Tibetan Political Leader Sikyong Penpa Tsering Visits Ottawa, Meets Canadian Parliamentarians and Media

Ottawa, October 1, 2025 — Tibetan political leader Sikyong Penpa Tsering, President of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), is on an official visit to Ottawa this week, engaging with Canadian lawmakers, senior officials, and journalists to strengthen support for Tibet and discuss pressing issues, including the future of the Dalai Lama’s institution and human rights in Tibet.

During his visit, Sikyong Penpa Tsering met with prominent members of Canada’s media and thinktanks, including investigative journalist and writer Sam Cooper, Steven Chase of The Globe and Mail, Dean Baxendale of Optimum Publication International and Dr. Charles Burton, a leading China expert and senior advisor to the Canada Tibet Committee (CTC). He also held meetings with officials from Global Affairs Canada and members of Parliament to discuss Canada’s role in defending Tibetan rights and religious freedom.

Interview with Sam Cooper: https://www.thebureau.news/p/tibetan-government-in-exile-leader

Interview with Globe and Mail’s Steven Chase: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-dalai-lama-reincarnation-canada-asked-to-take-position/

A lunch meeting hosted by the Chair of Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, MP James Maloney, brought together several parliamentarians, including MP Yvan Baker, MP Karim Bardeesy, MP Elizabeth May, and MP Terry Sheehan. Later in the day, Sikyong met with Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet and MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, followed by a dinner, to discuss cross-party parliamentary support for Tibet in Ottawa. 

The meetings with parliamentarians included discussions on the international community’s responsibility to safeguard the succession of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama from any foreign interference, protecting human rights in Tibet and resolving the Sino-Tibetan conflict through dialogues. Sikyong emphasized the need for coordinated action among Canada and its allies, particularly within multilateral forums such as the G7 and intelligence-sharing alliances like the Five Eyes, to counter Beijing’s attempts to control or manipulate this deeply spiritual process.

As part of his visit, Sikyong Penpa Tsering will hold a press conference tomorrow focusing on the Chinese government’s system of residential schools in Tibet, where over a million Tibetan children are separated from their families and subjected to cultural assimilation. 

Sikyong will also meet with MP Garnett Genuis, a long-time friend of Tibet and vice-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, to discuss further parliamentary action and collaboration on Tibet-related issues.

Sikyong was accompanied by the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and head of the Office of Tibet, Dr. Namgyal Choedup, and Sherap Therchin, Executive Director of the Canada Tibet Committee. They were also joined later by Tencho Gyatso, President of the International Campaign for Tibet, and the Secretary of the Department of Education of the Central Tibetan Administration.