The mission of the Niagara Foundation is: “to promote social cohesion by fostering civic conversations and sustained relationships between people of different cultures and faiths” in a “welcoming, apolitical” environment with “the explicit aim of uniting people from different perspectives to cultivate new ideas and partnerships.” It pursues this mission by striving to create safe spaces dedicated to reducing the tensions of ethnic, racial, religious, and political partisanship and rancor.
The Niagara Foundation reserves the right to determine its programming pursuant to its stated mission.
Niagara recently cancelled an event featuring Israeli Midwest Consul General, Roey Gilad, because it determined that it was ill-suited to Niagara’s aforementioned stated mission of fostering positive interfaith dialogue in an apolitical environment free from contentiousness.
Contrary to the recent claims by a few pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups, Niagara does not schedule, reschedule or cancel its programming due to external pressure.
In response to the cancellation, some of these same groups have crassly and inaccurately attempted to portray Niagara as anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic. We at Niagara profoundly regret the posturing of groups from both sides wishing to prioritize their own political agendas over the deeper values and concerns to which our mission is dedicated. We do not wish to be party to crowding out, yet again, the already limited space our society provides for respectful dialogue for the purposes of mutual understanding.