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Peace Tree Festival
"Let us embrace the beauty of every culture and faith to
create peace and hope on earth." Mitra Sen
"In a continent with a
diverse population like North America, it is imperative that
our children grow up understanding, respecting and appreciating
all our unique customs, cultures and faiths. 'The Peace Tree'
will illustrate to parents the importance of providing their
children with the opportunity to experience and celebrate the
vibrant festivals and practices of families from around the world."
A filmmaker and teacher, Mitra
Sen created the Peace Tree Festival, celebrated annually on 1
June, to create a common festival where families and friends
from all faiths and races can learn about and celebrate each
other's cultures, traditions and festivals together. The concept
of Peace Tree Day is to educate, donate and celebrate diversity.
The inauguration of Peace Tree
Day was held on 1 June 2006 at Toronto City Hall. Children from
50 schools across the Greater Toronto Area participated in the
festivities.
"By encouraging children
to develop open-minds and experience the positive aspects of
life outside their own culture, we will inspire them and help
them understand the enriching experience of embracing the diversity
that exists around us everyday. This in turn will enable youth
to grow up in a society where they will learn to cooperate with
people from all backgrounds as we live side by side in our multicultural
land. 'The Peace Tree' will bring all our communities together
through our diverse celebrations, thereby showing how religion
can unite us, rather than divide us."
Sen believes that if we want
to preserve the harmonious state that presently exists in North
America, and prevent conflict and segregation, we must provide
our parents and youth with an educational tool like 'The Peace
Tree' in order to ensure that every North American embraces and
celebrates multiculturalism.
"'The Peace Tree' is an
important and essential resource that will create greater understanding
and unite all communities by encouraging our citizens to experience
all our vibrant cultures and faiths as we celebrate peace together."
Each year, the Peace Tree Committee
works to bring together children from two countries that have
had an ongoing history of conflict. The children will create
peace symbols from their cultures and faiths and unite to create
a Peace Tree together at the border and exchange symbols and
gifts from their cultures. In their first year, the Committee
worked towards creating a Peace Tree at the border of Pakistan
and India, an area that has been bridled in conflict since 1948.
"We hope that through
this interaction, the children from both lands will begin to
realize their similarities and celebrate their differences together.
We hope that they will continue their friendship and realize
the importance of respect and compassion for each other,"
said Sen.
Get involved (PDF document
/ 11KB download)
To read more about the film
that inspired the Peace Tree Festival, visit here. (PDF
document / 10KB download)
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The project was made
possible with the support of the
Department
of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy
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