Dalai Lama got granted with Canadian Citizenship

Dalai Lama says he is honoured to have be granted Canadian Citizen

- by Jeremy Hainsworth, Canadian Press

The Dalai Lama says he is proud to have been given honorary Canadian citizenship. He was granted the citizenship by Parliament earlier this summer, a move which drew criticism from China. "Wherever I go, it creates some inconvenience," he told a news conference at Vancouver city hall. "I'm sorry. I hope it's not my mistake." Only two other people have been granted honorary Canadian citizenship: South African leader Nelson Mandela and Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved Jews from extermination during the Second World War. The leader of the world's Tibetan Buddhists arrived in Vancouver on Thursday for the inauguration of the Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education.

He said Vancouver was chosen as the site of the centre, the world's first to bear his name, as its multi-ethnic and multiracial population gives it harmony. "This is purely educational, not political," he said of the centre. The Dalai Lama said religious institutions have lost their power and that moral and ethical guidance is now provided through education. "We have to live together. We must educate in this respect," he said. He said human beings must become more peaceful through the promotion of human values and religious harmony. "This is the basis of the future," he said. "It's in everybody's interest." The Dalai Lama was welcomed to Vancouver by Mayor Sam Sullivan. "Thank you for blessing us with your presence," Sullivan said. "Vancouver is very honoured that you would consider us the only city in the world for an institution with your name on it."