Source/Credit: The Link | Canada
By Gian Singh Kotli | October 2, 2010
INUVIK (NWT) - Series of several World Religions Conferences in north Canada organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association of BC ended with the last conference held on September 26 in Inuvik, the northernmost city of Canada 400 Kilometers to the north of Arctic Circle and near the Arctic Ocean. Inuvik means “place of people.”
After attending the successful World Religions Conference at Williams Lake on September 13th, I was again fortunate to join other Conferences held in Whitehorse, Dawson City and in Inuvik to spread the message of love, oneness of God, oneness of human race and well being of the entire mankind as enshrined in Sikh tenets. Eminent speakers from other faiths also spoke on the given topics in these conferences providing much needed and timely knowledge to the listeners and inviting inquisitive questions from them.
The conference of the world religions in Whitehorse was held on September 21, the capital of Yukon Territory situated on the banks of the river Yukon. Some members of the local Punjabi community of about 20 families were very happy to attend it. The chairman and moderator of the program was Dave Stockdale, councilor of Whitehorse city. The topic of the day was, “Is religion relevant in today’s society.”
The next Conference was held on September 23 in Zho Cultural Centre in the beautiful town of Dawson City situated on the confluence of Klondike River merging into Yukon River. The city is widely known for its numerous gold mines; working and extinct. The topic of the day was “Need for God in present society” The president and moderator of the program Mr. John Steins, Ex-Mayor of the Dawson City thanked all and expressed great satisfaction at holding such a religious conference in his city. Not a single Punjabi is there in Dawson City.
The conference in Inuvik on September 26 was a rare achievement as despite very cold conditions the listeners made their way to attend the rare function held under the Chairmanship of their Ex-Mayor and Moderator Mr. Derek Lindsay in the prestigious Midnight Sun Conference Complex. The topic of the day was “Existence of God, fact or fiction” and the locals enjoyed the presentations as a rare piece of gift from all religions. Inuvik having a population of about 3500 is situated on the delta of mighty Mackenzie River falling into Arctic Ocean and it is the administrative centre for Western Arctic. The whole area is permafrost having more than 90 feet frozen ice beneath. Inuvik has about 2 months 24 hours sunlight from June to august and about one month without sunlight in December with temperature as low as -56C. Lama Karma Lodro represented Buddhism, Mubarak Nazir Tronto represented Islam, and Gian Singh Kotli Vancouver represented Sikhism in all these conferences.
Roy Goose, Percy Henry, Ann Smith represented Aboriginal, Bishop Larry Robertson, Doug Robertson, Jack Vogt represented Christianity and Rick Karp represented Judaism at different places.
Rizwan Peerzada President, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Surrey and all the dedicated volunteers are worthy of high praise for arranging such humanitarian functions at such far off places for spreading the message of love and peaceful coexistence in different communities.
I thank S. Prem Singh Vinning a widely known dedicated community leader for sponsoring my trip and also S. Joginder Singh Sidhu of Gurdwara Canadian Singh Sabha Surrey who sponsored me last year and always inspired me to do this sort of community service. S. Sidhu gave me many books on Sikh religion for free distribution and I presented these books to several dignitaries at all these places.
Read original post here: World Religions Meet Seeks World Peace And Harmony
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