On June 13, 2022 at noon, one of our former board members, Shaykh Zak Deen Sheikh, told us about an amazing event he survived. He called it “A Glimpse into the Beyond”.

On Monday, May 9th at noon, one of our former board members, Dr. Marie Gervais, talked about her new book, “The Spirit of Work”, focusing on the framework religion provides for work, learning from sacred texts about healthy workplaces.

Our speaker this month was Pierre Rousseau, a professor at Faculte St. Jean who recently took his class to visit Temple Beth Ora, Edmonton’s Reform synagogue. We asked him to reflect on how that kind of in-person experience with people, traditions and houses of worship from a variety of faith traditions is important in building understanding and respect for diverse religious traditions. What other courses promote interfaith understanding? What are the students’ backgrounds and what is the impact of this program on them? What are the discussions like after a visit? Have you seen any long-lasting effect of their experiences visiting other churches/temples/synagogues, etc.?

The Canadian Multicultural Education Foundation, The Edmonton Interfaith Centre & The United Nations Association Canada (Edmonton) commemorated the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 20th, 2022 at 2 p.m. over Zoom. We explored the question “Racism: what do we know and where do we go?” with panel participants: Charis Auger, Steven Camp, Satya Das & Salima Versi. World music provided by Dr. Michael Frishkopf

Kathy King (www.missingcara.ca) and Kate Quinn (www.ceasenow.org) provided a global overview of how different countries approach criminalization, legalization and the Equality Model. We addressed root causes of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking and the multiple impacts. This topic was very timely because the federal Justice Committee is hearing presentations in February – March about whether to remove all laws (total decriminalization) or to maintain Canada’s version of the Equality Model.

On February 5, 2022, at 2:00 PM, as part of the 2022 Interfaith Harmony Week, we presented a poetry open mic on the subject “Spirituality and Poetry – The Big Questions”.

“Answers to the ‘big questions’ can only be answered satisfactorily by the seeker him/her self.  However poetry written from the viewpoint of the seeker/soul can help all of us to find what is right for ourselves in our search for spiritual truth.”

Please check out the full schedule of IFHW events at interfaithyeg.org !

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi has declared World Interfaith Harmony Week in Edmonton:

As has the Council of Parkland County:

We would like to thank these municipalities for their commitment to promoting interfaith harmony.

On Monday, January 24th at noon for “Lunch & Learn”, Firdosh Mehta presented a talk entitled “Yalda: Zoroastrian Festival of Winter Solstice and the Connection with Christmas”.

The Edmonton Interfaith Centre and indeed all of Edmonton has suffered two great losses. The first was Metis Elder Pauline Paulson on December 25, 2021. She was born and lived her young years in Northern Manitoba, adolescence on a farm in the central part of the province and the balance in Winnipeg. In Edmonton she divided her time between Native Counselling Services as a spiritual and cultural advisor, the Elders Counsel for Concordia University, and Elder in residence for the HIV Drop In Centre. Her formal studies included a diploma in Applied Counselling from the University of Manitoba, another in Child Family and Community Services through Red River Community College (Winnipeg) sponsored by Metis Child and Family Services, and the facilitator training program ”In Search of Your Warrior” through Native Counselling Services of Alberta. Her informal education included over 30 years of participation in aboriginal ceremonies and learning from various Elders, locally, nationally, and internationally. She said, “I believe Spirit led me so I can fulfill the reason I was born into this world at this time”. Pauline served the Edmonton Interfaith Centre in many ways, including the roles of Vice President, President, and most recently as wise counsel to the current President and Board as Past President and chair of the Nominations Committee. Her advice was critical in the planning of the 2018 North American Interfaith Network conference which we hosted here.    Attached is a photo of her last September beside the “Celebrating Our Faiths” display she created and installed in City Hall. It featured “Creation Stories from Turtle Island”.

On January 6^th, 2022 we lost a founder and Honourary Board Member Sushil Kalia. He came to Edmonton in 1976 and soon became involved not only in the Hindu community but interfaith education and dialogue as well. In the early 1990’s he was instrumental in the work of several groups, one was the Edmonton Interfaith Network which inaugurated an annual observance of the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21^st, (still one of our signature events). In the fall of 1995 at the Welcome Chapel at the Royal Alex Hospital he was one of the signatories to our provincial application to register as a society in Alberta. He was a founder and honourary priest of the Hindu Cultural Centre (HCC) and for over 45 years conducted rites of passage there. His skills as a draftsman were also used in the design of the temple and beautiful murti (statues). When we began our joint program with the city called Celebrating Our Faiths in 2006 he helped make the first display featuring Diwali.  In 2012 he created a room in the HCC dedicated to Swami Vivekananda who attended the first Parliament of the World Religions in 1893 and is credited with bringing Hinduism to North America.

December 21, 2021 is the Winter Solstice, which in the Northern Hemisphere is the shortest day and longest night of the year, and the point after which the days start growing longer again. This day, the time of greatest darkness and the symbolic rebirth of the sun, has long been celebrated by many cultures, religions and spiritual traditions, including the Druidic Alban Arthan, the Chinese Dongzhi, the Wiccan Yule, and the Scandinavian Feast of Juul.