THUNDER BAY – The peace bell at city hall was rung on Sunday while, across the globe, Gifu City officials rang their own peace bell simultaneously.
The ceremony is intended to embrace the spirit of world peace and to commemorate the events of July 9, 1945, in which Gifu City, one of Thunder Bay’s sister cities, experienced heavy bombings.
Chair of the Sister City Committee, Matthew Villella, said that the ceremony is a great way to bring the community together locally to talk about peace and harmony, while also strengthening ties with Gifu.
“We do it in conjunction with Gifu, Gifu, at the same time is a hosting the ceremony, they also ring the bell and it's something that we do together as a team and that is where a lot of things happen around the world,” he said.
“When you work together as citizens and you come together as a team, a lot of great things happen, so this event is a recognition of the great things that we've done in the past and hopefully we'll do in the future.”
Thunder Bay has a total of five sister cities across the globe including Duluth and Little Canada in the United States, Jiaozuo in China, Seinäjoki in Finland and Gifu in Japan and Villella said that the relationships with each are crucial.
“It's extremely important that we have these relationships not only for cultural, not only for tourism, for understanding language, for education,” he said. “There's a lot of benefits from having these partnerships.”
The sister Cities program allows for the sharing of cultural knowledge and allowed representatives from both cities to visit and learn more about each other.
Kristi Judge, vice-president, Lakehead Japanese Cultural Association, said that the trip allowed her to see firsthand the differences between the communities on things like libraries and even fishing.
“We were lucky enough to be there during the few weeks that they do cormorant fishing and if you don't know what that entails, look it up online because it's pretty cool,” she said
"They had interpreters come with us and just sort of take us around, show us their city, and point out, you know, a few significant things from historical perspectives.”
Representatives from Gifu have also visited Thunder Bay where they toured the city, visiting places like the university and the Thunder Bay regional research institute, and met with local indigenous leadership.
