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

We want to honour VOW Board member Brigid Grant and her dedication and advocacy throughout her life to create a culture of peace; highlight VOW's upcoming Indo-Pacific Strategy discussion and strategy session; the International Peace Walk in Toronto, and so much more happening this month!

Don't miss the initiative to Cancel the Toronto Air Show this week, and sending a letter to Canadian politicians to sign the TPNW! [Read more under Calls to Action]

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!

Brigid Elizabeth Toole Grant, of Fredericton, NB died on Tuesday, August 1st, 2023. Brigid was an artist who taught at UNB and the NB College of Craft and Design; her paintings are in national and international collections. She joined Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) in 1969 and had been for many years on the board of VOW.

Brigid's mother, Norah Toole, a well-known activist, was a co-founder, in 1967, with Kay Bedell, of the New Brunswick branch of the Voice of Women (VOW), with a mandate to promote world peace. Norah served as a member of the National VOW, as did Brigid. In 1984 Norah was named the recipient of the "Persons" Award— the first peace advocate in New Brunswick to be so named. Brigid followed suit in her peace activism work and won the YMCA Peace Medallion in 2005.

Brigid's incredible spirit and commitment to peace will always be remembered, and she will be dearly missed.
 

New Date! Friday, September 15 @ 7:00pm-8:30 pm ET

Hosted by the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace

Please join us on Zoom to discuss Canada's "Indo-Pacific Strategy" that was released November 2022 and plan a response. In advance of the meeting, please read the 26-page strategy on the Global Affairs Canada website here. 

It is important that Canadians are aware of the federal government's plans to further militarize the region and provoke conflict with China. In August, the Trudeau government sent two more warships, HMCS Ottawa and HMCS Vancouver, from the Esquimalt naval base in British Columbia to the Indo-Pacific region. In a news release on August 14, the federal government declared, "Canada is committed to reinforcing its military presence in the region." We will discuss the strategy and Canada's relationship with China and how we can respond. We will also talk about how to promote peace, not war, in Asia.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23rd

PEACE TRAINING for ALL @ 9:30 - 12:00 PM
meet at O C A D-100 McCaul St., Toronto.

International Peace Walk @ 1-3 PM
Gather at Grange Park in Toronto, Beverly St. South of the Art Gallery of Ontario. 

Join in a worldwide Day of Action as we build Peace on our Planet!

Each year VOW members host Peace Poppy making parties and distribute the poppies during the lead up to Remembrance Day to try to raise awareness of the horrors of war on all of humanity and the earth. The aim is to make war unimaginable and to invest in peaceful institutions, processes and diplomacy to abolish war forever.

Please consider hosting a peace poppy making party or you can order white poppies and have them on hand for an action you might plan in your community anytime in the week or two leading up to Nov 11, or on Nov 11. Send us photos of your parties & actions and tag us on social media @vowpeace!

White poppy making instructions are here.
Order white poppies: here or here.

Stay tuned for more news on our annual White Poppy Campaign in our October Newsletter!

Please join us for a discussion of the peace movement in Nova Scotia and beyond on International Day of Peace on September 21st. We will watch the film No Harbour for War followed by a discussion on how can we strengthen the ideals of peace together. All are welcome and light refreshments will be served.

One of the proposed objectives of this campaign is to encourage young people and the general public to take on a ‘narrative of peace’, to reinforce a vision of a society that values peace and to encourage the federal and provincial governments towards peaceful coexistence at the local, national and international levels.

The campaign will be over the period of Saturday, November 11th (Remembrance Day) to Saturday, November 18th. The Day will begin at Pugwash on the north shore of Nova Scotia and travel to Halifax by foot. This is following the method created by Mahatma Gandhi in the Salt Satyagraha in India in 1930. The distance is about 160 kilometers and will take about 7 days to walk arriving in Halifax on the 17th November. It will be followed by a day-long meeting in Halifax on Saturday, the 18th of November.

We are beginning to solicit civil society organizations, student bodies and individuals to join this campaign both locally and nationally. Interested in joining? Contact us! info@vowpeace.org

We are being sold a war with China that could lead to nuclear annihilation. How did we get to this point? What are the forces at work and who profits from all this? This webinar will address these questions from the perspective that US imperialism aims to dominate the world and all its resources to the benefit of its capitalist ruling class.

Organized by the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute

For over ten years, CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) and other public security agencies have been targeting Chinese Canadians politicians and researchers as a fifth column for the People’s Republic of China. Some Canadian journalists rely heavily on CSIS in what amounts to a form of modern Sinophobia. This discussion, featuring Andrew Mitrovica, Midori Ogasawara and Georgia Kelly, will explore the ethics of responsible, anti-racist reporting in an era of misinformation.

Organized by Mass. Peace Action

Scott Ritter is a staunch advocate for peace and peaceful coexistence, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, a former UN weapons inspector, and the author of numerous books including Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union and Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement.

Join us on Sunday, September 10th at 7 PM ET by registering below!

MAPA is committed to presenting a range of peace movement views on the Ukraine conflict.

Organized by Mass Peace Action

The film offers a political education about Oppenheimer as an ethical scientist in the circle of immigrant European scientists who contributed to the effort to defeat fascism. Attacks against his integrity by the US Government continue to inform peace advocacy against proponents of the US war industry. Several philosophical dilemmas are raised by this impressive Hollywood film. The discussion will include perspectives from the US, and Australia. There will be a Q&A for participants.

