From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Tibetans/Brian J. Given
The Tibetan-Canadian community is now only about twenty-five years old. While its cultural contributions to Canada have been quite out of proportion to the size of the group, the expansion of the community through immigration has been less than might have been expected. Tibetan Canadians are strongly motivated to share their homes and communities with their extended families, and thus issues relating to immigration are a serious concern for the community. The stateless status of Tibetans in India places them in a kind of semi-permanent limbo, while the government of Nepal periodically threatens to return Tibetan refugees to Tibet. There is continuing uncertainty among Tibetan Canadians regarding the well-being of relatives within Tibet and in various refugee communities around the world.
Because China’s policies are aimed at the sinofication of Tibet, Tibetan Canadians feel a special responsibility to preserve Tibetan culture within their refugee community. For such a tiny community they have been remarkably successful. They have made contributions to scholarship (with an impact on Canadian anthropology, psychology, and religious studies) and have sponsored numerous cultural events, presenting Tibetan dance, folk music, and folklore. Non-Tibetan Canadians who have studied Tibetan scholarship and meditation disciplines with Tibetan-Canadian teachers outnumber Tibetan Canadians by a substantial margin. All Tibetan-Canadian communities offer language instruction and cultural education to young Tibetans, although it is difficult for them to maintain these labour-intensive programs with so small a population base.
Tibetan Canadians are clearly proud of their Canadian identity and, at the same time, they are working hard to preserve the many aspects of their culture that are compatible with the larger Canadian society. They have built close-knit communities in Canada that provide help and support for old and new members. They are also committed to action that will help to protect Tibetans in Tibet from human-rights violations, including the destruction of Tibetan culture, and they attempt to balance this commitment with the central Tibetan belief in non-violence and compassion. All Tibetan Canadians look forward to the time when Tibet shall again have rangzen (“freedom and independence”).
