Day 2 of Parliament highlights Indigenous peoples programming
Parliament of the World’s Religions will run from Nov 1 -7, 2018 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre
TORONTO, ON (November 2, 2018) – Day two of the Parliament of the World’s Religions – the world’s largest interfaith gathering – provided a platform for Indigenous peoples to share their wisdom traditions and Traditional Spiritual Knowledge with the world.
The morning kicked off with the Indigenous Assembly where attendees heard from Perry Bellegarde, a ceremonial leader, fluent speaker of Cree and political leader of 634 First Nations in Canada who challenged the audience to join together in unity to guide our actions to support the healing of Mother Earth.
Other speakers included:
- Sid Hill, Chief of the Onondaga Nation and a leader in Haudenosaunee Confederacy, spoke about the Great Law of Peace as the divine system to guide humanity and heal Mother Earth
- Dr. Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild shared a framework for action by governments worldwide to support Indigenous peoples and incorporate Indigenous Knowledge systems in their governance
- Jim Dumont, the Eastern Doorway Chief, shared his vision for the future of spiritual evolution for humanity.
Other programming followed throughout the day which gave attendees the opportunity to hear from speakers who rarely leave their lodges, longhouses, hogans and ceremonial houses in their community.
An important part of the Indigenous programing at the Parliament focuses around the Lodge of Nations. The Lodge is the centrepiece to the Parliament of the World’s Religions Indigenous programme and is a beautiful and important Indigenous sacred space. A first-of-its-kind at the Parliament, the Lodge is the home away from home to many Indigenous traditional leaders and Faith Keepers who carry the sacred knowledge from the many Indigenous spiritual ways from around the world.
This afternoon John Ralston Saul shared his reflections on how, in our lifetime, liberal democracy has perhaps never seemed so imperiled from within as today and how anti-Semitism is growing in Europe, Islamophobia is frequently incorporated into party platforms at election times and Canada has seen rising rates in hate crimes.
Later this evening the Faith & Interfaith Plenary, from Grassroots to the Globe, will take place and assumes that people of faith and conscience can be the most effective change agents in all parts of the world; not by embracing a single tradition or ideology, but by drawing on the glorious diversity present in our human family. This plenary supposes that the location for radical change must occur, simultaneously, in local communities and on the world stage. And the local and the global must inform and strengthen one another on a continuing basis. This plenary will be live-streamed on Parliament’s facebook page at 8:30 p.m.
