Our program values critical thinking in order to communicate and promote intercultural dialogue, while insuring a climate of respect and tolerance.
Our program is available in several community and school workshops.
Paix, Amour, Amitié, Liberté (PAAL)
(Peace, Love, Friendship, Liberty) These values are the cornerstone of our activities. We consider that interculturality is an asset to be exploited to ensure peaceful coexistence. To get to know and talk to each other, to open up to the world, fearlessly! That is what inhabits us.
Break down intercultural barriers
through an environment of dialogue and collaborative activities. Our objective is to stimulate reconciliation between the members of different ethnocultural communities residing in the metropolitan region of Quebec.
Activity Report
Workshops/ Events
Participants
Trained in artwork restoration, Pilar Hernandez has a master’s degree from HEC Montréal in management of cultural enterprises and a diploma from Cégep St-Laurent in cultural mediation. For over fifteen years she has worked in museums and in teaching.
Pilar understands the challenges of our multi-diverse society and is ready to create projects so that each person finds their place in the world.
With over twenty years of career in Mexico and in Canada, Rafael Benitez is PAAL’s creative brain. With his graphic designing and artistic background, he also has a master’s degree in intercultural mediation from Université de Sherbrooke. Here is his portfolio: rafakir.com
Rafael uses his artistic talents and his communication skills to create transformative experiences within PAAL’s work.
Parastou is an illustrator, painter, and cultural mediator who has published around thirty works with various publishers. She holds a master’s degree in Visual and Media Arts from the University of Quebec in Montreal.
For Parastou, collaborating as part of a team within PAAL, while working on exciting and varied projects, represents a major opportunity. She was captivated by our organization’s values and commitment from the very beginning!
Carol Vertiz Kroetzsch graduated in Psychology in Mexico. She specialized in helping relationships with a humanistic approach, dance therapy, meditation and mindfulness. She has extensive experience in facilitating workshops and developing psychosocial intervention programs aimed at children, women, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses or homelessness in Mexico.
Throughout her career, she has focused on promoting mental health and community well-being by integrating creativity and art as means of development, expression, and transformation.
Diana Benavides holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design and a master’s degree in Management (Marketing). She is a versatile professional who has worked as a designer, project manager and consultant on customer strategy and digital experience design for startups and large professional services firms. Diana has also been involved in her community as a volunteer interpreter.
Xueying holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Montreal, but her great passion is dancing. Since the age of 3, Xueying has specialized in Chinese folk dance and ballet, even achieving the highest level of the “Certificate of Arts Grade Examination of China”. She has participated in numerous dance and martial arts performances in Montreal and China. In 2013, Xueying won 2nd place in the World Kung Fu Championship in China in two categories, Tai Chi Fan and Tai Chi Chuan. In Montreal, she is a certified Chinese language teacher, working with children and she brings her versatility to our organization.
Luz María holds a master’s degree in education and has also been a high school teacher in Mexico, where she was responsible for creating and organizing cultural activities with students. She specializes in learning workshops, culture, and facilitation. Luz believes that reading and culture open up unexpected worlds and serve as tools for bringing people closer together. Throughout her career, she has dedicated herself to mediation and legal counseling for elderly people in rural areas.
Challenges and Growth