On Saturday, February 5, 2011, Thrangu Monastery was honoured to receive the Honourable Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney. Minister Kenney was received by Lama Pema Tsewang and Khenpo Karma Tashi, along with Ngawang Garie, and others. In addition, our kind neighbors from the Richmond Mosque were also in attendance.
After tea, a short discussion of the history of the monastery and a tour of the shrine room, Lama Pema presented Minister Kenney with a rupa of Shakymuni Buddha as a remembrance of his visit. Minister Kenney offered many kind remarks in the shrine room to the assembled monastic and lay community. In particular, he discussed the new Canadian initiative which has established a special class of immigration visas for 1,000 Tibetans from Arunachal Pradesh, India.
Minister Kenney, clearly happy and at ease, commented that he has been in many hundreds of places of worship throughout Canada, but none more beautiful than Thrangu Monastery. It was a delight to have Minister Kenney in our monastery. We look forward to his return, and to working with him on this new Canadian initiative.
在茶點款待後，首先是簡短的討論了創古寺的歷史，再參觀了本寺的大雄寶殿，接著住持喇嘛貝瑪敬贈了肯尼部長釋迦牟尼佛的佛像以作為他到訪的紀念。而肯尼部長則在大雄寶殿發表了許多關於聚集寺廟力量及重塑社會文化之可貴評論；他特別指出: 加拿大政府已承諾擬定一項新的移民方案，提供一千名名額的特別移民簽證類別給在印度阿魯納恰爾邦邦迪拉的藏民。
肯尼部長以非常愉悅輕鬆的心情推崇創古寺的富麗堂皇、為他訪問過的加拿大上百處的宗教場所之中無人可及。我們欣喜肯尼部長的到訪，並十分期盼他能再度來訪；創古寺也將完全配合他推動這個加拿大的新方案。