This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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FM hosts first sectarianism summit
14/02/2005
Scotland's first national summit on sectarianism took
place today.
Church leaders joined representatives from the Rangers
and Celtic football clubs, their fans, loyalist and
republican parading groups, police, councils, unions,
business and the media at the University of Glasgow.
The summit was chaired by First Minister Jack McConnell
and focused on interfaith work, education, sport, marches
and parades.
Mr McConnell said:
"The issue here is attitudes, understanding, tolerance,
and the way in which intolerance and religious hatred have
an impact on generation after generation of Scots and hold
our country back.
"It is going to be an interesting, perhaps tough, couple
of hours but it's very important that we start this process
by getting everyone around the table."
Speaking after the summit, Justice Minister Cathy
Jamieson said:
"Everybody at the summit today had the opportunity to
reflect their own particular views. Some people talked
about their history and traditions, some people talked
about the problems and some of the solutions that they
found at a local level.
We did have agreement that we should continue to work on
this issue - people have signed up to that - and that we
should also take forward the creation of a national plan,
and that's something we will be looking to do in the
future."