SALT SPRING ISLAND - On November 26th, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands and Green Leader Elizabeth May will join with beloved children’s singer Raffi for a speaker series on “Children, Youth and Democracy” from 2pm to 4pm at the Artspring Theatre, Salt Spring Island.
Elizabeth May and Raffi will lead a rich dialogue on how democratic practices can inspire children and youth to civic duty and service, and how Child Honouring, like democracy, is essential to sustainability.
“Our children and youth are our foundation. As adults, it is our responsibility to engage them and to honour them,” said May. “They will have to deal with the consequences of our decisions and so they deserve to know how they can also have a voice. Raffi’s work in Child Honouring is so important and so connected to the need for a societal shift to an ecological worldview. I am very pleased to share the stage with him.”
The event is sponsored by the Centre for Child Honouring, founded by Raffi. Best known for his work as a children’s entertainer and for much loved songs such as “Baby Beluga,” Raffi is dedicated to bringing about a whole systems shift in the way we think and make decisions – decisions that affect our children’s world today and the world they will inherit. Raffi is outspoken in his call for a “compassion revolution” so the world’s children might receive the respect and support they deserve.
“It is appropriate that this event falls close to Universal Children’s Day when the whole world has a chance to focus on the welfare and rights of children,” said May. November 20, Universal Children’s Day, marks the anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959, and the signing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989.
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Media Contact:
Rebecca Harrison
media@greenparty.ca
613-614-4916