Tibetans have been commemorating March 10 in Canada since they first stepped foot in the country.
No matter how long we have been in exile, we will never forget Tibet and our struggle.
These are a collection of photos from March 10 protests over the decades.
Photos: CTC Archives
Day 3 of Losar celebrations in Taber, Alberta, 1971. Tsang sur is being done outside of the Taber motel.
This was the first Losar in Canada for the wave of Tibetans who arrived in rural Alberta. Most began their time in the new country working tough labour on farms.
(Photo courtesy of Phuntsok Khako)
Newspaper articles recording the arrival of the first Tibetans to Canada in 1970 and 1971.
In 1970, Tsering Dorjee Wangkhang and Jampa Dorjee were hired by the Bata Shoe Factory to work in Batawa, ON.
A year later, the first wave of Tibetan refugees followed as part of the inaugural and experimental Tibetan Resettlement Program. They were the first government sponsored non-European refugees in Canada.
The challenges were immense, but their eventual success paved the way for Canada to continue to accept more Tibetans and refugees in the coming years.
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We at the Chyssem Project are proud to document the stories and history of Tibetan immigration to Canada. We look forward to sharing with the community what we’ve been working on for the past two years.
The Chyssem Project is currently looking for volunteers in the above mentioned areas. The time commitment would be 5-10 hours a month for around a year or half a year. The Chyssem Project can gladly write recommendation letters to all our volunteers who have invested enough time into the project. For more information, please email us at [email protected]
Celebrate AAPI heritage month by learning more about Asian-Canadian history!
*Correction* Canada’s Tibetan Refugee resettlement program accepted 240 refugees but only 228 Tibetans arrived in Canada.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama in a correspondence letter with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on the 22nd of July 1971:
“I have no doubt that Tibetans will eventually settle down and earn well, but it is not going to be easy for them to preserve their cultural heritage. It is the cultural heritage, mainly based on Buddhist philosophy, having much to do with basic human needs and aspirations that I am concerned about. As long as man lives it would be in his interest to preserve this type of cultural heritage”.
Documentary Film Maker Bryan Sullivan joins Kelsang Norzin at the 1992 Canada Day parade in Montreal wearing a traditional Tibetan chuba.
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His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama meeting Audrey McLaughlin, the first woman elected leader of a federal political party, in 1993.
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Tibetan-Canadians protesting outside of the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa on March 10, 1998 (Tibetan National Uprising Day).
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