in Canada. L-R Top Row: Representative Namgyal Choedup, Chinese Liaison Officer Tsultrim Gyatso, Ottawa TA President Tsechu Lhamo, BC Vancouver Cultural Coordinator Sonam Choezom
L-R Middle Row: Alberta Green Book Coordinator Tsetan Yeshe, CTC Executive Director Sherab Tharchin, Victoria TA President Jampel Gyatso, and Arif Virani Office staff Phuntsok Wangmo
L-R Bottom Row: Arif Virani Office former staff Tenzin Chogkyi, BC Vancouver GB coordinator Kalsang Youdon, Ontario-Toronto Kelsang Phuntsok, Office of Tibet Secretary Tashi Dhondup.
Washington DC: Office of Tibet Washington DC held a virtual meeting of the six Tibetan Associations (TA) in Canada: Toronto-Ontario, Quebec-Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary-Alberta, British Columbia-Vancouver, and Victoria Island-Vancouver on Saturday, January 29, 2022. The meeting was also attended by Canada Tibet Committee (CTC) Chair Samphe Lhalungpa and Executive Director Sherap Tharchin, and staffers Tenzin Chokgyi and Phuntsok Wangmo from MP Arif Virani’s office (the Chair of Canada Parliamentary Friends of Tibet).
Representative Namgyal Choedup welcomed and briefed the participants about the purpose of the meeting. Regarding Tibet advocacy in Canada, he emphasised collective efforts to strengthen and expand the Tibet advocacy work beginning with the increasing active participation of younger generations and how CTA intends to further strengthen the current advocacy effort and outreach through CTA’s recently launched initiative, Voluntary Tibet Advocacy Group (V-TAG) program. Second, he emphasised the importance of reaching out to the Chinese brothers and sisters, particularly young Chinese students in Canadian universities as part of His Holiness Dalai Lama’s vision of building better understanding between the Chinese and Tibetan societies. Chinese Liaison Officer Tsultrim Gyatso briefed the meeting on the history and current activities of Chinese outreach program. He further reminded the TAs to appoint a local Chinese liaison officer as per the resolutions passed in 2019 and 2020 at North America Tibetan Association meetings.
The six Tibetan Associations presented a brief report on Tibet advocacy and China outreach in their respective constituencies. Ontario TA President Kelsang Phuntsok raised concerns about the lack of interest and participation from the Tibetan youth and came up with a solution to engage Tibetan youth in advocacy through four different activities. Calgary-Alberta Tibetan Association’s executive member Tsetan Yeshi reported youth sport activities as an important and helpful means of engaging the younger generation and suggested guidance and workshops for initiating Tibet advocacy at local and provincial levels.
Chair Samphe Lhalungpa and Executive Director Sherab Tharchin briefed about CTC’s mission, activities and future plans. Chair Samphe highlighted four important things that CTC has worked on in the last 30 years, and areas where the focus is needed. Sherab Tharchin explained briefly on the Canada China Coalitions which had carried out many important works in Canada earlier. He also briefed on the CTC works while acknowledging Canada Parliament Friends of Tibet(PFT) as the biggest asset in Canada in raising funds, and providing opportunities to the Tibetan youths to work in the office of the Member of Parliament in Canada as a paid internship.
The outgoing staffer of MP Arif Virani Tenzin Chogkyi shared her experiences and urged all Tibetans in Canada to support the works of CTC. She introduced the new staffer Phuntsok Wangmo who will be taking over the role of official coordinator for PFT. Chogkyi further emphasised the need for better coordination at the local levels and that CTC and PFT are two key organizations through which the community advocacy and lobby efforts could be channelized to present concrete demands and in presenting clear and achievable demands to the elected leaders and the government.
The Representative thanked everyone for their dedication and commitment to the common Tibetan cause and expressed deep appreciation for the personal sacrifices and contributions made by CTC Chair Samphe Lhalhungpa and Executive Director Sherab Tharchin and the executive members of Tibetan Associations. Representatives also thanked Tenzin Chogkyi for the help she had extended during her work in MP Arif Virani’s office. The meeting lasted for 2 hours and concluded with a word of thanks by Secretary Tashi Dhondup.
-Report filed by OoT Washington DC
L-R 3rd Row Middle: Canada Tibet Committee(CTC) Chair Samphe Lhalungpa
