Today’s Vegetarian Elite will be presented in French, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese),Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Nepali, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Thai.

Beloved viewers, we welcome you to today’s episode of Vegetarian Elite on Supreme Master Television. Last week, we introduced one of the most famous vegetarian actors in Québec, Canada, Mr. Joël Legendre. On top of being an actor, he sings, he dances, he hosts multiple television programs and a daily radio show, he is a director, and he dubs television and movies.

Among them, Mr. Legendre’s appears on the popular weekly TV series…

Welcome to “Le Téléphone.” As you know, our guests don’t always know who they will be talking with. Even though the match is not always perfect, we can still say that it works fine between them.

By changing my vegan diet for 6 months, I no longer had to stand in line at the pharmacy to buy any medicine. Just by changing what I was eating. When people think that When people think that you absolutely need to eat meat, it’s not true. Even myself, I didn’t lose any muscle mass in my first 14 months of veganism. I became even stronger, performed better as an athlete. It’s a stereotype that people say you need to eat it [meat].

Beyond his versatile talents, what distinguishes Joël Legendre is his wisdom, big heart, and profound sensitivity. He is committed to improve the community and loves to dedicate his talents towards charitable causes. Opération Enfant Soleil, a part of the Children’s Miracle Network, is a non-profit organization that raises funds to help sick children all over Québec.

Every year in June, local stars and numerous volunteers lend a helping hand to put together a grand telethon. From its founding in 1988 up until now, 100% of the proceeds from US$140 million have benefitted various pediatric hospitals in the province of Québec. Endowed with generosity and an unconditional love for children, it is with great pleasure that Mr. Legendre has hosted the Opération Enfant Soleil telethon for the past 10 years.

When I was young, I wanted to be a comedian-missionary. So my mother would say, “You will have to decide: either you leave on a mission or you become a TV star, but you can’t do both.” And the first time I was on the set of Opération Enfant Soleil, I said, “I am doing exactly what I wanted. I am a comedian-missionary.” So with the talent that I received to be able to host, to communicate, I have to go and get the maximum amount of money, to touch people, to meet children.

Because the telethon is not just one weekend, We start in March all the way through to June, touring all the hospitals in Québec, meeting the children to put together video clips of them that will be presented during the telethon, but also meeting the nurses, the doctors, the volunteers. For me, it is 6 months in a perfect world. I only meet people who are devoted, who give their time, who are positive, who try to change the life of another human being. That is my favorite moment and I am not paid to host the telethon and nobody is paid, was ever paid, but we do it because it is gratifying.

These close encounters with children took on a whole new meaning in Joël Legendre’s life in 2004 when he adopted his son Lambert from inner Mongolia. It was as though that moment it had been written in the stars for a long time coming…

Well, since a very early age, I had a recurring dream. I was five or six the first time I dreamt about this. I was in my room and I woke up during the night; it was in my dream. And I went to the door of the house, I opened the door and on the balcony, there was a basket with a baby inside who was holding flowers. I looked at the baby and the baby was black. So I picked up the baby, I raised it and it was my own baby and I didn’t tell anyone. So I dreamt about this very often, so often that my mother ended up buying me a black doll.

And she gave it to me with flowers in a small basket. I was so happy; it was like bringing my dream to life. And when my son arrived… I was in my hotel room and they tell me… They call me and tell me, “Your baby is coming.” “My baby is coming now?” “Your baby is coming. He is in the elevator and he is coming.” So I prepare everything, I set up the camera to film all that. I bring out the toys, I had blown some balloons, you know, the works. And I opened the door and my child was standing there, and what was he holding in his hands? Flowers. He had small wild flowers that he had picked on his way over.

So there was my one and a half year old little boy who was standing there with flowers in his hands. So right then and there, I knew that that child was my child and that I was his parent. It was really predestined. And I believe that when you adopt a child, it is the soul that seeks out the soul of the parent, that seeks out the soul of the child. There is a destiny above and beyond the physical realm. The child does not look like me physically, but we alike inside. The souls are connected. So it is clear that I lived an adventure that was totally spiritual and it still continues today.

Aside from his busy work schedule, charitable activities, and caring for his son, Mr. Joël Legendre devotes his time giving conferences to encourage the youth in healthy life choices. Leading a vibrant vegetarian lifestyle that is also free from intoxicants, he is an inspiration for people of all ages.

I have never been attracted to alcohol or drugs. Nobody has ever succeeded in influencing me into taking a sip of alcohol or a puff of cigarette. It never worked. Because if you find me one single good reason to smoke, I will give you 10,000 dollars right now. There are none. No. I often tried, during the few lectures that I gave in schools and all that, to spot the person that was different in the group because I was someone who was very different in school.

