SGI Canada Newsletter, No. 103 - April 19, 2024
SGI Canada Newsletter
Issue no. 103
April 19, 2024
Welcome to the 103rd issue of the SGI Canada Newsletter, a bi-weekly summary of news, upcoming events and encouragement. If you are not subscribing to the SGI Canada Newsletter, you may do so by clicking on the button below. Subscriptions are free of charge, and the SGI Canada Newsletter will be emailed directly to you.
Encouragement
Enact an Exhilarating Drama of Victory!
This encouragement is taken from “Passing the Baton to You, My Young Successors,” a new Series of SGI President Ikeda’s Encouragement for the Junior High and High School Divisions. In Canada, this age group is called the Young Phoenix Group and is part of the Future Division.
Every March, SGI President Daisaku Ikeda praised the wonderful efforts of the Future Division members. Inspired by this time of year when the seasons change from winter to spring, he offered the following guidance:
Winter is over and spring has arrived.
In Japan, March is traditionally called yayoi, a name that conveys the fresh emergence of plants in spring.
All of you, my dear friends of the Future Division who are growing vigorously toward a new spring, shine brilliantly in my heart.
You have all worked very hard this past year. I wish I could shake hands with each one of you, while praising your efforts and progress.
I applaud all those who took school entrance examinations![1] Perhaps some of you weren’t able to achieve the results you’d hoped for. Even if that is the case, know that you are all victors, because true victory is winning in the end.
In your youth, there will be stormy days and blizzards. You will encounter steep hills and peaks. But young people who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo will never reach a deadlock. Youth who continue chanting through all their struggles are certain to overcome every obstacle and enact an exhilarating drama of victory.
Move forward as bright suns, confident that “Winter always turns to spring” (WND-1, 536). Your mission is far greater and nobler than you can imagine.
—From “Spread Your Wings toward the Future.”
This encouragement will appear as part of the new series in the July 2024 New Century.
News
SGI Canada representatives participate in Training Course in Japan
SGI Canada representatives Kumi Hardin, Monica Bachmann,
Helen Izumi-Choi, Tony Meers, Glenn Turner and Eddie Law
at the Soka International Women’s Centre in Shinanomachi,Tokyo
Six SGI Canada representatives participated in a Training Course in Japan from April 10 to April 15. As part of the training course, the representatives visited the Soka Gakkai Headquarters in Shinanomachi, Tokyo, and received guidance from senior SGI leaders.
Along with SGI members from many other countries, the Canadian leaders travelled to historic Kansai province to attend the April 13 Headquarters Leaders Meeting in Osaka. On their final day in the region, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand members participated in a youth-filled exchange meeting in rural Tsuruga (Fukui Prefecture).
Canadian, Australian and New Zealand members with Soka Gakkai
members in Tsuruga – and a few dinosaurs.
Fukui Prefecture (in which Tsuruga is located)
is well-known in Japan for its dinosaur fossils.
The Seikyo Shimbun newspaper prepared a short video of the SGI members’ training course. You can watch the video at this link:
“Everything You Treasure” Exhibit featured in Winnipeg events
Inspired by last year’s Youth Nuclear Peace Summit in Winnipeg, teacher Yanko Kalem and his students at Collège Louis Riel recently organized a week of events to promote nuclear disarmament.
SGI Canada provided the anti-nuclear arms exhibit “Everything You Treasure” in English and French for a three-day showing at the Collège, where it was seen by over 200 students. The exhibit then moved to the Canadian Museum of Human Rights for an evening event on April 12.
Teacher Yanko Kalem and two SGI Canada
members with a carload of exhibit panels
The “Nuclear Ban” event was attended by Manitoba Minister of Education Nello Altomare and over 50 guests. The student hosts shared how they had come to realize the importance of educating others through their participation in previous Youth Nuclear Peace Summits, co-organized by local SGI Canada leaders.
Manitoba Minister of Education Nello Altomare
speaks with students at the Nuclear Ban event
Upcoming events
Women’s Group General Meetings continue this month and carry on through the month of May. The SGI Canada Women’s Group theme this year is “I can make a difference”.
In her message to the meetings, SGI Canada Women’s leader Helen Izumi-Choi says:
Let’s make our women’s meetings encouraging circles of joyful dialogues for happiness, victory, hope and peace. Let’s help one another to shine our brightest, each in our own way, so together, we can make a difference. Thank you for your ongoing efforts! (NEW CENTURY, April 2024, p.4)
We hope you found this newsletter beneficial. Please email your questions or comments to contact@sgicanada.org. Please note that the next SGI Canada Newsletter will appear on May 3, 2024. See you then!
[1] In Japan, school graduation generally takes place in March and the new school year begins in April. School and university entrance exams take place from January to March.