Canadian PM Justin Trudeau launches peace programme

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched the Global Gandhi Peace programme at the Sabarmati Ashram in the city during his visit on Monday. Trudeau launched the programme by symbolically turning on a video message from the Canadian School to its Indian partners' school.

Trudeau also interacted with three students of St Kabir School in the city who made a short presentation for him about the peace programme. The programme a joint initiative of Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust and the Centre For Environment Education gets children to critically self-reflect on triggers to violence and develop competencies such as empathy, tolerance and respect for diversity, said a release.

With the launch, the programme that was originally pilot tested in four schools of Ahmedabad has now gone global. Trudeau visited the Ashram with his family, with all of them dressed in Indian attire. Gatha Joshi, who along with Saiyam Shah and Kirtan Patel, gave a presentation to the Trudeau family about the programme said, "The First Lady hugged me and said students like us should keep going in the right direction and that we could face the challenges before us if we stood united," said Joshi.