Everywhere, I’ve always been different. And now, I am drawn to people who are different. For sure, whether I like it or not, I identify readily, the short fat kid, the other kid with the acne, the other one that has his hair in his face because he doesn’t wants us to see him. I see that that person will be predisposed, one day or another, to try alcohol or tobacco because he will want to fit in.

So I give my lecture to the group and afterwards, I try to go see the person who felt different within the group and just talk with that person, give them my email address so that we can exchange emails once in a while so that that person feels unique for once in his life. The actor who came, the lecturer who came chose him amongst all the others to be friends with. So, I tell myself that that can help and I have seen it change lives.

So, my God, it is incredible, where does all that wisdom, all that goodness come from?

I was a monk in another life!

Yes, that’s it!

Stay with us, we will be back in just a few moments with Joël Legendre on Vegetarian Elite. We’ll learn what a whole new world would be like according to Mr. Legendre. You are watching Supreme Master Television.

My religion probably lies in my desire to be close to other people, in my desire to love the soul of every human being, in trying to do my best. When I criticize someone, I immediately try to tell myself, “No. Apologize. You have no right to criticize.” I always try to clean my negative thoughts (Excellent.) as I go along so that, again, I can go to bed at night without having hurt anyone.

Your soul in peace.

My soul in peace.

Welcome back to Vegetarian Elite on Supreme Master Television, and our feature on the famous, multi-talented actor and Québec crowd favorite, Mr. Legendre. This year at the Eat Well Expo and Living Green, the Meatless Monday campaign was officially launched in Montréal. It is a campaign that Mr. Legendre endorses with much honor.

The public figures who have also decided to support the Meatless Monday campaign. So, to quickly name them, we have: Patricia Tulasne, Mr. Joël Legendre…

What has kept Mr. Legendre on his 25 year path of vegetarianism when he made the life changing decision at age 16?

My motivation is to be healthy, is to not kill animals, but now, it has expanded because I have a child so I want my child to be able to live on this planet for as long as possible. If you don’t do it for yourself, think about your child who will be stuck with what we will leave for him, a world of garbage. Slowly decrease your meat intake, it is simply good common sense.

We must do something now. And I think that all the land that we use to feed livestock, all the water that we use to feed livestock, it’s 9,000 liters of water to feed only one cow, if all that was better distributed on our planet, I think that everything would be a lot better. And I think that everybody can do that for their planet. And people will realize also that one Monday every week without eating meat is not the end of the world. It can even be fun to prepare new recipes with the whole family, to discover new horizons on our table, to see new colors on the table, to try Indian food, for example, one Monday, to try Italian food the next Monday, to try Szechuan, Japanese food – all cultures have vegetarians dishes.

And our children today come to Earth with an already raised consciousness. It is they who bring the parents up to speed with what they are coming to do here. They are coming to do everything we did not do. So, no child is going to say, “Oh! Meatless Mondays, I don’t want that.” On the contrary, kids will take part in something like this. And incidentally, schools have almost all joined in, and schools are happy to be a part of this movement.

Excellent. In the movie Aladdin, you sing the song “A Whole New World.” What would a whole new world created by Joël Legendre be like?

First of all, there would be stores where they sell candy, you know, candy stores. I would have candies everywhere because I think candies are representative of childhood. They would be good candies though. But for me, there is nothing that makes a child happier than seeing candies. And all the kids could come in, come out, take their candies. There would be enough for everyone. It would be free. All the small children. That would be the first thing.

That’s cute!

Second of all, there would probably be a lot of places for introspection, meditation, just places where you can go in and where it is peaceful. You go in two, three minutes, like a bath of softness, and you come out and you go on with your day. There would theaters on all street corners where people could go. Because I love show business, there would be all kinds of musicals everywhere.

There would probably be even more money, but better distributed throughout the world. There would be food for everyone. And I would be tempted to say that there would be no more illnesses or that there would be no more catastrophes, but I think that the world is perfect the way it is. It allows some people to discover that they have human potential inside of them, something they may otherwise not be able to discover. So I think the world is perfect the way it is, but I would add a few candy stores.

A whole new world A new fantastic point of view No one to tell us no Or where to go Or say we’re only dreaming A whole new world…

The world would truly be a whole new beautiful world if it is filled with people like Joël Legendre. During our time spent with Mr. Legendre, he expressed a message of gratitude to Supreme Master Ching Hai:

Thank you [Supreme Master Ching Hai] for being here and keep up with your mission. The more people do what you do, the more the planet will get better.

Thank you, Mr. Legendre, for living and sharing such bright and uplifting ideals. May you continue to bring light and touch many through your warmhearted endeavors for the welfare of children and animals, as well as progressing vegetarianism.

We have enjoyed your company today on Vegetarian Elite. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television for Between Master and Disciples. May your life be graced with many wonderfilled moments and laughter.