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

This November, we want to highlight VOW's 2023 Annual General Meeting; VOW's Statement on, and Action-Alert for, the Israel-Palestine Conflict; our call for applications to join us for the UN CSW68, 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!

SAVE THE DATE! VOW’s 2023 AGM will take place online nationwide and in-person in Toronto on Saturday, November 25th from 1:00 to 4:30pm ET. Plan to participate and join VOW in organizing for peace!

AGM Participation:
The VOW AGM is open to anyone to attend. For those who attend in-person, refreshments will be served.

In-Person Location:

Friends House: 60 Lowther Ave, Toronto, ON M5R 1C7

Online: 

Zoom link will be provided upon registration

To participate in meeting decisions to confirm board nominations and new resolutions at the AGM, you must be a current member. You can join as a new member, or renew on our website: https://vowpeace.org/ or contact info@vowpeace.org to inquire about your membership status.

Proposed resolutions must be received by the Board of Directors by Friday, November 10th, 2023, and the resolution clause(s) must clearly state what action is proposed. These resolutions will be considered depending on time. VOW board members can offer some guidance for formalizing drafts submitted by the deadline. If you are unable to attend then you can name a proxy and that can be included in the registration form. Contact info@vowpeace.org.

Please email Board Co-Chair Lyn Adamson to nominate yourself or other VOW members for the Board of Directors for 2023-2024: lyn@vowpeace.org

You are invited to participate in the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) which is scheduled to be held from March 11th-22nd, 2024 at United Nations Headquarters, New York.

Click the link to find dates and priority themes for NGO CSW68:
https://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw68-2024/

Let us continue VOW’s legacy of work in peace, disarmament and amplifying women’s voices at all levels of society and all levels of peacebuilding.  Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and other NGO organizations will come together at UN headquarters in New York City for this event. VOW is organizing a delegation now so it is important to get your application in as soon as possible.

Apply by completing VOW's online application form below by clicking on ‘Apply Here.‘ 

In addition to completing VOW’s application form below, please visit: https://indico.un.org/event/1007954/ for the Indico registration link and relevant instructions to complete an application with UN Women, which will be reviewed by VOW. This is an important step in the process of being considered as a VOW delegate to the CSW68.

VOW’s Application Deadlines: Applications will be approved on a first come first reviewed basis and there are only limited passes available. We encourage you to get your application in as soon as possible. The final deadline for applications is January 5th, 2024.

Find out more by checking out our website!

On 3 December, COP28 will feature Peace as a thematic convening day for the first time in the annual climate change conference’s history.

How does Peace connect to climate change policy? What is the impact of climate change on communities already affected by tensions or violent conflict? What adaptation, mitigation, or other natural resource management actions are possible to support the development of resilient individuals, households, and communities? And what can negotiators at COP28, or decision-makers around the world, do to address these challenges?

1.5 Degrees of Peace will be a panelist on Voices at the Nexus on December 3rd.

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Kasha and Marla, long time VOW members, have been selected as Media to attend COP 28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates between November 30th-December 10th. Kasha and Marla have been working diligently to document the evolution of bringing peace into the talks at COP for the past 2 years. They have been working with the PEACE@COP28 coalition, a community of peace organizations (including VOW) to get peace on the official agenda and into the policy track at COP28. This is the first year that peace will finally be on the COP agenda. Help Kasha & Marla with this critical mission. The trailer for 1.5 Degrees of Peace will be screen in multiple locations at COP28. Your donation will help offset production costs associated with the film, transportation and promotional materials at the event. 

Donate via paypal or directly to theglobalsunriseproject@gmail.com

Thank you!

Please click on the link below to access and share VOW's Statement on the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Action Alert-Call for Ceasefire on Gaza, resources, additional calls to actions, and stories from VOW's Co-Chair's experiences in the West Bank and Gaza.

White poppies were started in the UK in 1933 by women who had lost husbands, fathers, sons, brothers and friends in World War One, to send the message 'Never Again' about war. Click here for more information.

Let us know if you plan to host a white poppy making party, or wish to participate in handing out white poppies this year!

Send us a photo of you with your white poppy!  info@vowpeace.org

For more info on the Canadian white poppy campaign, and how to make your own, go to: https://vowpeace.org/peace-poppy-campaign/

You can order white poppies starting October 7th from:
https://peacepoppies.ca/lapel-poppies/ 

Tamara has been selected to join the Climate Action Network (CAN)-Canada civil society delegation and attend COP 28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates between November 30-December 12. Tamara has been a strong voice for climate peace, stop the wars-stop the warming, cut military spending for climate finance, and demilitarization for decarbonization at the climate summits. She has collaborated with activists around the world to put peace in the centre of climate action and justice. She has challenged governments and industry to stop fossil fuel development and fossil fuel-powered militarism and war. This year is the first year that peace has been on the agenda at the Conference of the Parties. Help Tamara amplify the message of peace at COP 28 with printing material, buttons and transportation.