Speaker Earl Turcotte, esteemed disarmament and civil society advocate, will join us to talk about negotiating disarmament.

Organized by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)-Canada

We saw unprecedented climate catastrophe across Canada and around the world this summer. That's why this September, people worldwide will rise up to demand an end to fossil fuels and immediate action to build the safe, liveable future we deserve. Mark these moments on your calendar and join us to mobilize for climate justice this September.

Visit fightfossilfuels.net (the international site) for Toronto action and others that are listed there!

#NoWar2023 Conference: Nonviolent Resistance to Militarism will be held online on Friday, Sept. 22 - Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. This will be a global 3-day conference on nonviolent resistance in the face of invasions, occupations, and military violence

The opening of the event on Tuesday, September 26, will feature three speakers: Paul Rogers, Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford (UK) will lead off in the morning, followed in the afternoon by Kai Brand-Jacobsen, President, Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania, and Irvin Waller, Professor, Criminology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa and Author in a hybrid virtual and in-person program. The conference will continue with virtual sessions of panels and speakers until Monday, October 2, 2023.

Mark your calendars: Saturday, September 30th- Saturday, October 8 is the week of action to end the war in Ukraine

In Canada we will be organizing actions across the country. Stay tuned to the Canada-Wide Peace & Justice Network here.

Read the Vienna Declaration "Stop the War, Start Negotiations".

There will be marching with a CANCEL THE AIR SHOW banner at the big Labour Day March during the air show (and leading right to it at the CNE) on Monday. Join us!

Meetup: 9am, Queen & University, Monday Sept 4.

The air show is blatant advertising for militarism, war, and violence, it re-traumatizes victims of war, and its deafening noise disturbs residents across the city over the Labour Day long weekend.

Send an email to your City Councillor asking them to take action to cancel the air show.

Despite the catastrophic health and environmental consequences, the threat of nuclear weapons has persisted with the tragic war in Ukraine, with nuclear weapon tests, NATO’s nuclear weapons exercises, and nuclear weapons modernization.

Please take a minute to write to party leaders calling on the Canadian government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and to send a delegation to observe the Second Meeting of State Parties for the TPNW in New York at the end of November.

Now is the time to stop this planned purchase before it happens!

The government's own Letter of Interest to potential armed drone suppliers lays out scenarios for Canadian military drone use. One describes surveillance of public protest within Canada. Another scenario is modeled after the infamous US drone strike program, featuring a drone bombing “Fighting Age Males” in the Middle East after spotting one of them “holding a small radio or cell phone." 

These scenarios are deeply disturbing. The Canadian military should not even be considering these kinds of activities, let alone purchasing billions of dollars of new weapons systems to carry them out.

Take action now to cancel the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) planned armed drone purchase.

Send an email to your MP calling for Canada to cancel the planned purchase of its first armed drones.

Each year the International Day of Peace (IDP) is observed around the world on 21 September. The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire. Never has our world needed peace more.

This year’s theme is Actions for Peace: Our Ambition for the #GlobalGoals. It is a call to action that recognizes our individual and collective responsibility to foster peace. Fostering peace contributes to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will create a culture of peace for all.

September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day that coincides with Orange Shirt Day. The day honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.

Start your learning journey by exploring the rich and diverse cultures, voices, experiences and histories of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

On 20 July, Secretary-General António Guterres presented to Member States his Policy Brief on A New Agenda for Peace, which outlines his vision for multilateral efforts for peace and security, based on international law, for a world in transition. It outlines an extensive and ambitious set of recommendations that recognize the inter-linked nature of many of the challenges we face.

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 the exploitation of African resources. Join Yves for a critical take on Canada's foreign policy. Questions, comments, and criticisms are all welcome.

In October 2023 World BEYOND War will be holding a weekly discussion each of four weeks of Shadows with the author Peter Manos as part of a small group WBW book club limited to a group of 18 participants. We will send each participant a signed paperback, and let you know which parts of the book will be discussed each week along with the Zoom details to access the discussions.

When: For one hour on four Saturdays, October 7, 14, 21, 28. 

Where: Zoom

Buying one ticket covers all four sessions plus the book.

Think & Resist-Conversations about Feminism and Peace is a podcast series that explores how feminism can redefine security.

Each episode features representatives from WILPF’s Women, Peace & Security and Disarmament teams moderating discussions with experts about different themes in international peace and security from a feminist lens. The conversations explore relevant policymaking and practice, identify opportunities and gaps, and recommend ways to advance change.

Woman

You brought with you

A new song.

But we did not let you

Speak out

Although yours

Is the voice of half the earth.

Woman,

Your eyes

Saw the world

Another way.

But we did not want

To know the meaning

And warmth

Of your vision.

Woman,

You carried under your skin

Of all colors

The seed

Of the future,

The light

Which could illuminate

Different paths

Rebellious

Yet peaceful ways,

Woman-bridge

Woman-bond

Woman-root

And fruit of love

And tenderness.

Woman,

Your hands outstretched

And your open arms

Enfold the immensity

Of refuge

And of comfort.

But we have not understood

The strength of your embrace

Nor the cry of your silence

And we carry on

With neither compass

Nor relief.

Woman,

With no other master

But yourself,

Live from now on

Equal and free,

Now as companion

Sharing

The same dream FOREVER.

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!