June 25, 2005

Changing of the Guard...
Today was the first day of the Changing of the Guard (photo). As part of the first day`s ceremony the Governor General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, inspected the troops. Whenever the GG is on the Hill in an official capacity they fly her flag on the Peace Tower, which was quite interesting to see.
Later in the day I got to give a tour to human rights and social workers from all over the world (Bosnia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Chile, Ghana, Philipines, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, etc.). It was an incredible group. They were very interested in the process of Parliament, and everything I could possibly tell them about the building. I felt quite humbled to be taking them through Canada`s Parliament, when some of them have lived through amazing situations in their home countries.

Below is a map of where tourists have come from that I have given tours to.
(courtesy of World66)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did any of the human rights ppl have an opportunity to share some of their stuggles?

Stephen said...

Unfortunately I didn`t have the chance to talk to any of them in-depth. That`s one thing that I like/dislike about this job. At just about the time when you find out something interesting about the person, you have to move on.
For example, just yesterday I was talking to a man from Kiev (Ukraine), who it turns out is a Parliamentary journalist, and worked during the Orange Revolution. I would have loved to have asked more questions about what it was like, but I had to put him through security.

Anonymous said...

I have lived in Canada all my life and never knew the GG had their own flag.

Stephen said...

Yah, it`s blue, with a lion on it. The last GG had it changed to remove the lions claws and tongue, because it looked "too fierce". The current GG had them put back onto the lion.