Consort With the followers of all religions – The Importance of Interfaith/Multifaith Spaces

Since 2010, the Cornwall Interfaith Partnership (CIP) has played a key role in Cornwall Ontario, Canada as an interfaith/multifaith space. The group has become somewhat well-known nationally and shared its experience in a workshop at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto in 2018. In this session, first-generation Bahá’ís Jane and Neil Macmillan share a short audiovisual presentation on the group that explores what members feel have been the key elements in its success in harmoniously renewing itself over the years. Cornwall is a former mill town with a population of around 47,000. Its historical religious makeup was Christian (both Catholic and Protestant). However, it now has many Indigenous, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, and “spiritual but not religious” residents. The Macmillans then facilitate a session in which participants share their experiences and perspectives in terms of “what makes a successful interfaith/multifaith space.”