After NBA event is cancelled, Parkdale bounces back

Here is an article written by Kate Allen, from the Globe and Mail, about Tibetan youth and basketball in the Parkdale area of Toronto.  I was interviewed by her for it and afterward I helped her with getting in touch with some other Tibetans in the community so that they could also give their input to the article. It was published last month but I forgot to post it on here for more people to read. So here it is for those who haven’t yet read it:

Rigpe Dorje (left), Dorjee Galtsen, Tenzin Kalden and Tenzing Chaeyang relax after playing basketball at an outdoor court in Parkdale. Della Rollins for The Globe and Mail

In Parkdale, like other inner-city communities in Toronto,basketball is social glue. When mentors try to impart life lessons to kids here, they often do it with basketball.

Remington Dixon, 19, is a coach with Power Youth and Sports, a local organization. “We have the kids come in, and every time I do a drill, I relate it to life,” he says. “If I can relate it to life, I can get kids to do well in school and on the court.”

So when the annual summer NBA 3on3 basketball tournament was cancelled, community organizers worried about what lesson that presented. For kids in Parkdale, the event was the equivalent of a trip to summer camp or the cottage, says Power director and parent Bruce Whitaker. The cancellation – “it was just bad vibes,” he says.

Statement of the Chinese Embassy in Canada

“On October 29, the Canadian Prime Minister and Governor-General met with the Dalai Lama respectively. This gravely violates the fundamental norms governing international relations and the position reiterated by the Canadian government on many occasions that it recognizes Tibet as an inseparable part of the Chinese territory. It is a blatant interference in China’s internal affairs and has severely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and will gravely undermine the relationship between China and Canada. The Chinese Embassy hereby expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to this.

Tibet is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory. The Tibet issue is the internal affair of China. China is opposed to the interference of its domestic affairs by any country or any individual using the Dalai Lama issue. The words and deeds of the Dalai Lama for the past decades have made it all the more evident that he is a political exile who has long been engaged in activities aimed at splitting China under the camouflage of religion. The Chinese people have a solid resolve to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Any attempt to interfere in China’s internal affairs by using the Dalai Lama issue is doomed to failure.

The Chinese side urges Canada to take immediate and effective measures to remove the serious impact of its erroneous act, stop supporting and conniving at the separatist activities of the Tibet independence forces, stop interfering with China’s internal affairs and take concrete steps to safeguard the China-Canada relationship.”

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