Get involved! Register for our Disarmament Education CSW Parallel Event & More!

Check out what's happening this month with VOW!

VOW's March Newsletter

March 2025
Events & Actions

Our March newsletter is being brought to you by our National Coordinator Alley McDonald.

This March we want to highlight to VOW's Legacy Gifts; VOW/IPPNWC's Disarmament Education Parallel Event; Meet our CSW69 Delegation; International Women's Day; and so much more happening this month!

Be sure to scroll all the way down for upcoming events, calls to action, and recommended resources!

VOW's work of peace, anti-war and demilitarization merits your support! Make a donation. Even better, join our growing number of Monthly Peace Partners. Consider $5 or $50 or any amount in between. Become a Peace Partner today!

JOIN/RENEW/DONATE

VOW Updates

VOW & IPPNWC's NGO CSW/NY Parallel Event: Disarmament Education: WPS Policy Solution for Climate and Gender Nexus
Hybrid Event

March 10th, 2025
2:30pm-4:00pm ET

Hybrid:
Online: Zoom

In-Person: Church Centre of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, United States

This workshop will be facilitated by VOW's National Coordinator, Alley McDonald, VOW Board member, Linda Kalafatides, and IPPNWC's Executive Director, Lia Holla. This workshop aims to empower participants with practical tools to implement gender-sensitive disarmament education within local and national frameworks. By examining how climate change, nuclear disarmament, and gender equality intersect, we can foster feminist policy solutions through Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) frameworks. This integration of a gendered approach to disarmament education offers feminist policy solutions and educational tools to implement in a local context in light of transnational problems of nuclear weapons and climate change-—issues that disproportionately affect women’s mental and physical health. This interactive workshop will be delivered in partnership with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada.

Register Here

VOW & IPPNWC's Joint UN CSW69 Delegation: Empowering Change in New York

We are thrilled to announce VOW and IPPNWC's joint delegation to the UN CSW69. Our incredible team of leaders and delegates will bring key issues from our organizations to the global stage, focusing on disarmament education, advocacy for the health consequences of violence, nonviolent conflict resolution, and social justice.

We will be active on social media throughout the event, sharing updates, insights, and experiences from the forefront of global advocacy. Be sure to follow us on Instagram: @vowpeace & @ippnwcanada

Meet our incredible delegation by clicking the button below, and stay tuned for more updates as we work to make a difference at CSW69!

Meet VOW/IPPNWC Delegation Here

Create a Legacy with
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace

Legacy Donations

Your legacy gift helps ensure that VOW’s critical work continues for years to come. Whether it’s advancing our disarmament education program, advocating for peace, or working to end nuclear threats, your gift will directly support the next generation of peacebuilders!

Learn More & Plan Your Legacy Here

March Events

Strength & Solidarity in Sudan
Webinar

Tuesday, March 4 at 12:00pm-1:00pm ET
Zoom

As the second anniversary of the devastating war in Sudan approaches, its impacts are staggering. Despite this, Sudanese organizations continue their activism and resistance. As do Sudanese women in their daily lives.

Join us on March 4 at 12:00pm EST for a webinar with long-term counterpart the Sudanese Organization for Research and Development (SORD) to discuss how women in Sudan are navigating the war, and their own organizational and personal survival strategies.Directors, International Women's Day Society

Register Here

International Women's Day Toronto
Rally & March
In-Person Event

Saturday March 8th, 2025
Rally 11am; March starts at 1:00pm
Auditorium, OISE, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON

Fighting for Our Lives. Building Our Resistance
International Women's Day Toronto 2025 Rally & March

All are welcome.
Sign language is available.

Register Here

International Women's Day Society
In-Person Event

March 8th, 2025
@ 10am PT
Victoria, British Columbia

This event starts at 10 am on Saturday March 8, 2025

at Ambrosia Centre, 638 Fisgard Street, Victoria !!

This year women of different backgrounds are coming together to celebrate the gains women have made over the last 50 plus years and take stock of the challenges still facing us.

The day will feature speakers on the international, Indigenous, transwomen and working women's movements. It will give participants an opportunity to share their own stories, and we will take the time to celebrate with song and poetry.

The event is being coordinated by the International Women's Day Society organizing committee. More information and promotional materials for the event will come out in February.

