News and Views on Tibet

CTA President meets Canadian parliamentarians in Ottawa

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Sikyong Penpa Tsering and Zeekyab Rinpoche with canadian MPs in Canada (Photo/Tibet.net)

By Choekyi Lhamo

DHARAMSHALA, May 4: After concluding his official visit to Washington DC, the President of Central Tibetan Administration, known also as the Tibetan government-in-exile, has reached neighbouring Canada. The Tibetan delegation including Representative Namgyal Choedup and abbot of Tashi Lhunpo monastery Zeekgyab Rinpoche were invited to the Parliament Hill in Ottawa by the Canadian Parliamentary Friends of Tibet.

“It was an honour meeting Hon. Minister Ahmed Hussen and the dignitaries. Thank you, MP Arif Virani, for the warm reception and we deeply appreciate the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet’s continued advocacy and support for the rights and dignity of the Tibetan people,” President Tsering wrote on Twitter after Wednesday’s meeting.

Canadian MP and long-time Tibet supporter Arif Virani in his opening remarks congratulated Sikyong Penpa Tsering on his election win last year as the head of the Tibetan administration in Dharamshala, followed by remarks concerning the missing Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima. The abbot of the Tashi Lhunpo monastery has accompanied the CTA delegation to highlight the case of the disappeared 33-year-old Panchen Lama.

According to the Tibet.net, the official reception was attended by noted politicians including Minister of Housing, Diversity & Inclusion, Ahmed Hussen, MP Randall Garrison, MP Elizabeth May, MP Garnett Genius, MP James Maloney, Executive Director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, Mehmet Tohti, Canada Tibet committee advisor Herb Davis, and Assistant Professor at Brock University Charles Burton among others.

Last month, the Tibetan delegation met with US Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Special Coordinator for Tibet Uzra Zeya, and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky amid other important figures and officials in the US State Department. The Tibetan leader also met with several Tibetan community groups in the US, especially the Tibetan youth. 

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