Joan Buchanan New Zealand Building a Harmonious Society: Enhancing our Respect for Each Other Joan Buchanan has been a Buddhist for over 15 years and is a senior student of His Holiness the SakyaTrizin and Lama Choedak Rinpoche. She is a founding member of the New Zealand Buddhist Council and served on the Executive for 3 years. She was the principal project coordinator for all of the events in this paper. Her professional career spans over 25 years working with community organisations as a fundraiser and project manager. She is currently the Executive Director of the Spirit of Rangatahi (Youth) which runs programmes to facilitate young people's understanding of world religious communities in their neighbourhood. In 2010 Ms Buchanan was awarded the Harmony Award by the Federation of Islamic Association of New Zealand. Interfaith has been a part of her life since her childhood in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.