Dalai Lama given white cowboy hat before speech at Calgary conference
2 hours, 0 minute ago
By Shannon Montgomery, The Canadian Press
CALGARY - The Dalai Lama has been welcomed to Calgary with a time-honoured Western tradition - the placing of a white cowboy hat on his head by the city's mayor.
The Tibetan spiritual leader laughed Wednesday as he tried to figure out which way the hat fit on his head. He then posed for pictures wearing his traditional scarlet and gold robes, with the white hat perched atop his head and one furry mitten on his hand.
He made a fist with the mitten, one of a number of small gifts from First Nations groups, then chuckled, turning to shake Mayor Dave Bronconnier's hand before being presented with a white scarf - a symbolic Tibetan greeting.
The Dalai Lama is in the city for the first time in three decades to take part in a conference organized by the University of Calgary.
Thousands of people stretched in long lines outside Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome arena waiting to pass the strict security checks for entry to see him speak. More than 15,000 tickets were sold for the address.
Former South African president and Nobel laureate F.W. de Klerk also spoke at the conference, which is aimed at getting students to think about how they can help those in their community.
South Africa barred the Dalai Lama from a peace conference in Johannesburg in March, saying the government didn't want to endanger its relationship with China. De Klerk withdrew from that conference in protest.
He said Wednesday that Canada has set a good example by inviting the Dalai Lama because he espouses "tolerance and compassion."
"Who could be against that?" de Klerk asked.
"(The South African government) must just get their own house in order and resist pressure from China and say we take our own decision."
The Dalai Lama appeared in Vancouver earlier this week, telling a peace summit that technology may be eliminating compassion. The 74-year-old leader warned that the 20th century was one of violence and he urged those in attendance to make the 21st century a peaceful one.
His last visit to Canada, in 2007, was greeted with controversy when China objected to his public meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The spiritual leader had been granted honorary Canadian citizenship a year earlier.
University of Calgary president Harvey Weingarten said this visit is about spreading peace and he has not heard of any protests being planned.
Weingarten said he hopes the Dalai Lama's appearance will encourage students to think about what they can do to help others.
"Most of us worry about what is the future of our community, what kind of community are we trying to build, what will the future look like for our children," he said. "These kind of themes are exactly the kind of themes that someone like the Dalai Lama prompts us to think about in a deep way."
