His Holiness the Dalai Lama begins Canada visit

Monday, 29 October 2007, 9:45 a.m.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet is greeted by Senator Con di Nino, co-chairman of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, as he arrives at the Ottawa International Airport in Ottawa on Sunday, 28 October/Sean Kilpatrick/The CANADIAN PRESS

This is His Holiness' first visit to Canada since he received an honorary Canadian citizenship last year. He joins Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg, Nelson Mandela and, most recently, Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi in receiving the honour.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will publicly meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama in his Parliament Hill office on Monday afternoon -- the first time a Canadian prime minister has ever held formal talks at government office with His Holiness.

Aside from the meeting with Harper, His Holiness plans a stop at government offices in nearby Gatineau, Que., to meet with Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney, another vocal critic of Chinese policy.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks at the Ottawa Civic Centre Sunday, 28 October

He will visit Governor General Michaëlle Jean at Rideau Hall later Monday, before getting together with leaders of the federal opposition parties at a downtown hotel on Tuesday.

Earlier on Sunday, thousands of people gathered at Ottawa Civic Centre to hear His Holiness' public talk organized by the Canada Tibet Committee.

His Holiness said, the world's politicians and the public needs to unite to resolve current international problems through a holistic manner that puts global responsibility at the forefront.

His Holiness told the audience that there is a gap between perception and reality.

"We have to look at the whole world as part of (ourselves)," adding "Destruction of a part of the world is the destruction of yourself." His Holiness said.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Prime Minister will meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama in his Parliament Hill office on 29 October 2007(Denis Sinyakov/AFP/Getty Images)

He made only occasional references to the Chinese occupation of Tibet that has lasted for more than half a century, noting that he isn't campaigning now for outright Tibetan independence but merely for "meaningful autonomy" and democratic reforms under Beijing's continued rule.

Because of China's economic might, he said, "We get greater benefit" by maintaining political ties with the People's Republic.

He reiterated, as well, his devotion to non-violent principles, recalling ruefully that when Tibetans briefly resorted to political force in an uprising in the 1950s the result was "more suppression, more control, more rigidity" - and a half-million dead.

"Violence brings more violence, more suffering," he said. "That's almost like suicide."

Harper is the latest in a growing list of western leaders - including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Australian Prime Minister John Howard as well as Bush - who have played host to him in recent months.

The fact that the prime minister chose his Parliament Hill office for the meeting lends a more official and political air to the visit than has been the case with past encounters with Canadian politicians.

Three years ago, for example, when then-Liberal prime minister Paul Martin met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he did so at the private residence of a Roman Catholic cleric.

That symbolically served to emphasize the Tibetan leader's status as a revered Buddhist man of religion - and to downplay his role as a campaigner against Chinese oppression in his homeland.

The Chinese government and its diplomats in Canada have made it clear they don't appreciate the subtle shift in protocol under Harper, who complained when he was in opposition that the Liberals paid too much attention to trade relations with Beijing and not enough to pressing the Communist regime to respect human rights.

Later in the week, His Holiness will travel to Toronto where he will hold a public talk Wednesday night on "The Art of Happiness" at the Rogers' Centre.

--theStar.com and CTV.ca

  (www.tibet.net is the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.)

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