Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke about the role of faith in addressing health issues at the University of Toronto on Thursday. The event, which took place at the Multi-Faith Centre, also showcased the works of Department of Medicine assistant professor Michael Silverman and six Toronto-based Faiths Act fellows, who are part of The Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
During the symposium, Blair talked about the need to develop “mutuality of faith and equality between people” through interfaith dialogue. He suggested that the “threats to the world [today] are to do with whether people of different faiths and backgrounds can live together.” Blair told reporters after the main event that European nations can learn from Canada’s example.
“I think, in many ways, Canada is a model of how people from [different faiths] can come together,” he said.
Blair went on to describe that his foundation champions the idea that faith can be a force of good.
To continue his organization’s work, there are Faiths Act fellows stationed all over the world who help mobilize interfaith action.
Faiths Act is “all about action and service to demonstrate that your faith is compelling you to do something positive for humanity, rather than something negative,” Blair said.
Some of the Toronto-based fellows are U of T’s Multi-Faith Centre workers Davina Finn and Anna Siu. Siu is an OISE graduate.
Along with four other fellows, they talked about their work and upcoming events to promote inter-faith dialogue and address the Millennium Development Goals of combating HIV/AIDS and malaria and improving maternal health.
Blair also mentioned that universities have a part to play in encouraging multi-faith dialogue. “The university is absolutely above [all] else the place where these issues should be discussed and debated,” he said. “It’s really important that at this stage, that people in their student years do get this sense of coming together.”
Blair continually emphasized the role that faith had to play in positive action. “You judge a person and a society by how they treat the other,” he said. “That is the notion at the heart of my foundation.”
Silverman, a U of T professor, also emphasized that “all the great religions have been [forces] for good.” He spoke about the process that led him to work with the Salvation Army in Zimbabwe, as well as Christian and Muslim groups in Guyana.
