As World Debates Middle East Protests, Canada Plans Historic Event for Religious Harmony

Sept. 28, 2012 - PRLog -- Toronto, Ontario – September 28th: As the world debates the religious protests across the Middle East, Canada is hosting a historic conference on religious harmony that will mark the first time the First Nations will join the other major faiths in defining our multicultural identity. Organized by a distinguished panel of experts headed by the Honorable Paul Hellyer, Deputy PM to Pierre Trudeau, the conference titled "Harmony in Action" will feature North America's leading visionaries on First Nations, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism - all sharing an unprecedented platform for pluralism.

The acclaimed speakers will include Hanne Strong – the co-founder of Crestone, Colorado - the largest interfaith and ecumenical retreat centre in North America. The  Organizer of the UN's Millennium World Peace Summit, she is also the  wife of former Under Secretary General to the United Nations, Maurice Strong. Hanne will be joined by Elder Dave ‘Leading Earth Man’ Courchene who was awarded the 2012 National Aboriginal Achievement Award and conducted the Opening ceremonies at the G8 Summit on World Religions in 2010.

Buddhism will be represented by powerhouse orator Zenji Acharya who is the only Western expert from the world's oldest and most venerated Buddhist lineage and is authoring a landmark book "Everything You Need to Know About Buddhism (But No One Else Is Telling You)". Zenji is also directing the first international feature films on spiritual giants Bodhidharma and Vivekananda. He will be joined by by noted Concordia University Professor T.S. Rukmani and Sikh spokesperson Ramadeep Kaur Grewal.


The Abrahamic religions will be represented by Avrum Rosensweig - a self-described ‘rock and roller’ who is also the founder of Ve’ahavta – a Jewish humanitarian organization that supports hands-on voluntarism in Canada and around the world. He will be joined by Bishop Linda Nicholls from the Anglican Diocese of Toronto and Imam Abdullah Antepli from Duke University – one of the few full-time Muslim chaplains in the American scholastic system.


The Conference will take place at the prestigious 89 Chestnut Conference Center of the University of Toronto on the 3rd and 4th of October, 2012. It will include meals and refreshments as well as a rare exhibit titled “Siddhartha” and featuring influential art over a 2000 year span - some of which will be displayed for the first time by the Soho Museum of Asian Art & Heritage which houses one of Canada's preeminent collections.

Paul Hellyer elaborates, “Canada must lead the world when it comes to interfaith harmony and we have assembled a very impressive list of inspirational speakers that can set the tone for years to come”. Father Damian MacPherson concurs, “religious intolerance has been the cause of too much discord making this event all the more necessary.” Zul Kassamali of the Toronto Area Interfaith Council agrees, “This event can serve as a template for other nations as well” – a view echoed by Fatih Yegul, executive director of the Intercultural Dialogue Institute.

More information can be found at: HarmonyinActionConference.Eventbrite.ca