Ottawa, October 3, 2025 — On the fourth and fifth days of his official visit to Ottawa, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, President of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), continued his engagement with Canadian leaders, officials, and academic institutions, focusing on key issues such as the protection of Tibetan children from China’s residential school system, support for Tibetan diaspora communities, and the need for international action to safeguard the succession of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama from foreign interference.
The fourth day began with a meeting between Sikyong and MP Garnett Genuis, vice-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet (PFT), where they discussed strengthening Canada’s parliamentary support for Tibet and advancing coordinated policy initiatives. Later that morning, Sikyong held a press conference on China’s colonial-style residential schools in Tibet, where more than one million Tibetan children are forcibly separated from their families and subjected to state-led cultural assimilation.
Press Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXhmQ07EC4w&t=2s
The press conference, held just a day after Canada observed its National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, highlighted the parallels between Canada’s residential school history and the current situation in Tibet. Sikyong was joined by MP Garnett Genuis, MP Karim Bardeesy, MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Dr. Charles Burton, senior advisor to the Canada Tibet Committee (CTC), and Dean Baxendale of Optimum Publishing International.Â
Following the press conference, Sikyong held a meeting with MP Karim Bardeesy and later met with officials from the International Development division of Global Affairs Canada. Discussions centered on Canada’s potential funding support for Tibetan diaspora communities in India and Nepal, focusing on education, cultural preservation, and community development initiatives.
On the fifth and final day of his Ottawa visit, Sikyong addressed students in the anthropology program at the University of Ottawa, speaking to a class led by Professor Scott Simon. In his lecture, Sikyong shared insights into the legal status of Tibet, cultural resilience, and the global significance of the Tibetan plateau, encouraging students to view the Tibet issue within the broader context of international human rights and geopolitics.
Sikyong also took part in a roundtable discussion with members of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI), marking the second collaboration between the Canada Tibet Committee and MLI in the past three years. The roundtable focused on strategic policy approaches to Tibet advocacy in the context of global democratic cooperation and China’s growing authoritarian influence.
As the final engagement of his Ottawa trip, Sikyong met with Senator Marilou McPhedran to discuss the role of Canada’s upper chamber in advancing human rights and religious freedom for the Tibetan people.
Throughout these engagements, Sikyong was accompanied by Namgyal Choedup, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and head of the Office of Tibet, Tencho Gyatso, President of the International Campaign for Tibet, Jigmey Namgyal, the Secretary of the CTA’s Department of Education, Bob Ankerson, the President of The Tibet Fund and Sherap Therchin, Executive Director of the Canada Tibet Committee.
