OTTAWA, April 2 – You wouldn’t think anyone would pass up the chance to meet a Nobel Peace Prize winner – especially if he’s one of the most respected religious leaders on earth. I’m talking about his holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
He’s coming to Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa this April. He’ll give speeches and do typical official-visit stuff: Shake hands, give photo ops … But he won’t meet many Canadian officials. They’re afraid of him.
Although the Dalai Lama will be welcomed by universities and community groups in all three cities, no city, provincial or federal official has agreed to meet him. Even Prime Minister Paul Martin hasn’t committed to meeting the Buddhist leader.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in the 1950s after a failed uprising against China. Since then, he has been working to negotiate Tibet’s independence.
This is what scares some leaders away from him. They don’t want to do anything to alienate China – and jeopardize their chance to do business with one billion Chinese people. “The issue of Tibet is a sensitive one for the Canadian government, which has a lot of interest in China,” says Tenzin Dargyal, of the Canada-Tibet Committee, which is bringing the Dalai Lama to Canada.
If Martin is worried that meeting the Dalai Lama will offend China, why did U.S. President George W. Bush meet with the Buddhist leader? And British Prime Minister Tony Blair? In Blair’s case, he used a clever loophole. The Dalai Lama, in addition to being a political activist, is one of the world’s most famous spiritual leaders. And, of course, with the religious leader’s message of peace and non-violence, why wouldn’t Blair want to meet him?
Why not indeed? This is not to say the Dalai Lama doesn’t have a Canadian political ear.
Meet and greet
“Parliamentarians do want to meet with him,” Dargyal says. He says that more than half of the members of Parliament support the idea of Canada overseeing the negotiations between Tibet and China.
But although they have expressed their support, Dargyal says, no one has come forward yet to request a meeting with the Tibetan leader. “He’s never met a Prime Minister (of Canada) and this is his fourth visit,” Dargyal says.
So, to help cut through all of this, I’d like to offer my diplomatic services to Mr. Martin. I’d be happy to meet with the Dalai Lama when he comes to town. I’d jump at the chance to meet someone who is, as Dargyal says “one of the most respected human beings on the planet.”
What’s not to like? He’s a wise and holy man, a Buddhist monk who advocates non-violent reform for his home country.
If Bush can meet with him, why can’t we? The United States has a much bigger trade interest in China than Canada does. U.S.-China trade didn’t slow down for a second after Bush met the Dalai Lama.
We’re not talking about Osama bin Laden. We’re talking about a Nobel Prize winner. A Nobel Peace Prize winner. Meeting with him will not brand you a Buddhist sympathizer. So why not let me show the Dalai Lama a good time when he’s in Ottawa. I promise to be on my best behaviour. If you agree, just give me a couple days notice so I can practise my rendition of “When Irish Eyes are Smiling.”
