Excepts from a talk given to Students at the Canadian

Institute of Computer Science and Technology

By the Hon. David Kilgour, P.C., M.P.

Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) & MP Edmonton- Southeast

Chandigarh, India

January 13 2003

Sat Sri Akal, Namaste, Aslamoalaikoom, Good Morning,

On behalf of Derek Lee, Member of Parliament for Scarborough-Rouge River in Toronto, Deputy High Commissioner Brian Dickson and the entire Canadian team, it is a pleasure for us all to meet with you this morning. This institute and all of you are examples of what India and Canada can accomplish together in the important field of education. The programs offered here appear also to be launch pads for continuing your education and your careers.

India is also world renowned in both these fields. Your technical institutes and universities produce some of the best engineers in the world, evidently over 80,000 last year alone. India is certainly branding itself as a leader in information and communications technology. Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to visit two companies, which provide insight into why this is the case: Kshema Technologies and Infosys. Both are extraordinary examples of how India can lead in this field, both in normal times and during the current difficult world business environment.

Kshema and Infosys are probably two of the best run companies in India, perhaps in the world, which not only address the issue of sustained growth and profitability, but corporate social responsibility as well. Kshema, for example, supports the UTHANA (uplifting) Charity, which provides lunch to 250 underprivileged grade school students every day. Infosys donates 1% of its net yearly profits – about $US7 million currently – to various Indian charities. Some continue to question the value of globalization, but Infosys and Kshema demonstrate that corporate success can contribute importantly to community, national and international well being.

Religion as a Force for Harmony

An issue of major impact upon managed globalization is the friction that is continuing among some of the world’s faith communities. As you know, this issue is of growing concern in many parts of our shrunken world.

Let me say at the outset that while we all know that many terrible things have been done in the name of religion over the centuries – the Crusades and the Inquisition come readily to mind in the case of Christianity – the 20th century was probably the most violent and bloody of them all.

A recently published book, Reflections on a Ravaged Century, by Robert Conquest, makes a lot of important points about the 1900s, including these two:

Scores of millions of human beings were slaughtered, not by people who were motivated by faith of any kind, but by dictators who wanted to abolish all religions in the name of various forms of totalitarianism, most notably Nazism and revolutionary Marxism;
The survival of pluralism, change without chaos, free discussion, political compromise and market economies across the planet, notes Conquest, was a near thing in the last century and he thinks that laziness and impatience could threaten these and other good features of civilization in the 21st century.

My main point here today, however, is that thus far in this new century the power of faiths to move people in many parts of the world is increasing strongly. A host of other philosophies and political ideologies – all the “isms” if you like – appear to be discredited generally and are in any case now unable to motivate large numbers of men and women.

Religious enthusiasm, of course, can cause civil conflicts. These today perhaps more than ever can quickly escalate to international wars. Isn’t this reality one reason among others why all of us who have religious faith of any kind must learn more about each other and genuinely seek to respect and love one another? Do we not all worship the same God?

I recognize that you probably weren’t expecting me to come in and talk about the growing need worldwide for understanding and harmony among religious faiths. If you prefer to communicate privately about this, please send me an email. I’m more than happy to answer your questions on the job market in Canada and our own ICT sector, but am very interested in hearing your opinions about the role of faith in the 21st century. I look forward to your insights.

Thank you.