For Immediate Release

Global day of action for Tibet on Parliament Hill

(Montreal, Monday, 31 October 2011) – Tibetans and their supporters from across Ontario and Quebec will gather at a vigil on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, November 2^nd as part of the Global Day of Action for Tibet.

The Ottawa vigil is being organized by the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress and five Toronto-based Tibet Support Groups. Events are also planned in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

Since March 2011, eleven young Tibetans have set fire to themselves in eastern Tibet. Five have died, including a nun. At least seven of these self-immolations are linked to the Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, one of the largest and most influential monastic institutions in Tibet. These truly desperate acts are a cry to the world for help.

The Canada Tibet Committee and other Tibet support groups around the world are calling on western leaders to raise the Ngaba tragedy with China's president Hu at the G20 summit in France and seek assurances that the crackdown in Tibet will end. If the world does not act now, this growing tragedy could spiral even further into a Tibet-wide crisis.

Event: Vigil

Date: November 2nd, 2011
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Place: Parliament Hill

CTC executive director Dermod Travis will be attending the vigil in Victoria, BC, but is available throughout the day for interviews.

The Canada Tibet Committee is an independent, non-governmental organization of Tibetans and non-Tibetans living in Canada, concerned with the continuing human rights violations and lack of democratic freedom in Tibet.

- 30 -

For more information:

Dermod Travis

514.487.0665

dermod@tibet.ca / www.tibet.ca

Kunga Tsering 416-464-6512 or

Ms Trinlay Chonzom 647-708-3631