Care and Conduct Statement

We aspire to create a welcoming, supportive, transparent and inclusive environment for everyone who comes through our doors. Your wellbeing matters to us.

What this means:

  • As holders of the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, we are dedicated to recognizing the innate goodness of all and manifesting that goodness in society.
  • We are committed to creating an open and welcoming space to practice and study the dharma and participate in community activities.
  • We endeavour to safeguard the dignity and respect of all individuals at our Centre, be they visitors, participants, members or teachers.
  • We are working to learn from past instances of harm in the global Shambhala community that were not effectively prevented or addressed at the time that they occurred. (Information is available here on the complaints of misconduct on the part of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and others in the international community – scroll down to “Reports from An Olive Branch”).

 

The Shambhala Meditation Centre of Toronto does not tolerate sexual harassment or assault, discrimination, including discrimination based on different points of view, or derogatory behaviour perpetrated by anyone in our space or in the context of community activities.

What to do if you or someone you know has an incident or experience to report

We are listening.

The key local contact for the Shambhala Care and Conduct policy in Toronto is jessica haberman-contreras. They can be reached via [email protected]. This is a private email address that is monitored by jessica.

 

Further information on the Shambhala Global Services Care and Conduct panel and policy is available here. Please note that the policy is currently under revision and the page will be updated when the new policy is in place.

We understand that speaking up isn’t easy, and we encourage all to take part in developing a community that will bravely come forward to report misconduct when it happens; this will help us to become a stronger, more accountable sangha.