In the meantime, our email address is: IWDVictoriaBC@shaw.ca

Anne Preyde, Kirsten Smestad and Farideh

Directors, International Women's Day Society

Register Here

NGO CSW/NY
Hybrid Event

March 10th-21st, 2025

The NGO CSW Forum is organized by and for global civil society, non-governmental organizations, and feminists to connect them with the official United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW) process. With hundreds of events, the NGO CSW Forum informs, engages, and inspires grassroots efforts and gender equality advocacy around the world. While the NGO CSW Forum runs parallel to and complements the UN CSW, it is a separate process with separate organizers.

Register now, and sign up to attend VOW & IPPNWC's parallel event on Disarmament Education: WPS Policy Solution for Climate and Gender Nexus, amongst 1,000's of other events offered.

Register Here

Women in Conflict Zones
Virtual Event

March 19th, 2025
@ 7:30pm ET

On March 19, 2025, join us for an impactful and insightful online webinar aimed at amplifying the voices of women from conflict zones worldwide. Hosted by World BEYOND War, Southern Anti-Racism Network, International Peace Bureau (IPB), Convention for Panafricanism and Progress (CPP), and CodePink, this event will focus on the profound effects of armed conflict on women and children and highlight efforts to address these challenges.

Register Here

World BEYOND War
Online Antiwar Bookclubs
Virtual Event

March 2025

Start: March 3rd, 2025 @ 7:30pm ET

In March, 2025, World BEYOND War will be holding a weekly discussion each of four weeks of the book Empowering Peace and Justice Education: An Actionable Framework for Elementary Educators and Learners with the authors Julie Lillie and Carey Seeley Dzierzak.

When you register for the club, we'll send you an e-book.

We'll let you know which parts of the book will be discussed each week along with the Zoom details to access the discussions.

This is a small group series with limited space of up to 18 people. Sign up to reserve your spot. We look forward to reading and discussing this important book with you!

Host Contact Info: david@worldbeyondwar.org

Sign Up Here

Upcoming Events

Upcoming World BEYOND War
Online Antiwar Bookclubs
Virtual Event

April 2025

Start: April 1st, 2025 at 8pm ET

In April 2025, World BEYOND War will be holding a weekly discussion each of four weeks of Peace Advocacy in the Shadow of War with the author Francis Shor.

When you register for the club, we'll send you a PDF of the book (not to be shared with anyone).

We'll let you know which parts of the book will be discussed each week along with the Zoom details to access the discussions.

This is a small group series with limited space of up to 18 people. Sign up to reserve your spot. We look forward to reading and discussing this important book with you!

Host Contact Info: david@worldbeyondwar.org

Sign Up Here

War On Gaza-Updates

No Other Land
Documentary
In-Person Event

Showing times:
March 1st @ 4:15pm ET
March 5th @ 6:45pm ET

Princess Original Cinema, 6th Princess Street West, Uptown Waterloo, ON

Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 97th Academy Awards, NO OTHER LAND screens March 1 & 5 at the Princess Original Cinema.

For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation as he builds an unlikely alliance with a journalist from the other side who joins his fight.

"It’s a riveting and humane experience pulled from the rubble of a never-ending war." -Chicago Tribune

Buy Your Ticket Here

One Day Everyone will have always been against this
Book Launch
In-Person Event

March 2nd, 12:30 and March 5th
Doors open at 7:00pm/ Event begins at 7:45pm
93 Charles Street West, Toronto, ON

Another Story Bookshop, Toronto Palestine Film Festival and McClelland and Stewart present the Toronto launch of Omar El Akkad's new book One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This.

Featuring a conversation with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, audience Q & A and book signing.

Buy Your Ticket Here

Waterloo Region Friends of Palestine
In-Person Event

Every Saturday, 11am ET
300 King St E, Kitchener, ON

For seventeen months, you have been there in many ways, on the streets, phoning MPs, raising funds, sharing stories and, as Friends of Palestine your commitment has been valiant. The gains have been small and we have had little time to even acknowledge them, but we will continue to be there for Palestine until liberation.

The land has been a serious casualty of the violence, so many olive trees destroyed, farmers arrested and tortured for being at one with the land; land stolen by zionist-jews to build illegal settlements and more. The farmers are no longer able to grow food for the family and the people in their village. Everything is destroyed and rendered unliveable.

But, we will stand with Palestine as Palestinians define the future, this civilization and culture of thousands of years will triumph over Israel and the US, both built on a foundation of violence with very little reverence for justice and dignity. So keep talking about truth, keep walking, phoning, protesting, organizing, donating for a liberated Palestine and, be judicious in your voting in all elections. We will keep Palestine on the lips, in the ears and eyes of our neighbours in Waterloo Region.

