Dalai Lama visits Canada.

Ottawa--The Dalai Lama, exiled Tibetan leader, arrived in Canada on April 17. Among other reasons, the main purpose of his visit was to preside at a Buddhist festival in Toronto.

Buddhism seemed to be the religious flavour-of-the-month for the liberal Canadian media. The "simple monk" (his self-description) duly found himself lionized, awarded honorary degrees, and speaking to gatherings of up to 30,000 people. Readers, listeners, and viewers have not been able to miss his calls for compassion and peace. At the same time, he asserted that ethics and morality do not need religion to survive, a position rejected by the Catholic Church.

To the Chinese communist government in Beijing, however, he is more than a monk, simple or otherwise. His witness to the persecution of his people echoes other non-violent movements of the past which eventually succeeded.

In 1959 an armed uprising against Chinese forces which had occupied Tibet for eight years was ruthlessly put down; what followed was near-genocide: killings, jailings, torture, forced abortions, and destruction of Buddhist monasteries. The Dalai Lama, who escaped to India at that time, has now become the symbol of Tibetan resistance and hope. For this reason he is feared by the Chinese government even though his political statements call for a "middle way," leaving culture and religion to the Tibetans and external affairs and defence to China.

Beijing warned Prime Minister Martin not to meet with him, under threat of economic sanctions. Ottawa's Dept. of Foreign Affairs, ever cautious, sent out a memo stating their preference for treating the Dalai as "strictly a spiritual figure." Having noted media and popular approval for the monk, Mr. Martin, with a crucial election looming, eventually went ahead and met with the Dalai at an interfaith meeting with several other religious leaders at the residence of Catholic Archbishop Marcel Gervais of Ottawa. Topics at the meeting were reported to have been spiritual and religious though the question of human rights did get mentioned.

Did Paul Martin stand up to Beijing? One has to ask who exactly would be disadvantaged if China severed economic ties with Canada. The current trade balance is heavily in China's favour as it continues to flood Canada with cheaper-priced goods--including, incredibly, that summer necessity the BBQ--produced by a low-paid workforce (Files from N. Post, T. Sun, T. Star, Globe).