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Mawlana Hazar Imam and Prince Aly Muhammad at the Global Centre for Pluralism, accompanied by Ismaili Council for Canada President Malik Talib and Farhad Mawani, Project Manager for the renovation of 330 Sussex Drive. MOEZ VISRAM

Your Excelency,
The Honourable Senator Perrault,

The Honourable Mrs. Grace McCarthy,

Deputy Premier of British Columbia,

Your worship The Mayor of Burnaby,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Today is a particularly significant and, indeed, happy occasion for the Ismaili Community in Canada and for my wife and for me.

I am most grateful to, Your Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor, for honouring us with Your presence and for performing the Foundation Ceremony of the Burnaby Jamat Khana.

A think-tank founded by the Aga Khan with $30 million from taxpayers has finally moved into a prime heritage building in Ottawa 10 years after the federal government gave it a 99-year lease.

The Global Centre for Pluralism (GCP) pays the federal government $1 a year to use the building at 330 Sussex Dr., formerly the Canadian War Museum. The agreement also allows the GCP to lease out office space in the building at commercial rates.

And it already has a tenant: the Royal Canadian Mint, a Crown corporation.

The Aga Khan enjoys a solid reputation in the world of international development. If Trudeau acted improperly, observers say that’s on him, not the Aga Khan.

Two weeks ago, during an overseas trip, former prime minister Stephen Harper tweeted to his 1.11 million followers. “Just visited the magnificent #Ismaili Centre Dubai,” he wrote. “Reminds me of what a tremendous force for global peace and pluralism the Aga Khan is.”

His Highness the Aga Khan is received by the Honourable Chris Alexander, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, upon his arrival in Ottawa.

AKDN / Gary Otte

Peter Mansbridge: Welcome again, to Canada, Your Highness.

His Highness the Aga Khan: Thank you very much.

PM: This place [the Ismaili Centre in Toronto], it’s going to be wonderful. It’s quite spectacular to look at. What do you hope will be accomplished inside these walls?

GM: Your Highness, thank you very much for seeing us, we really do appreciate it. These opportunities come few and far between.

AK: Well maybe they didn't mention this, but I've had a long-standing regard and respect for the Globe and Mail. You may not know it, but you actually helped me create what is East Africa's biggest media group.

GM: Really!? How is that?

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Madame Adrienne Clarkson
Dr. John Ralston Saul
Premier Kathleen Wynne
Madame Reid, First Lady of Iceland
Your Honour Elizabeth Dowdeswell
Your Worship John Tory
Ministers
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

This is a deeply memorable moment for me. My warmest thanks go to Adrienne Clarkson, John Ralston Saul and the Institute for Canadian Citizenship for this wonderful Award, and to all of you for sharing in this important moment in my life.

MEDIA ADVISORY
Attention: Global leader honoured for lifetime commitment to ideals of belonging and inclusion
At 7:30 pm on September 21, 2016 at Koerner Hall in Toronto the inaugural Adrienne Clarkson Prize for Global Citizenship will be awarded at the marquee event of 6 Degrees — the new public initiative of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.

The prize will be given annually to an individual who has, through thought and dialogue, encouraged approaches and strategies that strive to remove barriers, change attitudes, and reinforce the principles of tolerance and respect.

Toronto, 19 September 2016 — Mawlana Hazar Imam will receive the inaugural Adrienne Clarkson Prize for Global Citizenship on the evening of Wednesday, 21 September in Toronto. As part of the ceremony, Mawlana Hazar Imam will deliver a speech that will be webcast live on TheIsmaili.org at 7:30 PM EDT (Toronto time).

Ottawa, 17 May 2016 — This afternoon, Mawlana Hazar Imam was at at Parliament Hill, where he received a warm welcome from the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau.

“It’s always a pleasure to welcome a dear friend to Canada, a dear friend to my family as well,” said Prime Minister Trudeau.

The pair met in the Prime Minister’s office at Centre Block to discuss “pluralism, diversity and all the things that Canada can contribute to offering more peace and stability in the world,” according to the Prime Minister.

Ottawa, Ontario26 May 2015 Introduction Prime Minister Stephen Harper today held a productive meeting with His Highness the Aga Khan, who was visiting Ottawa in his capacity as Imam (spiritual leader) of the Ismaili community. During the meeting, Prime Minister Harper once again expressed his deepest condolences to the Aga Khan for the cowardly terrorist attack that took place earlier this month in Pakistan targeting Ismaili Muslims. The two leaders discussed the threat posed by violent extremists and their persecution and murder of religious and ethnic minorities.

Aiglemont, France, 4 March 2015 - His Highness the Aga Khan today received His Excellency Gordon Campbell, who has been recently appointed as the Representative of the Government of Canada to the Ismaili Imamat. Mr. Campbell is a former premier of British Columbia and Canada’s current High Commissioner in London.
Campbell was recently appointed by the Government of Canada as the country’s representative to the Ismaili Imamat and also serves as Canada’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

On a day Premier Alison Redford said “she would remember for the rest of (her) life, the premier and His Highness the Aga Khan signed an agreement of co-operation Wednesday at Government House.

Speech by Minister for Multiculturalism at luncheon in Toronto by AKF 'The Canadian Minister for Multiculturalism, Mr. Jim Fleming said in his address at the Luncheon in Toronto attended by Hazar Imam and Prince Amyn that 'Your Highness.....because of your quiet and dedicated leadership, more and more Canadians have become aware of the continuing contribution you are making not only as leader of the Ismaili community, but also as a world statesman'

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Prime Minister Harper
Honorable Ministers
Your Excellencies
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

It was just eighteen months ago that the Government of Canada announced its decision to partner with the Ismaili Imamat and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in our Global Centre for Pluralism. What we welcomed at that time was a multi-faceted partnership—financial, yes, but also institutional and intellectual.