Open Tibet: Forum for Young Tibetans

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Join a dynamic gathering of Toronto Tibetan leaders and experts from the field of business, technology, communications, education, journalism, activism, healthcare, and the public sector for two engaging in-person panel sessions and a small group workshop.

The forum is an opportunity for young Tibetans (Sr. high school/college/university students) and young professionals under 40 to gain key insights from local leaders and for participants to have a space to share views and ideas that will help to build a strong sense of self and community.

This FREE event is organized by a group of Tibetan professionals who see the need for mentorship and dialogue within the community on key developments that are rapidly changing the political and social landscape.

Tashi Delek!

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• Sonam Chokey

• Tenzing Jigme

Tenzing is a policy analyst in Indigenous Services Canada. He previously worked at Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada and has worked and volunteered in Canadian humanitarian organizations. At Mosaic Institute, along with a dedicated steering committee group, he organized a two year peace and community dialogue project between young members of the Tibetan and Chinese diaspora in Toronto and Calgary. The events brought the two community members together to built trust, mutual understanding, and awareness.

He has a Bachelor in International Studies and Masters in Political Science and Public and International Affairs from York University. He shares a passion in reading, music, writing, and taking long drives with his family. He is currently finishing his first documentary on Nepal's Newars traders in Lhasa.

• Tenzin Kelyang

Tenzin Kelyang is the Extern Mentor Coordinator/Nurse Educator at CAMH. She specializes in inpatient psychiatry supporting the recovery of those living with severe and persistent mental illnesses. She has recently completed her Master of Nursing from Toronto Metropolitan University with a focus on the mental health of marginalized communities.Kelyang also has additional community mental health experience as a Community Board Director at the Parkdale Activity - Recreation Centre.

• Pema Lhalungpa

Pema Lhalungpa has served as Director, Sustainability Outreach at Sun Life since June 28, 2022. In this role, Pema leads strategic stakeholder outreach for the sustainability team, with a mandate that includes:

- Developing and leading the implementation of Sun Life’s sustainability outreach plan

- Collaborating with stakeholders and partners across the organization in support of our

Sustainability Plan

- Elevating the profile of the Sustainability team within the organization and with key industry

stakeholders

Prior to this role, Pema held senior level positions in communications in several financial institutions. Pema began her career in media relations for cabinet ministers in the federal government. Pema is a passionate change leader who, in her spare time, loves to do Pilates, take leisurely jogs, and bake treats for friends and family.

• Dr. Gyal Lo

Dr. Gyal Lo is an educational sociologist and leading expert on China’s assimilation and education policies in Tibet. Born in Amdo, Tibet (an area of eastern Tibet China now calls Gansu), he received his master’s degree from the Tibetan Language and Culture Department at Northwestern University for Nationalities in Lanzhou, China. In 1995, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the same department where he taught for the next decade. He did extensive research into the area of Tibetan education and, in particular, school curriculum development for Tibetans and later received a master’s degree and PhD in Educational Sociology from the University of Toronto. He then returned to China where he worked as a professor at the Yunnan Normal University Institute for Studies in Education (ISE) from 2017-2020. He was awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) Fellowship for his research entitled “Culturally-Relevant Education for Minority and Rural Villages in Asia”.

• Kalsang Tanzin

Kalsang leads a team that includes six transformational sales leaders and over forty sellers across North America. It is one of the biggest segments for LinkedIn Sales Solutions in North America. Her team partners with go-to-market leaders in the Enterprise segment to solve and realize some of their most meaningful challenges and opportunities for growth. Everyone in their segment is a business leader, and together, they are building a system that delivers large-scale customer value and exponential growth consistently year over year. Kalsang is a devoted, people-first leader who is committed to transforming her team.

Kalsang is passionate about building a more diverse and inclusive workforce. She was previously the President of Women at LinkedIn, which is LinkedIn's largest Employee Resource Group with over 20 global chapters. Additionally, Kalsang was the Co-Founder of the Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) Council in LinkedIn Canada, with the objective of building a more diverse and inclusive workforce where every employee feels a sense of belonging.

• Sherap Tharchin

Sherap joined the Canada-Tibet Committee as its Executive Director in January 2018, after moving to Canada in 2015. He has also served as a parliamentary assistant for MP Arif Virani and as an entrepreneurship specialist and proposal consultant for Alinea International in Gatineau/Dharamsala. Before relocating to Canada, Sherap worked with HSYWE in Nepal as an assistant director, focusing on empowering indigenous women, and as Deputy Chief of Tibet Fund India, he oversaw USAID projects supporting education in Tibetan schools in India and Nepal. Additionally, Sherap worked as a Research Analyst at Thomson Reuters in Bangalore. Academically, he holds a Master of Management Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Queen’s University, Canada, and an MBA from India.

• Rignam Wangkhang

Rignam Wangkhang is an award-winning multimedia journalist. He is currently the Community Producer for CBC Toronto, where he is helping the newsroom experiment with new ways of engaging underserved communities in the GTA.

He was selected as a Fellow for CivicAction Leadership Foundation’s DiverseCity Fellowship, the Leading Social Justice Collective Fellowship at the University of Toronto, CBC's Developing Emerging Leaders program, and as a participant of Reelworld Screen Institute's TV Producer Program.

Previously, he was a Producer with the CBC Creator Network. In this role, he amplified the voices of the next generation of Canadian storytellers and connected them with CBC platforms. Rignam also served as Chair of DiversifyCBC, the corporation's largest Employee Resource Group, to champion diversity, foster belonging and be a catalyst for change in the way CBC thinks about people and programming through professional development, diversification of content, awareness and education.

After producing a radio documentary about his Pala's escape from Tibet, Rignam co-founded The Chyssem Project. The project is a grassroots community oral history initiative in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 and the Archives of Ontario to create a permanent archival record and book on the first Tibetans who arrived in Canada in the early 1970s.

Rignam has produced radio, podcasts, documentaries and reported for the CBC from Yellowknife, Winnipeg and Toronto.

ORGANIZERS:

Tenzing Jigme, Tenzin Tsundue, Tenzing Lama, Rignam Wangkhang

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, Titan Road, Etobicoke, ON, Canada, 40 Titan Road, Toronto, Canada