Dharamsala, June 18 – His Holiness the Dalai Lama will lead a “spiritual dream team” of Nobel Peace Prize laureates and international activists at a peace summit this September in Vancouver, Canada, from September 27 to 29 this year.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end apartheid; environmental activist Dr. Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize; former Irish president Mary Robinson; spiritual writer Eckhart Tolle; and educators, philanthropists and entertainers such as the Blue Man Group will attend the summit.
The summit will offer discussion-based events with special foucs on the themes of peace, education, interfaith harmony, women and peace-building and youth, said Victor Chan, a co-founder of Vancouver’s Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education.
“This is an opportunity for all of us to have a conversation with people who have accumulated a lot of knowledge around issues confronting humanity, the search for peace, the search for happiness,” Chan said.
“These guests attending have a global constituency. We won’t be talking about abstract concepts. These are people that have been rolling up their sleeves and effecting real change in the world.”
The Free the Children Foundation will partner with the Dalai Lama Center to present a youth day featuring activists Craig and Marc Kielburger, a day of music, and thought-provoking dialogue with chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall and actress Mia Farrow that celebrates their philosophy of youth service and social involvement.
Over 15,000 students from around the province of British Columbia will attend the Kielburgers’ Me to We event produced in collaboration with the B.C. ministry of education.
The summit will include events such as “Connecting for Change,” an invitation-only dialogue with the Dalai Lama on how people from diverse sectors such as corporate finance, philanthropy and spirituality can work together “synergistically” to create positive change in the world.
“World Peace through Personal Peace” will feature the Dalai Lama in conversation with Tutu, Tolle and Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard.
University of B.C. associate professor Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, who works closely with B.C. educators, will be part of a panel with the Dalai Lama and Clyde Hertzman discussing the paths to fostering social and emotional well-being in children.
Other activists and peace leaders include Jody Williams, the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who campaigned successfully to get more than a thousand non-governmental organizations to support the international campaign to ban land mines. Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, co-recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for their work to end violence in Northern Ireland, will participate in an event exploring women and peacemaking.
