Reception with the High Commission of Canada in Kenya

November 30, 2022

Nairobi, Kenya

The High Commission of Canada in Kenya hosted a cocktail reception to celebrate the work of Global Pluralism Award winner Namati Kenya. The event featured remarks by High Commissioner Christopher Thornley, the Centre’s Senior Program Officer Jessie Castello, and Co-Director of Namati Kenya’s Citizenship program, Mustafa Mahmoud. Community paralegal Zahra Khalid and Honourable Ingram Okoth, Member of Parliament both shared about their experience engaging with Namati Kenya’s work to promote citizenship justice. The event was attended by members of the diplomatic community and philanthropic sector in Nairobi, as well as representatives from civil society, to include the Aga Khan Foundation East Africa.

Advancing Pluralism Together – A CSM-STAND Webinar

October 13, 2022

Civil Society and Media – Strengthened Together and Advancing in New Directions (CSM-STAND) is two regional programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that aim to strengthen independent media and civil society around the world. The programs are managed by Pact, which co-leads a consortium of organizations with IREX. In October, CSM-STAND hosted a panel discussion to launch a new pluralism strategy developed by the Centre in partnership with the Aga Khan Foundation. The program strategy for advancing pluralism offers a framework to support the integration of pluralism into projects.

Moderated by Mason Ingram, CSM-STAND Chief of Party Latin America, Asia and Europe, the event featured the Centre’s Secretary General Meredith Preston McGhie, Mustafa Mahmoud of Namati Kenya and Taalaibek Azimov of Aga Khan Foundation (Kyrgyz Republic) for a discussion about how civil society and media can shape the way a society views diversity, and how pluralist, democratic societies rely on active and well-resourced civil society and media sectors.

Afghanistan My Love Exhibition Opening Reception at the Aga Khan Museum

October 18, 2022

Toronto, Ontario

In October, the Aga Khan Museum hosted an opening reception for Afghanistan My Love, an exhibition featuring the work of art collective ArtLords and Afghan-Canadian artist Shaheer Zazai.

Located in the Museum’s Temporary Exhibition Gallery, Afghanistan My Love highlights Afghanistan as a place of cultural richness, diversity, and deep love. Visitors can travel through ArtLords’ past community murals painted all over the world as well as paintings transferred from their gallery in Kabul. The exhibit is filled with imagery that draws inspiration from the people, culture, and natural world of both Canada and Afghanistan. It demonstrates how art can be used as a powerful medium for connection during times of adversity. The exhibition offers visitors a glimpse into an Afghanistan which is more than a physical place — it is a home, a memory, and an identity.

The exhibit is on until April 10, 2023.

Beauty, Identity and Representation: A Conversation with Miss Rizos

October 18, 2022

Ottawa, Ontario

The Centre hosted an event with Carolina Contreras, CEO and Founder of Miss Rizos on beauty, identity and representation. The event featured a conversation about Carolina’s journey starting a blog advocating for natural Afro-textured, curly hair, which evolved into a successful salon franchise, and onto a foundation dedicated to empowering young women and girls. Miss Rizos has empowered thousands of women and girls to celebrate their identity and reconsider long-held ideas about beauty and representation, while contesting anti-Black racism.

Carolina was joined by Awilda Ravelo, Administrative Manager of Miss Rizos and the conversation was followed by a live curly hair care tutorial led by Senior Stylist Wendy Castillo. The Miss Rizos team also participated in a two-day staff training using the Centre’s space in Ottawa.

Canada’s Storytellers – Trésor Nzengu Mpauni at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21

May 17, 2022

Halifax, Nova Scotia

In May 2022, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, in partnership with the Global Centre for Pluralism, hosted an event as part of their ‘Canada’s Storytellers’ series, featuring Trésor Nzengu Mpauni (Menes la Plume), Founder and CEO of Tumaini Letu.

The event featured opening remarks from Meredith Preston McGhie and a slam poetry performance by Trésor. Following his performance, Trésor was joined onstage by Julie Chamagne, Executive Director of the Halifax Refugee Clinic for a conversation about his work to promote pluralism through the Tumaini Festival, an international music and arts festival hosted within Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi.

November 20, 2021

The Global Centre for Pluralism partnered with the Embassy of Canada in the United Arab Emirates to host an event at Expo 2020 Dubai during the UAE Tolerance & Inclusivity Week in celebration of the 2021 Global Pluralism Award laureates.

On November 20th, Puja Kapai, Omaid Sharifi of ArtLords, Miloš Golubović of Community Building Mitrovica and Trésor Nzengu Mpauni joined Meredith Preston McGhie to discuss their work promoting pluralism and the unique challenges and successes they have encountered within their own contexts.

November 12, 2021

Two 2021 Global Pluralism Award finalists participated in the fourth edition of the Paris Peace Forum in November 2021.More than a conference, fair or summit, the Forum is a singular platform gathering all actors of global governance to design concrete initiatives and reinvent contemporary cooperation. It is also a space for networking, bilateral meetings and mediation. In 2021, more than 15,000 people participated in the Forum virtually.

Dani Elazar, Chief Executive Officer of Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel and Aisha Khagai of Namati Kenya joined the Centre’s Secretary General Meredith Preston McGhie and Catherine Bossard, Director of Observatoire Pharos for a virtual conversation focused on how civic participation is essential to addressing issues of inequality, exclusion, and division.