Ottawa archbishop welcomes Dalai Lama and Canadian prime minister

Ottawa, Canada, May 3, 2004 / 22:00 pm

Archbishop Marcel Gervais of Ottawa hosted talks between the Canadian Prime Minister and the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, last week in his home.

The archbishop said the conversation between the two April 23 was “very friendly and very warm” and that discussion included Tibet’s relationship with China, reported Canadian Catholic News.

Archbishop Gervais said the Tibetan spiritual leader “was consistent with his message of nonviolence, and very respectful of China,” reported CCN.

Gervais told CCN that the way in which Prime Minister Paul Martin “sort of bent over backward to meet the Dalai Lama is very significant in terms of a spiritual meeting.”

During his four-day visit to Ottawa, the 68-year-old Buddhist monk encouraged Canada to take an active role in ensuring a continuing dialogue between Tibet and China. But Gervais said the spiritual leader didn’t raise the issue at the one-hour meeting with the prime minister.

After the meeting, Martin said there had been a brief discussion about human rights in Tibet and that he also raised the issue of the recent anti-Semitic attack at a Jewish school in Montreal.

“We have always been a nation of great mutual respect and understanding and I think for the Dalai Lama to come here and remind us of that basic human value is very, very important,” Martin said, according to the Canadian Press.