How Canada is dealing with the current global refugee crisis and if we should welcome more of those fleeing violence will be the subject of Cochrane Ideas’ upcoming panel discussion.
This Friday, Oct. 16, organizers are inviting people to attend the discussion at the King Solomon Lodge along Centre Avenue, starting at 7 p.m.
The panel features speakers, a few of them former refugees themselves.
Fariborz Birjandian, chief executive officer of the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society for 20 years and an acknowledged expert on refugee issues, has agreed to be on the panel.
He will be joined by Csaba Lorinczi of Cochrane, a refugee from Hungary in 1956, a former school principal and a promoter of community education throughout the world.
Cornelius Van De Panne, also from Cochrane, spent 27 years teaching economic theory at the University of Calgary after studying and teaching economics in his native Holland, Britain and the U.S.
Joseph Ching Shi, a town councillor and restaurant owner from Cremona, spent seven years in a Chinese jail for his defence of human rights before coming to Canada as a refugee.
Questions and comments from the audience will be encouraged after the panel presentations. Cochrane Ideas has been operating for 16 years, offering a wide range of discussion on many topics at its monthly meetings. For further information, call 403-932-6580.