See you on Saturday at 11am Kitchener Market!

Act for Peace By Rejecting
Trump's Plans for Gaza
WPSN-Canada
Emergency Statement on Gaza

Our Network welcomes the fact that several ministers of the Trudeau government have publicly countered Trump’s outrageous threats to annex the coastal enclave and to ethnically cleanse the Gazans. We demand that Canada do more:

1) immediately recognize the Palestinian state, as 147 United Nations did so, recently Spain and Ireland contradicting their NATO guidelines;

2) impose a robust arms embargo on Canada’s two-way arms trade with Israel;

3) expedite the family reunification program for Gazans with family in Canada;

4) use its influence with the State of Israel to restore the provision of aid to Gazans through UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency);

5) prohibit Canadians from serving in the IDF and investigate Canadians in the IDF for war crimes;

6) remove the charitable status of all organizations in Canada who raise funds (tax-free) for entities in Israel which support the Israeli Defence Forces and the Israeli colonial project in Palestine;

7) play a role in ensuring that the rebuilding of Gaza goes ahead with the Palestinians in place.

Read More Here

GAZA SQUARE
In-Person Event

Every Sunday, 11am to 1pm
371 Wallace Ave, Toronto, ON

We'll be at Gaza square once again this Sunday morning with hot chocolate and coffee, buttons and posters, lawn signs and colourful chalk! Come say hi and meet your fellow neighbours/organizers as we make our presence known and continue to build safety in our community!

Learn More Here

Weekly Zap for Palestine
Virtual Event

Every Monday
12:00pm ET

TKARONTO: LET’S KEEP THE PRESSURE ON EVERY MONDAY! 📱🍉

Week after week, we’re keeping the momentum going with our Monday lunchtime zaps.

Our collective action is making waves, but we need to ensure our elected officials continue to feel the pressure until real change happens.

Gather with neighbours in an online space to phone, email, and fax representatives together! Guidance, script, and contacts provided. Invite your friends!

☎️Whether you’ve zapped before, or are just getting started, all are welcome in this weekly action! And if you’re interested in organizing in your neighborhood - these zaps are a great way to meet your people. Bring a friend or two! Facilitators from GTA ridings are present to offer support, demo live phone calls, and answer questions.

Register Here

Calls to Action

Petition e-5140
Foreign Affairs

Please sign the parliamentary petition calling on Canada to support nuclear disarmament and fulfill its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Call upon the Government of Canada to:

1. Sign and commit to ratifying the TPNW;

2. Send a delegation to attend the Third Meeting of States Parties for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that will take place in New York from March 3 to 7, 2025;

3. Hold public consultations on disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation; and

4. Propose a parliamentary study on NATO’s nuclear deterrence and Canada’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Closed for signature: April 8, 2025, at 12:40 p.m. (EDT)

Sign the Petition Here

Tell Scotia Bank to Divest Completely from Elbit Systems!

Scotiabank’s global asset fund has reduced its half billion dollar investment in Elbit 4 times, but still owns 1.3% of Elbit shares (worth US$112 million as of Sept. 30/24 and now worth over US$130 million). Many groups and individuals have been part of the campaign to say #ShameonScotiabank for funding Israeli genocide; it is this collective pressure that has produced results.

As Palestine Action noted: “Elbit Systems, based in Haifa, is Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer and security company. Elbit’s largest customer is the Israeli Ministry of Defence, with Elbit providing up to 85% of Israel’s land-based military equipment and approximately 85% of its drones.”

Our first action campaign resulted in over 13,000 letters being sent to Scotiabank management. Join us as we continue to expose and shame such blatant war profiteering from Scotiabank!

Sign the Petition Here

Stop Killer Robots: #VoteAgainstTheMachine

You are more than data so states need to vote against the machine at this year’s UNGA.

Machines don’t know that you’re #MoreThanData - to them you’re just another piece of code. It’s time to take AI making life and death decisions off the table.

The regulation of Artificial Intelligence needs to catch up to the pace of innovation. If we accept the use of AI to dehumanize and kill people in conflicts, this has consequences for the use of these technologies in policing, border control and more. Call on your gov’t to #VoteAgainstTheMachine and support the resolution against killer robots at the UNGA this October.

#VoteAgainstTheMachine #MoreThanData #StopKillerRobots #UNGA79

Sign the Petition Here

Days of Significance

International Women's Day 2025

Theme:
For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.

