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Justin Trudeau to speak at Toronto Peace Garden anniversary
Catholic Register Staff
September 18, 2009
TORONTO - Twenty-five years after Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau turned the sod to launch the Peace Garden at Nathan Phillips Square, his son Justin Trudeau will deliver a keynote address on Sept. 29 to more than 6,000 Catholic students as part of silver anniversary celebrations.
Trudeau’s presentation — “Peace and Harmony in our Communities and the World” — will highlight a day dedicated to peace, race relations and multiculturalism that has been organized by the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Archbishop Thomas Collins, Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor David Miller will also speak. A special address will be given by Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow.
Trudeau’s presentation — “Peace and Harmony in our Communities and the World” — will highlight a day dedicated to peace, race relations and multiculturalism that has been organized by the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Archbishop Thomas Collins, Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor David Miller will also speak. A special address will be given by Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow.
“This celebration delivers a message of peace and hope that we all pray for in our schools, in our communities and in the world,” says TCDSB director of education, Ann Perron.
As part of the celebrations, the TCDSB will launch a new program that will create 400 “Peace Ambassadors” who will further the peace initiative in Toronto Catholic schools.
The Peace Garden was the brainchild of Toronto’s Fr. Massey Lombardi, who sold the idea to Toronto City Council in 1983. The garden was blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1984. He lit the eternal flame in the garden with embers taken from the Memorial for Peace in Hiroshima and poured a vial of water from rivers in Nagasaki into the garden’s pool. Later that year, Queen Elizabeth II formally dedicated the garden.
The event begins at noon and will conclude at approximately 1:30 p.m.
As part of the celebrations, the TCDSB will launch a new program that will create 400 “Peace Ambassadors” who will further the peace initiative in Toronto Catholic schools.
The Peace Garden was the brainchild of Toronto’s Fr. Massey Lombardi, who sold the idea to Toronto City Council in 1983. The garden was blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1984. He lit the eternal flame in the garden with embers taken from the Memorial for Peace in Hiroshima and poured a vial of water from rivers in Nagasaki into the garden’s pool. Later that year, Queen Elizabeth II formally dedicated the garden.
The event begins at noon and will conclude at approximately 1:30 p.m.