World Tibet Network News Thursday, March 12, 1998

Dave O'Neil, Canada Tibet Committee, Victoria Chapter

I just wanted to send a note about the march and rally held in Victoria, B.C. on March 7 to commemorate the March 10 Uprising, sponsored by the Victoria Chapter of the Canada Tibet Committee.

As usual, we gathered at the entrance to Victoria's 'Chinatown', at the ornate two story entry structure called the 'Gate of Harmonious Interest'. Earlier in the day we had given out a letter to the local Chinese merchants explaining that the gathering at the Gate was not directed towards them or the Chinese people, but was chosen as an appropriate focal point for us to begin our call on the Chinese and Canadian Governments. Each year our march and rally has gathered more participants, and this year we were very pleased to have somewhere around 350-400 people. This year was especially gratifying, because due to the formation of a University of Victoria based Students for a Free Tibet Chapter, we have enlisted the good energy of the local student population. With a couple of megaphones in the hands of good cheerleaders to keep up the chants, we made our way along Government Street (the main street) to our Provincial Legislative building, getting a fair number of supporting 'honks' along the way.

On the steps of the Leg we held up our 12 x 24 foot Tibetan flag as a great backdrop for the rally. We were blessed in being able to open and close the rally with prayers from Tsundu-la, a Tibetan monk who lives up island. We had a couple of speakers from our local chapter (Dave O'Neil and Judy Tethong, the CTC Victoria chapter's Pres and Vice Pres), an explanation of the issue and an appeal for the Panchen Lama from SFT member Ben Shore, and a great presentation on Tibetan women's issues from Dr Kerry Crofton from our local Shambala Centre. As a high point for the rally we were also very fortunate to have the Vice Pres of the Vancouver CTC, Tenzin Lhalumpa, make the trip over to Vancouver Island and present a really rousing speech.

Before the closing prayer we had a reading that has become something of a tradition at our rallies - the reading of the previous years' list of newly imprisoned Tibetans, and the charges against them. We have someone read the charges, another read the name(s), and a monk ring a bell for each. This year Michael Croteau (who, by the way, did the great job of organizing the event), Tsering-la, a local Tibetan member, and Tsundu-la do the event for us.

All in all, a very successful event, with lots of new faces from both the local community and University joining us.

The local TV and print media covered us fairly well, with TV spots on the evening news programs, and a large, front page colour photo and large page three photo with an article.