March 8th, 2025

This year’s theme calls for action that can unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where no one is left behind. Central to this vision is empowering the next generation—youth, particularly young women and adolescent girls—as catalysts for lasting change.

The year 2025 is a pivotal moment as it marks the 30^th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This document is the most progressive and widely endorsed blueprint for women’s and girls’ rights worldwide that transformed the women’s rights agenda in terms of legal protection, access to services, youth engagement, and change in social norms, stereotypes and ideas stuck in the past.

Read More Here

World Water Day

March 22nd, 2025

The theme of World Water Day 2025 is ‘Glacier Preservation’.

Glaciers are critical to life – their meltwater is essential for drinking water, agriculture, industry, clean energy production and healthy ecosystems.

Rapidly melting glaciers are causing uncertainty to water flows, with profound impacts on people and the planet.

Global reductions in carbon emissions and local strategies to adapt to shrinking glaciers are essential.

This World Water Day, we must work together to put glacier preservation at the core of our plans to tackle climate change and the global water crisis.

Play your part!

Be part of the global campaign on ‘Glacier Preservation’. We need everyone – from individuals and families to companies and governments – to do what they can to reduce global warming and adapt to shrinking glaciers. Spread the word with the UN- Water material!

Read More Here

Tributes to Peace Women

Please let us know if you know of a member who has passed away, as we wish to recognize their contributions to VOW and to building peace in our world. Please let us know at info@vowpeace.org

Recommended Resources

Climate Crossroads: How we face fascistic threats matters

By: Jan Slakov

Yes! Let's use the threat of tariffs to do things we ought to have done long ago, including decreasing spending on militarization and megaprojects. And let's focus more on producing and selling what we need (not what we may feel entitled to) locally. Then we could protect the Salish Sea from the proposed RBT2 shipping terminal that is slated to bring more than two million additional shipping containers into BC through a facility that would be larger than 300 football fields, in the mouth of the Fraser.

Read the Full Article Here

GBV and Colonialism Episode

Radio Inquilab Podcast

Learn more about impacts of colonization on gender based violence, sharing a Radio Inquilab podcast featuring experts from Palestine, Haiti and West Papua:

🟣Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7GzVih6MGFplMmSj8a1yIU?si=hh1vdY1pSiGRTz1SytTEtA

🟣 Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-22-colonial-collateral-gbv-global-dev-4-pal/id1712174994?i=1000687162858

🟣 ListenNotes: https://lnns.co/NzyZEurSM-A

World BEYOND War's Annual Report

Through education, media / communications, and activism, we have pushed back, during hard times, against warmaking in Palestine, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, promoting the rule of law and the use of diplomacy. We have played a significant role in urging nations to charge Israel with genocide in the International Court of Justice, urging the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for leading architects of that genocide, and building pressure on elected officials and institutions around the world to divest from, disarm, and oppose the slaughter.

Read the Full Report Here

"A Victory for Putin"? Jeffrey Sachs & Matt Duss Debate U.S.-Russia Talks to End Ukraine War

Democracy NOW!

“This is a war that never should have happened,” says Sachs, who faults “U.S. provocations” like the expansion of NATO for laying the groundwork for Russia’s invasion in 2022. In holding these talks directly with Russia, “the Trump administration, for the first time, is telling the truth about the fundamental causes of this war,” adds Sachs.

Read the Full Article Here

Atomic Cover-Up

PBS Special

This award-winning documentary reveals that U.S. officials suppressed--for decades--the most important footage shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (including by the U.S. Army) after the atomic bombings. Why? What was the result and how does it haunt us today?

Watch the Video Here

Canadian Foreign Policy Hour with Yves Engler

Join author Yves Engler on Mondays for a weekly news roundup and interactive discussion about Canada’s role abroad. This weekly session will delve into the latest developments on subjects ranging from military affairs and Canada’s role in Ukraine to its contribution to Palestinian dispossession and exploitation of African resources. Join Yves for a critical take on Canada’s foreign policy. Questions, comments and criticisms are all welcome.

Mondays 6PM EST

Attend Here

Renew your membership and donate to VOW to keep up our good work!

Renew Your Membership & Donate!

Be sure to renew your membership and donate to support our important work building a culture of peace in Canada and so that we can continue to hire youth throughout the year. Make a donation today!

Our mailing address:
60 Lowther Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M5R 1C7
info@vowpeace.org

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