In Montreal, we had 2 events both related to the celebration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. Both events were organized by the Martin Luther King Committee, headed by Rev. Gray. Rev. Serge Brosseau is also a member of the Committee.

This first event was the Interfaith Service, which up till this year has been held at Rev. Gray's former church. However, last year he prophesied that the next such event would be held in a mosque or synagogue, and this year that became reality as a local rabbi, a longtime friend of Rev. Gray, agreed to host the service in his synagogue. The congregation was mostly the synagogue members (those who had not escaped already to Florida!) and several of our members and contacts. Speakers included the US Consul General and the Israeli Consul General. The Imani Family Full Gospel Church choir, which included Catherine Fortin and Melissa Brosseau, sang a moving song, 'Ride on to Freedom' and were warmly received by the synagogue members.

The second event, the major event of the birthday celebration, was the Interfaith Breakfast at City Hall. Awards in the spirit of Dr. King were given to several local individuals and organizations, including a (white) young family man who has invested his time and experience in the reconstruction efforts in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He said he was overwhelmed with the award, because it was just a family tradition for him to help those in need.

Over 100 religious and civic leaders attended, many of them our UPF/IIFWP contacts. Indeed, not only was the Jewish faith representative a fine rabbi whom we recommended as a speaker, but also, when the expected Islamic leader failed to show up, another of our contacts, a remarkable young Canadian imam, was asked to fill in for him as a representative of Islam and did an amazing job with no advance preparation at all. He encouraged every person present not just to look back in memory of Dr. King, but to live in the present as he did, so that every one of us would be remembered as Dr. King is today. Really God set up the situation and it was so inspiring to see it come to pass just as some of us had envisioned.

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