The series of benefit concerts for exiled Tibetans that Dermod Travis and Montreal musician Xavier Auclair are planning is a first in Canada.

“Of the non-Tibetan music variety, yes, I think so,” Victoria-based Travis, outgoing executive director of the Canada Tibet Committee, told the Straight during an interview in a Broadway coffee shop.

Tentatively titled Rock for Tibet, any money raised from the concerts, which will feature Auclair’s Montreal band, Sunrise and Good People, will go toward the federal government’s recently announced resettlement program to bring 1,000 exiled Tibetans to Canada from the remote Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Dermod Travis on the Tibetan resettlement program.

Auclair said he’s always cared about issues facing Tibet, occupied since 1959 by China. He said going to Dharamsala, the place of residence for the exiled Dalai Lama and home to Tibet’s government-in-exile, moved him. Auclair was there for work and visited a museum, run by the exiled Tibetan community, that documented the plight of Tibetans since occupation. While there, he got chatting to Tibetan Buddhist lama Tenzin Bagdro. Footage of a praying Bagdro is featured in the video for the song “I Won’t Fall Down”, which is what got the CTC interested in aligning themselves with the band.

“You can read lots of stuff on Tibet, but once you actually meet someone who has gone through something that is intense, you know?” Auclair said. “I have seen documentaries about monks being in prison, but when you really meet one, and I read his book Hell on Earth, you get the feeling that this is very strong.”

Travis said he envisions a series of shows in Canada starting next spring—most likely evening concerts in smallish venues. Nothing is confirmed yet, but both men are excited about what could transpire with greater awareness of Tibetan issues in Canada.

“I guess it’s just a long walk,” Auclair said. “Getting more talks with the Chinese government long-term is the goal. I guess the Dalai Lama states that he wants a strong Tibet within China. I guess the goal of the CTC is to get that vision implanted here in Canada. But I guess it [CTC] is going to have to be very patient, but still get the word out there.”

Auclair said that, politically, he can peg one possible source of change.

“Maybe it’s the Chinese people,” he said. “Maybe they will change.”

Xavier Auclair talks about Rock for Tibet.