Pacifest: Victoria’s Festival of Peace Events

All the events below are at the First Metropolitan United Church Sanctuary, Quadra at Balmoral.

Co-sponsored by the Church and the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative.

Sept 26, 2008 at 7pm. The Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C., presents: The Human Right to Peace: Full Time Work (A PowerPoint Presentation and Talk) (more…)

A Festival of Peace: 12 Days for Peace
Sept 21 – October 2

We want to mark these twelve days with attention to the issues of peace in the world, in our communities, in our homes, and within.

* Sunday Sept 21, the UN International Day for Peace and Global Ceasefire (more…)

OCTOBER 2, 2008
St. Elias Centre
750 Ridgewood Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario

Keynote Speaker:
Carolyn McAskie
Former Assistant Secretary General for Peacebuilding Support of the United Nations (more…)

Canadian Department of Peace Initiative 2008
Annual Conference and AGM

The Canadian Department of Peace Initiative (CDPI) achieved a major leap forward when it held its first full-fledged Conference and AGM in Toronto on April 4 – 6, hosted by the Toronto chapter.

FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 6

An enthusiastic crowd of 250 was in attendance for a PowerPoint presentation by the Hon. Doug Roche, entitled: The Human Right to Peace: Full-Time Work, held at the historic Holy Trinity Church in downtown Toronto. (more…)

Mennonite Church Canada
For immediate release
May 26, 2008
-Deborah Froese
Story: 686

Grassroots Movement for Peace

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — On April 19, 2008, the Mennonite Church Canada General Board approved a Christian Witness Council recommendation for the denomination to become a supporting organization of the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative (CDPI). (more…)

The Report of the Independent Panel chaired by John Manley is now, and will continue to be, a pivotal statement in governmental debate and decision-making. There is widespread unity in Canada, including the government, the military, the public, and now the Manley Panel, that the overall goal of our presence in Afghanistan is to bring peace and better living conditions to one of the poorest and most fragile nations in the world. As the Manley Report says, (more…)

Garth Turner, MP, creates a daily video of interest to Canadians, in Parliament when it is sitting. Yesterday, Dec. 13, he interviewed Borys Wrzesnewskyj, MP(Etobicoke Centre, Vice Chair, Justice Committee), who stated that his seasonal wish is for a Ministry of Peace for Canada. Our Toronto member, Rob Acheson, met with him earlier this year to discover that Borys had called for a Ministry of Peace in April 2006, as recorded in Hansard. With allies like Borys, we are on our way!

Here is a link to the web site:
http://www.garth.ca/mptv/#current. It is the second of two videos.

If for some reason, you cannot access the video this way, find it in the archives under Latest Videos, on December 13.

Uri Avnery, the famous writer on Israel-Palestine relations, indicates, in an article in the newspaper, Gush Shalom, on Nov. 3. that, in 1946, he called for a a Peace Ministry. He states that: …”since the achievement of peace was the main task of the state, it was unacceptable that there was no professional body dealing exclusively with this matter. I proposed the creation of a special Peace Ministry. The Foreign Office, I maintained, was unsuited to this task, since its main function was to wage the international struggle against the Arab world. To popularize the idea, I said that as a counterweight to the ‘khaki General Staff’. which prepares war operations, we needed a ‘white General Staff,’ which would prepare peace operations.”

Uri repeated that call in the Knesset(Israeli Parliament) ten years later and here he does so again. Imagine how the course of history in the Middle East could have been different with an Israeli Minister of Peace in place. There is now a renewed call for Ministers of Peace in both Israel and Palestine by members of the Global Alliance in both countries.