You can e-transfer your financial support to her directly at tlorincz@dal.ca

Panelists:

Kevin Mackay is a professor at Mohawk College in Hamilton. He researches, writes, and teaches on the subjects of civilization collapse, political transformation, and global systemic risk. In 2017 he published Radical Transformation: Oligarchy, Collapse, and the Crisis of Civilization with Between the Lines Books. He is currently working on a book entitled A New Ecological Politics, with Oregon State University Press. Kevin also serves as Vice President of the Mohawk faculty union, OPSEU Local 240.

Tamara Lorincz is a PhD candidate in Global Governance at the Balsillie School for International Affairs (Wilfrid Laurier University). Her research interests are the military's impacts on the environment and climate change, the intersection of security and peace, gender and international relations, Canadian defence and foreign policy, feminist foreign policy, disarmament, resistance to NATO, and military sexual violence. https://www.balsillieschool.ca/people/tamara-lorincz/

Jordan Briggs speaks for the International Bolshevik Tendency (IBT). The IBT is a Leninist-Trotskyist political organization seeking to build a mass revolutionary party in the fight for socialism: https://www.bolshevik.org/

Facebook event link
 
The event is organized by the Political Action and International Solidarity Committee of CUPE 4207.
Map can be found below. Parking is free after 6 pm. There will be snacks.
info@cupe4207.org

Rally for a ceasefire in Gaza hosted by Independent Jewish Voices Canada

www.ijvcanada.org, ijv-halifax@ijvcanada.org

Hosted by Christine Nugent

Guest speaker: Tamara Lorincz, VOW member
 
Tamara Lorincz will be sharing information about VOW's work for peace and opposition to NATO. She will also talk about her trip to the International Summit for Peace in Ukraine in June and her month-long fact finding mission to Egypt and Eastern Europe last year. Tamara will discuss Canada's role in the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and what we must do to end them and build peace. Tamara is a PhD candidate at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University and a peace activist, feminist, environmentalist and mother of two teenage boys. 

More information about VOW: www.vowpeace.org

Ottawa Peace Council and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC) are hosting a discussion with AUUC National President Glenn Michalchuk!

Join in person or through live stream on Twitter @ottpeace

For more details:

auuc.ca/contact.html

ottawapeacecouncil@tutanota.com

A survivor of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bombing, Setsuko Thurlow’s commitment to anti-nuclear advocacy began in 1954 when she voiced her opposition to tests of even more powerful hydrogen bombs by the U.S. in the Marshall Islands. Highlights of her long career include testifying widely before world leaders on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. She also served as a social worker in a number of Toronto-based agencies and led the establishment of the Japanese Family Services of Metropolitan Toronto.

Dr Vladimir Zhagora: “The Challenges of Forging Peace in Sudan”

Vladimir worked on Sudan for over 14 years, with the Department of Political Affairs, United Nations, mainly in mediation efforts. He spent the equivalent of 8 years in the North, South, and East of Sudan, and in Darfur. In 2004-2005, he was the Regional coordinator for Southern Sudan with the UN Peacekeepers (UNMIS).

To Register:
In Person: https://shorturl.at/dzGKX
On Zoom: https://shorturl.at/ekJUX

@Scienceforpeace.org

What is Peace@COP28? We are a participatory collective of more than 120 individuals across more than 60 institutions and 5 continents, all with an interest in making climate change policy more peace responsive and conflict sensitive. We collaborated for Stockholm+50 in June 2022 and are proud to say that our work contributed to the inclusion of peace language into the outcome documents.

Learn more: https://www.ecosystemforpeace.org/cop28.

Successful implementation of the Paris Agreement will only be possible with a conflict sensitive and peace responsive approach. 🌎

 
COP28 starts in one month. Peace should be discussed in negotiations and included in decisions or other outcome documents. #climateactionforpeace

The global community of practice for peace has come together to develop recommendations for the integration of peace and conflict sensitivity into climate change policy. 

Read them here: https://tinyurl.com/peaceatcop28

Petition to the Prime Minister

• Whereas:
  Canada demand an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict;
• Canada ask that Israel lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip and authorize the creation of a humanitarian corridor and an emergency humanitarian intervention;
• Canada ask that Israel meet its commitments under the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law;
• Canada meet its international commitment to promote and defend human rights;
• Canada take any other measure necessary to protect civilians, both Israelis and Palestinians, and help foster a climate conducive to building a lasting peace.

Voices around the world are demanding an immediate ceasefire as the death toll rises in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Prime Minister Trudeau has not called for a ceasefire to prevent more people being killed – especially children. But pressure is growing as more MPs in the government, including within his own party, urge him to speak out.

Now, with a ground invasion imminent, many more lives hang in the balance.

Demand a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Please send your message to Prime Minister Trudeau, right away!

