Tibetan Youths Launch 450km Peace Marathon from Ottawa to Toronto
By Tenzin Chokyi
DHARAMSALA 23 Sept: Four Pemakopa (Pad-ma dkod pa) youths from the Tibetan community in Canada have launched the 6th Peace Rally Marathon for Tibet on Monday, running from Ottawa to Toronto. The initiative calls on the Canadian government and the international community to honour His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his 90th birthday, safeguard Tibet as the “Third Pole,” and to advocate for the release of Tibetan political prisoners in Chinese custody.
The marathon, spanning 450 km, is scheduled to run from 22 to 28 September. Despite rainy conditions, the first leg was completed yesterday, starting from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa and ending at the Trans Canada Trail and Jinkinson Road. The second day of the marathon will commence at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
Pema Kunga, Dechen Wangchuk, and Dawa Norbu are running the marathon, with Kalden Wangchuk serving as navigator.
According to their official Facebook page, “Peace rally Marathon for Tibet,” the team presented their demands to three Canadian MPs—Garnett Genuis, James Maloney, and Karim Bardessy—as well as to Taiaiako’n, all of whom reaffirmed their continued support for Tibet and their reverence for the 14th Dalai Lama.
On his Facebook page, MP Garnett Genuis congratulated “the runners in their effort to draw attention to the human rights violations being committed by the CCP in Tibet and to honour His Holiness the Dalai Lama in his 90th year.”
The Pemakopa youths are part of the resettlement projects that relocated 1,000 Tibetans from Tibetan refugee settlements in Arunachal Pradesh to Canada between 2013 and 2016. These projects were initiated to provide better opportunities for education, livelihood, and integration into a safer environment.
The runners hail from Miao Choephelling Tibetan Settlement, one of the refugee settlements in Arunachal Pradesh whose residents were selected for resettlement to Canada. The community is predominantly made up of Tibetans originally from the Pema Khoe region of what was then independent Tibet.
Reflecting on the purpose of the marathon, Pema Kunga has said in the group’s official Facebook page, “Every step of this 450 km marathon carries the messages of Tibet’s pain and resilience. We run to ensure that the Tibetan identity, culture, and freedom are not lost to the oppressive policies in Tibet today.”
