The Edmonton Interfaith Centre (EIC) and the Canadian Multicultural Education Foundation (CMEF) will be holding a panel discussion over Zoom on Sunday March 21 from 1 to 2:30 for the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD). Speakers will be Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, Beryl Cook and Dr. Alvin Finkel.
This is the commemoration of a terrible massacre of unarmed protesters in South Africa in 1960. In 1966 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed this as a day of remembrance. Canada was the first country to support the initiative, making it an annual campaign in 1989.
In fact the EIC grew out of this event which we first marked in the early 1990’s. At that time it was unique, here and elsewhere, to have people from many different faiths making a public statement, from their own tradition, that we all stand together against racism and affirm our common humanity, and the seeds of the Centre were sown. We firmly believe that organizations like ours can take some modest credit for the wonderful embrace of diversity that characterizes almost all our citizens. We had our usual great program planned in 2020 but it had to be our first COVID cancellation. The CMEF has held the Harmony Brunch for many years as their observance of the day.
Stay tuned for more information!