Sign our petition and urge world leaders to call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties and put an end to the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

A ceasefire would put a stop to unlawful attacks by all parties, halt the mounting death toll in Gaza and enable aid agencies to get life-saving aid, water and medical supplies into the Strip to address the staggering levels of human suffering. It will also allow hospitals to receive life-saving medicines, fuel and equipment they desperately need and to repair damaged wards. 

A ceasefire would also provide opportunities to negotiate the release of hostages detained in Gaza and for independent international investigations to take place into the war crimes committed by all parties in order to end long-standing impunity, which will continue to breed further atrocities. Tackling the root causes of this conflict, by dismantling Israel’s system of apartheid imposed on Palestinians is now more urgent than ever.

The situation in Israel and Palestine is evolving with each passing day – but what we know right now is this: even as Israelis mourn their loved ones and pray for the return of hostages in the wake of Hamas’s brutal attack, the state of Israel is launching an unprecedented and catastrophic assault on civilians in Gaza.1

Since October 7, the Israeli military government has cut off electricity, food, water and fuel to the 2.3 million people living in Gaza.2 As of today, the death toll has risen to 3,785. A third of those killed are children.3 These are war crimes.

With the situation in Gaza growing more desperate by the hour, the international community must act quickly to hold Israel to account and protect civilian lives. Will you send a letter to your MP calling on them to demand a ceasefire?

The situation in Israel and Palestine is evolving with each passing day – but what we know right now is this: even as Israelis mourn their loved ones and pray for the return of hostages in the wake of Hamas’s brutal attack, the state of Israel is launching an unprecedented and catastrophic assault on civilians in Gaza.1

Since October 7, the Israeli military government has cut off electricity, food, water and fuel to the 2.3 million people living in Gaza.2 As of today, the death toll has risen to 3,785. A third of those killed are children.3 These are war crimes.

With the situation in Gaza growing more desperate by the hour, the international community must act quickly to hold Israel to account and protect civilian lives. Will you send a letter to your MP calling on them to demand a ceasefire?

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.

The Government of Canada has published statements saying “We are committed to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons." The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), to which Canada is a signatory, does not directly address complete elimination and prohibition of nuclear weapons. Canada as a member of the UN Conference on Disarmament and the Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament, has an obligation to promote internationally the elimination of nuclear weapons.

As a non-nuclear state, Canada is in a best position to comply with the articles of the TPNW and to guide its allies and other nations toward a world free from nuclear weapons.

Sign the petition and call upon the Government of Canada to sign and commit to ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and to urge allies and other nations to follow suit! 

Though humanity has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war. Water wells have been polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed to gain military advantage.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equity and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) have established a partnership to collaborate on improving the understanding of the complex relationship between women and natural resources in conflict-affected settings, and make the case for pursuing gender equality, women’s empowerment and sustainable natural resource management together in support of peacebuilding

World Children’s Day was first established in 1954 as Universal Children's Day and is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare.

Since 1990, World Children's Day also marks the anniversary of the date that the UN General Assembly adopted both the Declaration and the Convention on children's rights.

Mothers and fathers, teachers, nurses and doctors, government leaders and civil society activists, religious and community elders, corporate moguls and media professionals, as well as young people and children themselves, can play an important part in making World Children's Day relevant for their societies, communities and nations.

World Children's Day offers each of us an inspirational entry-point to advocate, promote and celebrate children's rights, translating into dialogues and actions that will build a better world for children.

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women will mark the launch of the UNiTE campaign (Nov 25- Dec 10) — an initiative of 16 days of activism concluding on the day that commemorates the International Human Rights Day (10 December).

This campaign, led by the UN Secretary-General and UN Women since 2008, aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls around the world, calling for global action to increase awareness, promote advocacy and create opportunities for discussion on challenges and solutions.

This years’ campaign UNITE! Activism to End Violence against Women & Girls will aim to mobilize all society to become activists for the prevention of violence against women, to stand in solidarity with women’s rights activists and to support feminist movements around the world to resist the rollback on women’s rights and calling for a world free from VAWG.

Among its activities, there is a UN official event that will take place on Wednesday, November 23 (10.00-11.30am ET.) You can follow the event on line through the UN Women Youtube channel or UN Web TV.

In 1977, the General Assembly called for the annual observance of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (resolution 32/40 B). On that day, in 1947, the Assembly adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine (resolution 181 (II))

In resolution 60/37 of 1 December 2005, the Assembly requested the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division for Palestinian Rights, as part of the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on 29 November, to continue to organize an annual exhibit on Palestinian rights or a cultural event in cooperation with the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the UN.

The resolution on the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People also encourages Member States to continue to give the widest support and publicity to the observance of the Day of Solidarity.

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.

 As a part of Science4Peace's Peace & Conflict Lecture Series, Cesar Jaramillo offered the first on escalating tensions and the threat of nuclear weapons. 

Cesar, Executive Director of Canada’s Project Ploughshares, is a prolific author and speaker on peace issues. He has addressed the UN General Assembly First Committee, the Conference on Disarmament, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, as well as states parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to the Arms Trade Treaty.

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!