A Canadian Delegation composed of 3 Senators and 5 Members of parliament travelled to the North of Ireland for a 7-day trip. This bilateral visit, organised under the umbrella of the Canada-UK Parliamentary Association, was led by Chair Mr. James Maloney, M.P. and had the group travel around London, Belfast and Dublin.
The main objective of the travel is to learn more about the post-Brexit political landscape, including issues related to devolution and border arrangements between Great Britain, North of Ireland and Southern Ireland. As part of a 7-day trip, the group visited Holy Cross Boys’ PS on the back of having watched the multi award winning Young Plato.
The meeting focused on our efforts to foster a culture of reconciliation and anti-violence among youth in the context of post-troubles Belfast through our pioneering Philosophy initiative. The group led by James Maloney and Senator Rob Black were treated (by Lorraine Gilbey) to a sausage and bacon soda with tea and coffee before a philosophical visit to Mrs Armstrong’s P3 class.
The P3 Room 11 boys reflected, reasoned, responded and re- evaluated on the question, ‘Is it ok to break a promise?’ They utilised the thinking of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and Kant to help make sense of their arguments. Senator Rob and James were fully engaged in the enquiry and conversed with the boys showing their agreement with some of the amazing thinking in the room. Indeed, Senator Rob agreed that this type of approach is what’s needed to help the Canadian Parliament sort out its issues much more progressively.
HCBoys’ are very thankful to the Canadian delegation for their efforts to create lifelong memories through philosophical dialogue for our school community and would like to especially thank James Maloney MP Ottawa, Ontario!
