Suggested Donation $6.00 Living Gandhi award Today Guest Editor: Dr. Paul Dekar Editor: Dr. Khursheed Ahmed GANDHI 150 The 28th Annual Phote: Courtesy of Bob Litch GANDHI PEACE FESTIVAL Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Towards a culture of peace, nonviolence and justice 2020 Theme: Black Lives Matter Saturday, October 17, 2020 Sponsored by India-Canada Society, Hamilton City of Hamilton McMaster University Faculty of Humanities www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi The 28th Annual Gandhi Peace Festival, October 2020 GANDHI 150 Words of Welcome ................................................................................................................................ 3 Our Sincere Thanks .............................................................................................................................. 4 Message from the President and Vice-Chancellor ................................................................................ 5 Greetings from the Centre for Peace Studies ....................................................................................... 6 Our Guest Editor ................................................................................................................................... 7 The City of Hamilton Senior of the Year Award Dr. Sri Gopal Mohanty ............................................... 8 Dr. Gary Warner to be honoured by McMaster University .................................................................... 9 An unusual Gandhi Peace Festival ..................................................................................................... 10 The 28th Annual Gandhi Peace Festival: ............................................................................................ 11 Black Lives Matter with Adrienne Shadd ............................................................................................. 11 Gandhi’s Influence on the Civil Rights Movement in the United States ............................................... 13 Racism in Canada Leads to Inequitable Health and Social Outcomes .............................................. 18 Abiding relevance of Mahatma Gandhi ............................................................................................... 19 Reply to Motion on Gandhi Square ..................................................................................................... 21 Gandhi's Influence In British Guiana ................................................................................................... 23 Report from the Working Groups ........................................................................................................ 25 Individuals and Community Working Group ..................................................................................... 26 Municipal Government and Services Working Group ...................................................................... 27 Businesses, Organizations and Agencies Working Group ............................................................... 28 Institutions Working Group ............................................................................................................... 31 Mahatma Gandhi Peace Festival Sponsors ........................................................................................ 33 Themes of Gandhi Peace Festivals .................................................................................................... 33 Friends of the Festival – Thank you! ................................................................................................... 34 Memories of 2019 (Gandhi 150) Gandhi Peace Festival .................................................................... 35 2020 Gandhi Peace Festival Committees ........................................................................................... 36 PDF version of this publication and previous Gandhi Festival publications can be downloaded from: http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi/festival/booklets.html Living Gandhi Today 2020 2 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi Words of Welcome In 1993, McMaster University established the Gandhi Peace Festival under the direction of the Centre for Peace Studies, to make the value and strategies of nonviolence widely known, and to develop the concept and practice of nonviolence through intellectual analysis, dialogue, debate, and experimentation. Living Gandhi Today, published annually, has featured contributions by individuals, including one Nobel Peace Prize recipient, from eight countries. Each in their personal lives has integrated action, creativity, imagination, and thought. This year’s theme, Black Lives Matter, responds in part to the growth over the past decade of a movement by that name in the United States. The fatal shootings of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American emergency medical technician in Louisville, Kentucky on March 13, 2020, and of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man who was choked to death by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020 are but two of many tragedies that have fueled outrage and demonstrations, generally nonviolent, in the face of hatred, threats, and violence by some whites, police, and indifferent politicians. Such manifestations of racism are known in Canada. In 1946, Viola Desmond, a civil rights activist, was sold a ticket at a New Glasgow, Nova Scotia theatre good only for the balcony. Diamond offered to pay the difference in price but was refused: “You people have to sit in the upstairs section.” When she refused to move, authorities hauled her off to jail. Her courage gave strength to Canada’s black community. Her photograph now graces Canada’s $10 bill. In 1991, at Cole Harbour District High School, a fight that escalated into a brawl involving fifty youths of both races. This and several other incidents led provincial Black activists to mobilize for equal educational opportunities and to passage of reform laws. On May 4, 1992, a daytime demonstration against the acquittal of police officers in the Rodney King case in Los Angeles descended into a nighttime riot on Toronto's Yonge Street. Ignoring the local context, media decried United States style violence by the young Black men. Such incidents are not anomalies and have prompted many Canadians to address the root causes of racism in our country. The media regularly reveal how far we have yet to go to create a society that recognizes the full humanity of every person. But, there are also myriad examples of those who demonstrate a way forward, including former Hamilton MP Lincoln Alexander, who from 1985 to 1991 served as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario; and Michaëlle Jean, who from 2005 to 2010 served as Governor General of Canada. Living Gandhi Today, 2020, celebrates the contributions of two leaders in our community who have lived the Gandhian path to peace through service in pursuit of the common good: Sri Gopal Mohanty, a founding member and chair of the Gandhi Peace Festival, and Hamilton’s Senior of the Year for 2020; and Gary Warner, recipient of an honorary doctorate by McMaster University in recognition of his crucial contributions. Both have modeled ways to respond to six challenges of Nobel Peace Prize recipients named twenty years ago. The culture-of-peace pathways are to respect all life, reject violence and practice active non-violence; share with others time and material resources in a spirit of generosity to end exclusion, injustice, and political and economic oppression; to listen to understand, always giving preference to dialogue, to preserve the planet through behaviour that respects all forms of life and preserves the balance of nature on the planet; and to help build a Hamilton in which all Canadians attain full personhood. As you read the contributions of Dr. Mohanty, Dr. Warner, and others in this edition of Living Gandhi Today, we trust you will join in seeking to ensure that black lives and indeed every life matters. Paul R. Dekar Khursheed Ahmed Guest Editor Editor, [email protected] [email protected] Living Gandhi Today 2020 3 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi We would like to express Our Sincere Thanks to the following organizations for their generous support City of Hamilton Canadian Heritage McMaster University www.hamilton.ca www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage www.mcmaster.ca Population Health Research Institute The Hamilton Spectator www.phri.ca www.Thespec.ca India Canada Society of Hamilton & Region Hamilton Malayalee Samajam www.indiacanadasociety.org www.hmsnet.org Living Gandhi Today 2020 4 www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi Gilmour Hall, Room 238 (905) 525-9140 x 24340 1280 Main Street West (905) 522-3391 Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8 [email protected] mcmaster.ca Message from the President and Vice-Chancellor On behalf of McMaster University, I am delighted to welcome you to the 28th Annual Gandhi Peace Festival, an inclusive event dedicated to the promotion of peace, nonviolence and social justice. Hamilton’s Gandhi Peace Festival has grown in size over the last twenty-eight years and has become part of Hamilton’s cultural landscape, as well as gaining recognition both nationally and internationally. The Festival is jointly sponsored by McMaster University, the City of Hamilton, the India-Canada Society, and a host of community and other partners, and is an excellent example of collaboration between the community and the academy. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the outstanding work and dedication of all our partners and to thank the many organizers and volunteers who have made