Foundation Ceremony of the Ismaili Centre, the Aga Khan Museum, and Park

Michael Tripp, Group Chief Executive of Ecclesiastical Insurance Group and Jacinta Whyte, CEO of Ecclesiastical Insurance, Canada, were honoured to be guests at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the new Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Museum. Situated on a seven-acre site in Toronto and scheduled for completion in 2013, the Centre and the Museum will be joined by a formal Park that incorporates a network of ponds, fountains, walkways and gardens.

The development is the initiative of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Kahn, spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims, and Founder and Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) - a group of development agencies and institutions that work in the poorest regions of Asia and Africa. AKDN focuses on health, education, and economic development and is dedicated to improving living conditions and opportunities for the poor, regardless of race, faith or gender.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who performed the ceremony in the presence of His Highness, thanked AKDN for choosing Toronto as the site for the Centre and Museum, both of which will ‘add to the growing array of architectural treasures’ in Canada. The project, he said, “will serve [His] Highness’s lifelong mission to promote pluralism, peace and tolerance through the expansion of knowledge and understanding.”

In his own remarks, the Aga Khan said, “Together, these three projects will symbolise the harmonious integration of the spiritual, the artistic and the natural worlds, in keeping with the holistic ideal which is an intimate part of Islamic tradition.” His Highness also referred to the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa, a partnership of AKDN and the Government of Canada, saying that it “will express our shared conviction that the progress of civilisation depends on our ability to understand, embrace and energise the power of human diversity.” He described the Park's design as one that “draws upon the concept of the traditional Islamic garden, and especially the gardens of the Alhambra, which flourished during the great era of Spanish history when Muslims, Jews and Christians lived together in creative harmony.”

For more information about the project and the Aga Khan Development Network, visit www.akdn.org